2025 Attendances

[The_Wookie]

11.12.2024

Gather Round tickets snapped up in record time


The AFL is pleased to announce that more than 195,000 Gather Round…Festival of Footy tickets have sold… with five of the nine games sold out, 20,000 more than this time last year.

Member on sale on Tuesday saw a significant uplift in demand for tickets this year, selling more than 100,000 tickets in the first four hours, in comparison to the same amount in 24 hours last year.

This year there are an extra 47,000 tickets on offer for fans with the two Saturday matches being ticketed separately.

Tickets still remain for Collingwood vs Sydney Swans on Friday night, Carlton vs West Coast on Saturday afternoon, Melbourne vs Essendon on Saturday night and a very limited number of restricted view tickets and tickets for the Pepsi Collective for Port Adelaide vs Hawthorn on Sunday evening.

AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said it was clear Gather Round momentum was not slowly down.

“The demand for tickets this year was significantly higher than the first two Gather Rounds, with more than 195,000 tickets being purchased in the first two days,” said Mr Dillon.

“A ticket to the matches at the Barossa Park was always going to be one of the hottest tickets in town and the fans have certainly illustrated that by selling out both matches so quickly.”

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said: “Gather Round continues to exceed all expectations.

“We are honoured that so many footy fans from around the country are making the commitment to travel to our beautiful state to experience this event like no other.

“They’ll be truly welcome.

“If you haven’t got a ticket already – get in quick!”

Tickets for the remaining matches can be found here.

 

[mephisto_red]

The fact the AFL needs to give out free tickets to gather round, while the NRL doesn't give out free tickets to magic round, should be rightfully seen as an embarrassment to the AFL.

It’s typical to the AFL strategy of ‘price em low and watch em grow’ strategy to bums on seats. NRL tickets are often much more expensive than afl tickets, sometimes double for regular GA seats. AFL also has constant give aways in western Sydney and Gold Coast, many of the gws crowds are either not paying or paying cheap as chips for tickets. The NRL doesn’t discount tickets like the AFL does.

It’s a lot more cost effective to take your family to an afl game every other week where Ga tickets are 23 bucks verse GA tickets being 40-50 bucks.

 

[Hawkk]

It’s typical to the AFL strategy of ‘price em low and watch em grow’ strategy to bums on seats. NRL tickets are often much more expensive than afl tickets, sometimes double for regular GA seats. AFL also has constant give aways in western Sydney and Gold Coast, many of the gws crowds are either not paying or paying cheap as chips for tickets. The NRL doesn’t discount tickets like the AFL does.

It’s a lot more cost effective to take your family to an afl game every other week where Ga tickets are 23 bucks verse GA tickets being 40-50 bucks.

Really?

 

[Hawkk]

you not differentiating between NSWRL, ARL, Superleague and NRL competitions though. Ok then.

So you don’t think there is a common lineage between the NSWRL, the ARL and NRL? It’s very, very different to the VFA into the VFL or the SANFL and WAFL into the VFL/AFL

 

[Billy ray]

AFL strategy of ‘price em low and watch em grow’ strategy to bums on seats. ….. AFL also has constant give aways in western Sydney and Gold Coast,

Lived here for over a decade, never seen these free tickets
Alsothe empty red seats you see at Carrara are all$50+and not GA
The GA sections regularly sells out and theyneed more imho

 

[mephisto_red]

Really?

Weekend example.. GC suns ga $23, titans $38

 

[mephisto_red]

Lived here for over a decade, never seen these free tickets
Alsothe empty red seats you see at Carrara are all$50+and not GA
The GA sections regularly sells out and theyneed more imho

GC is more cheaper tickets but GWS is give aways.

Mind you it’s a good strategy for the afl to grow crowds / attendance which seems of less importance to nrl who seem to want to maximise profit and tv viewership instead

 

[Hawkk]

Weekend example.. GC suns ga $23, titans $38

Interesting - is it variable pricing? It was a derby. The ones to watch are the Swans (a big draw in QLD), Lions, Pies, Tigers and Dons in the run home.

