THE burgeoning Western Bulldogs will push for up to six Friday night matches next season after being shut out of the prime slot for the past three years.

The drive from Bulldogs president Peter Gordon comes as the Herald Sun today reveals figures that highlight why clubs are prepared to fight for the glamour timeslot.

Analysis prepared by global marketing company Repucom for one Victorian club rates Friday night games as almost twice as valuable in exposure for sponsors as a public holiday match.

The multiple is three times for a Saturday night game.

Gordon said the Bulldogs had earned a fairer go in the prime timeslot.

“My expectation would be that the AFL would be thinking of giving us four to six Friday night games on the basis of the promise that we’re showing on the field,” he said.

“(There’s) the exciting brand of football that we’re showing, the growth potential for us in the competition and last but not least, in some form, to redress the fact that we’ve had none since 2012.

“We are meant to build our membership … but we are denied the most important tools, which enable us to do it, which is the sort of exposure you get from those Friday night games.” Gordon said he accepted the AFL had to maximise TV ratings and revenue for the good of the game, but some clubs were being sidelined in the process.

“We think the regime which has had us denied any Friday night games over the entirety of the last three years is an incorrect setting of priorities and an incorrect balancing,” he said.

“We feel frustrated that we’ve been fighting with the major tools that an ordinary business would have at its disposal, denied to us.”

North Melbourne chief executive Carl Dilena said the Kangaroos, who tomorrow play their second and final Friday game for 2015, wanted a minimum of three Friday games next season.

“If you’re looking at (the competition) being balanced, you might want three or four Friday night games,” Dilena said.

“There’s the competing tension with regard to maximising TV ratings and maximising attendances, which creates an AFL bias towards the bigger supporter-based clubs being slotted into those timeslots.

“Are they better maximising the financial pie and sharing that around, or are they better doing a bit more to even out the fixture?

“If you wanted really, really genuine competitive balance, you’d probably need to even out the fixture a bit more.

“But greater minds than mine have come to the conclusion there’s bigger revenue upside in the other approach and (it’s) better for the overall competition.”

AFL fixturing boss Simon Lethlean said Friday nights would not be used as an equalisation tool.

“We’ve never used the fixture to guarantee clubs commercial equity,” he said. “We always try to use the fixture to get the most people to games across our season and to get the most people to see our matches.”

Lethlean said clubs were compensated for missing out on Friday nights.

He said the Bulldogs were given a home game against Collingwood and a showpiece match during multicultural round, Geelong got an extra game at Simonds Stadium and while the Kangaroos lost two Friday nights, they were given extra Saturday night games.

“We’ve got an obligation in our broadcast arrangements that the best game of the week is supposed to be Friday night, subject to lots of other different constraints,” Lethlean said.

“The networks certainly have a view on who’s playing in the Friday slot, but they don’t necessarily get what they want.”

The addition of Thursday night games — five this season and possibly seven next year — gave the league another prime timeslot.

“For all intents and purposes, (it’s) just another Friday night,’ Lethlean said.