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Beginning next year, netball's ANZ Championship will split into two national conferences – an Australian conference and a New Zealand conference – and will feature a new Challenge Trophy competition which will run concurrently with the regular season.

Designed to make the sport more attractive to sponsors and broadcasters, the new structure will allow for an expanded six-team finals series, and the addition of a conference finals series adds another three games to the season.

The biggest change to the ANZ Championship since its launch in 2008, the restructure is being undertaken in tandem with a new broadcast deal to cover the competition and international matches.

Fox Sports Australia and SBS have held the rights to the ANZ Championships and Australian international test matches but a new deal currently being negotiated by Netball Australia could see a partial return for the sport to one of the three free-to-air commercial broadcasters.

The changes will mean matches between Australian teams and greater interest in the closing stages of the competition, according to ANZ Championship General Manager Andy Crook.

Crook explains "we found that before there were teams dropping out (of contention) early, so under the new structure there will be more interest for longer in the season and therefore more attractive for fans and sponsors alike."

New scheduling will also see more matches played on Friday nights – including the West Coast Fever playing matches at the larger Perth Arena (pictured below)  – and Saturday nights next year.

Clubs such as West Coast and Adelaide will take more matches to bigger stadiums as crowds continue to grow, Crook added.

The world's premier netball league, the ANZ Championship has enjoyed ongoing growth since its establishment, pulling larger crowds, drawing increased media coverage and rewarding its players with higher salaries.

Click here to visit the ANZ Championships website.

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