All those games should sell out.

 

[Billy ray]

Weekend example.. GC suns ga $23, titans $38

i dont dispute that, i wasnt talking about GA prices AFL v NRL

i was talking about how people see empty seats and think geez get a crowd, its cheap but the empties are not cheap. the cheap ones are regularly sold out at Carrara
the AFL has NOT done a price them low, let it grow at Gold Coast, they have adopted the West coast/freo/adelaide/port pricing strategy

 

[mephisto_red]

It’s also the case in Melbourne. GA tickets for Storm $45, or $27 MCG GA

 

[mephisto_red]

i dont dispute that, i wasnt talking about GA prices AFL v NRL

i was talking about how people see empty seats and think geez get a crowd, its cheap but the empties are not cheap. the cheap ones are regularly sold out at Carrara
the AFL has NOT done a price them low, let it grow at Gold Coast, they have adopted the West coast/freo/adelaide/port pricing strategy

That’s exactly it people are snapping up the cheap tickets that are $20 which is a cheap family day out but unwilling to pay more in these expansion areas.

 

[The_Wookie]

So you don’t think there is a common lineage between the NSWRL, the ARL and NRL? It’s very, very different to the VFA into the VFL or the SANFL and WAFL into the VFL/AFL

Not in 1879, no

 

[Macca180]

It’s typical to the AFL strategy of ‘price em low and watch em grow’ strategy to bums on seats. NRL tickets are often much more expensive than afl tickets, sometimes double for regular GA seats. AFL also has constant give aways in western Sydney and Gold Coast, many of the gws crowds are either not paying or paying cheap as chips for tickets. The NRL doesn’t discount tickets like the AFL does.

It’s a lot more cost effective to take your family to an afl game every other week where Ga tickets are 23 bucks verse GA tickets being 40-50 bucks.

Interesting.

There are 3 to 4 levels at AFL stadiums and prices vary a lot. You can be a long way away from the action.
Good sets are really not cheap.

Where are these free tickets you speak about? I want to go for free, but I don't know where they are. Where do I get them from? Thanks in advance.

 

[mephisto_red]

Interesting.

There are 3 to 4 levels at AFL stadiums and prices vary a lot. You can be a long way away from the action.
Good sets are really not cheap.

Where are these free tickets you speak about? I want to go for free, but I don't know where they are. Where do I get them from? Thanks in advance.

Easy just sign up to gws website and get in their database and you’ll be offered 2 for 1 tickets, free kid GA tickets, etc or drive around to petrol stations nearby Homebush and they usually have freebies on hand.

 

[Macca180]

Easy just sign up to gws website and get in their database and you’ll be offered 2 for 1 tickets, free kid GA tickets, etc or drive around to petrol stations nearby Homebush and they usually have freebies on hand.

Thanks. Petrol Stations... wow. Which?

Is this on Gold Coast too? never seen it.

 

[Hawkk]

Thanks. Petrol Stations... wow. Which?

Is this on Gold Coast too? never seen it.

They used to offer you a free Big Mac if the Bears led at any quarter back in the day at Carrara (and I hate fast food)

 

[Macca180]

They used to offer you a free Big Mac if the Bears led at any quarter back in the day at Carrara (and I hate fast food)

Now they give away free tickets to the games. Amazing.

No wonder AFL crowds are healthy. People go for free.

Sill me, payed my whole life.

 

[Bjo187]

I see you guys have met the latest nrl troll on Bigfooty mephisto red, he's been getting around a bit the past week or two.

 

[____]

It’s typical to the AFL strategy of ‘price em low and watch em grow’ strategy to bums on seats. NRL tickets are often much more expensive than afl tickets, sometimes double for regular GA seats. AFL also has constant give aways in western Sydney and Gold Coast, many of the gws crowds are either not paying or paying cheap as chips for tickets. The NRL doesn’t discount tickets like the AFL does.

It’s a lot more cost effective to take your family to an afl game every other week where Ga tickets are 23 bucks verse GA tickets being 40-50 bucks.

Even when the Lions were shit it wasn't the case. Still remember in 2017 one of my mates who isn't an AFL fan told me he was gonna go to our game against the Dons and I told him to buy a ticket quickly because while the game itself wasn't gonna sell out, all the cheap tickets were since the Dons had a big fanbase here. He didn't believe me, rocked up at the gate and decided to just go to the pub instead.

Club can get away with it now because we're winning and all the bandwagoners wanna come but back then it made absolutely no sense.

 

[Sammoll]

Even when the Lions were shit it wasn't the case. Still remember in 2017 one of my mates who isn't an AFL fan told me he was gonna go to our game against the Dons and I told him to buy a ticket quickly because while the game itself wasn't gonna sell out, all the cheap tickets were since the Dons had a big fanbase here. He didn't believe me, rocked up at the gate and decided to just go to the pub instead.

Club can get away with it now because we're winning and all the bandwagoners wanna come but back then it made absolutely no sense.

Not sure who's in charge of these decisions but I find the way tickets are sold at all 4 NSW/Qld clubs pretty baffling and unnecessarily expensive. Swans and Lions can easily get away with it but I think it can actively be off-putting growth for GWS and GC.

For example, let's look at GWS' next home game in Sydney. Say I'm a casual fan who just heard about GWS' big win this weekend so has decided to look at tickets to their next game. This is what they'd see on Ticketmaster right now:



There's such a weirdly restricted number of tickets available in only a few select bays despite obviously these bays being completely unsold. $27 for GA is probably reasonable, but its confined to such a small area behind the posts which often sells out despite heaps of empty bays nearby. Can't they extend GA out a bit more into the pocket and offer more affordable tickets? Or even open up the Vincent Fairfax stand for GA to give more options. And why is the Eastern GA area greyed out? It's almost pushing people into buying the much more expensive reserved seats on the Southern wing ($68) and many would just opt out. It's the complete wrong strategy imo for the AFL to grow this club. Far more affordable GA areas need to be available to attract casual fans. And just let fans pick seats in the bay they want rather than drip feeding tickets slowly like this.

 

[Bjo187]

Not sure who's in charge of these decisions but I find the way tickets are sold at all 4 NSW/Qld clubs pretty baffling and unnecessarily expensive. Swans and Lions can easily get away with it but I think it can actively be off-putting growth for GWS and GC.

For example, let's look at GWS' next home game in Sydney. Say I'm a casual fan who just heard about GWS' big win this weekend so has decided to look at tickets to their next game. This is what they'd see on Ticketmaster right now:

View attachment 2275613

There's such a weirdly restricted number of tickets available in only a few select bays despite obviously these bays being completely unsold. $27 for GA is probably reasonable, but its confined to such a small area behind the posts which often sells out despite heaps of empty bays nearby. Can't they extend GA out a bit more into the pocket and offer more affordable tickets? Or even open up the Vincent Fairfax stand for GA to give more options. And why is the Eastern GA area greyed out? It's almost pushing people into buying the much more expensive reserved seats on the Southern wing ($68) and many would just opt out. It's the complete wrong strategy imo for the AFL to grow this club. Far more affordable GA areas need to be available to attract casual fans. And just let fans pick seats in the bay they want rather than drip feeding tickets slowly like this.

I agree it's a short term strategy similar to that of only putting the big clubs on fta tv.

The giants and suns prioritise making bigger profits off the traveling fan, that only attend for one game, not realising it doesn't attract the casual local that might also wanna head along and check things out and potentially become a regular.

It also annoys me that the camera facing tickets are most expensive, so on tv the stadium looks empty. I'd almost have the whole sunny side of the wing as general admin, so people can choose where they sit, prices are lower, it looks better on tv and draws in more casual locals to attend.

 

[Sammoll]

I agree it's a short term strategy similar to that of only putting the big clubs on fta tv.

The giants and suns prioritise making bigger profits off the traveling fan, that only attend for one game, not realising it doesn't attract the casual local that might also wanna head along and check things out and potentially become a regular.

Yes 100%. And to prove that point, compare the above ticket map (GWS vs Freo Rd 10) to this one (GWS vs Gold Coast Rd 15):



They know there's not going to be many Gold Coast away fans, so they've made the entire Southern side $27 GA tickets. They honestly should do this for every game in the short-term. Perhaps having the Centre-Wing as GA for every game would be taking the p*ss, but certainly those pocket GA zones with a smaller selection of premium reserved seats would be a better mix for each game. Attract families with cheap tickets over the next 3-4 years, and once you've converted them into regularly attending fans you can revert back into having more expensive seats if they so wish.

It also annoys me that the camera facing tickets are most expensive, so on tv the stadium looks empty. I'd almost have the whole sunny side of the wing as general admin, so people can choose where they sit, prices are lower, it looks better on tv and draws in more casual locals to attend.

It definitely would make for better visuals on TV. The GWS members side behind the camera was pretty packed yesterday.



It could be hard to have cameras facing in the sun, not sure. But i'd love to see them try something if they can. They've flipped cameras to better show the crowd like this for some AFLW games at Kardinia Park recently for example.

 

[Hawkk]

Not sure who's in charge of these decisions but I find the way tickets are sold at all 4 NSW/Qld clubs pretty baffling and unnecessarily expensive. Swans and Lions can easily get away with it but I think it can actively be off-putting growth for GWS and GC.

For example, let's look at GWS' next home game in Sydney. Say I'm a casual fan who just heard about GWS' big win this weekend so has decided to look at tickets to their next game. This is what they'd see on Ticketmaster right now:

View attachment 2275613

There's such a weirdly restricted number of tickets available in only a few select bays despite obviously these bays being completely unsold. $27 for GA is probably reasonable, but its confined to such a small area behind the posts which often sells out despite heaps of empty bays nearby. Can't they extend GA out a bit more into the pocket and offer more affordable tickets? Or even open up the Vincent Fairfax stand for GA to give more options. And why is the Eastern GA area greyed out? It's almost pushing people into buying the much more expensive reserved seats on the Southern wing ($68) and many would just opt out. It's the complete wrong strategy imo for the AFL to grow this club. Far more affordable GA areas need to be available to attract casual fans. And just let fans pick seats in the bay they want rather than drip feeding tickets slowly like this.

Agreed. But don’t all clubs do this? I hate it by the way

 

[Sammoll]

Agreed. But don’t all clubs do this? I hate it by the way

Yes to some extent, but other clubs have much larger existing fans bases, so there's demand for expensive tickets. GWS don't yet have that luxury and should be doing what they can to grow the fan base with cheaper tickets in the short-term, in my opinion.

 

[Billy ray]

the ticketing pricing strategy has been a balls up since day 1 for these two clubs, quite baffling

 

[kranger]

The fact the AFL needs to give out free tickets to gather round, while the NRL doesn't give out free tickets to magic round, should be rightfully seen as an embarrassment to the AFL.

Just going to point out that the NRL’s Magic Round only has ~155,000 tickets available for sale.

3 days of games at the ~52,000 Lang Park, for which a ticket gives you entry for all the games on that day. 2 games on Friday night, 3 games on Saturday and 3 games on Sunday.

There are other ticketing options, such as multiple day passes, but there is no option for only one game on a day. The stadiums are not cleared out of spectators after each game.


In comparison, the AFL’s Gather Round has ~300,000 tickets available for sale. Each game requires an individual ticket, and stadiums are cleared out at the end of the game.

5 games at the ~52,000 Adelaide Oval, 2 games each at the ~10,000 Barossa Park and Norwood Oval.