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.

 

[manicmagpie]

For each game they have to opt in? At least that means the seat will be used.

No, my understanding is the opt in is to continue to have business as usual for the season.

 

[manicmagpie]

Unless there's a big walk up element tonight, it's going to be easily Collingwood's worst home crowd of the year. Will struggle to get 60k judging by Ticketek. Will be very disappointing if true.

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

They are allowing all affected members to opt in to continuing to have their seats.

It was a compromise solution. Opt in until August 18 (which was last Monday), otherwise affected members will be subject to the latest changes.

 

[collingwood23]

Unless there's a big walk up element tonight, it's going to be easily Collingwood's worst home crowd of the year. Will struggle to get 60k judging by Ticketek. Will be very disappointing if true.

Probably a low 60s type of crowd tonight. Definitely very disappointing compared to some of our other crowds this season

 

[Rouel_14]

No, my understanding is the opt in is to continue to have business as usual for the season.

This is extremely disappointing.

The sheer size of the Collingwood Football Club would have enabled it to work and allowed others to follow suit.

 

[Rouel_14]

Unless there's a big walk up element tonight, it's going to be easily Collingwood's worst home crowd of the year. Will struggle to get 60k judging by Ticketek. Will be very disappointing if true.

Again is disappointing. Funny how a season can frame expectations.

A few less wins and it be framed as an important game to lock in Top 4. Now it seems to be framed as the start of the end.

 

[Hawkk]

Unless there's a big walk up element tonight, it's going to be easily Collingwood's worst home crowd of the year. Will struggle to get 60k judging by Ticketek. Will be very disappointing if true.

Surely this will easily get over 60,000.

Last Saturday had less than half the number of reserve seats snapped up in the AFL members. Slightly less in the members too. And even if the Hawks and Pies had a similar number of members rock up (and given the Pies probably have 20,000 more members they should have a lot more), there is probably 5,000 to 10,000 more in the AFL members alone. I know people say Saturday is a better slot but this a much bigger game and it means a lot more for the Dees.

The Dees always outdraw expectation against the MCG clubs because they have the biggest MCC membership. The Pies are third. And given the Pies are their greatest rival I really think this could be a massive walk up. It also could be a really good game of football…

 

[Hawkk]

Melbourne Storm just posted their 5th home sell-out of 2025 — a new record.

They’re on track for a 6th next week during the AFL finals bye + Craig Bellamy’s 600th game.

NRL scheduling them at home on ANZAC Day, Gather Round, and the pre-finals bye is really smart. It gives them clear air in Melbourne when AFL isn’t dominating.

It makes you wonder… how good would a 30,000-seat stadium be for smaller Vic clubs?

• A packed 25k in a 30k venue >>> a half-full 50k stadium.
• Creates a fortress vibe. Loud, intimidating, great for TV.

Storm are showing how to “game the schedule” and turn it into sell-outs.

Imagine if North, Dogs, or Saints had a purpose-built 30k home ground.

Of course, Victoria is broke We’ll probably be lucky to see a new seat added to the ‘G in our lifetime.

I reckon the odds of this dropped massively when the AFL bought the stadium. The AFL just needs to find a way to make running the joint cheaper and turning 20,000 crowds into 30,000. They’ve done a good job in recent years lifting attendances at the venue.

 

[Fletched]

Melbourne Storm just posted their 5th home sell-out of 2025 — a new record.

They’re on track for a 6th next week during the AFL finals bye + Craig Bellamy’s 600th game.

NRL scheduling them at home on ANZAC Day, Gather Round, and the pre-finals bye is really smart. It gives them clear air in Melbourne when AFL isn’t dominating.

It makes you wonder… how good would a 30,000-seat stadium be for smaller Vic clubs?

• A packed 25k in a 30k venue >>> a half-full 50k stadium.
• Creates a fortress vibe. Loud, intimidating, great for TV.

Storm are showing how to “game the schedule” and turn it into sell-outs.

Imagine if North, Dogs, or Saints had a purpose-built 30k home ground.

Of course, Victoria is broke We’ll probably be lucky to see a new seat added to the ‘G in our lifetime.

If the AFL keeps growing at the same rate I don't see why they won't push the floor on any vic games to 40k in victoria in 20 years time and then there is no need for a venue of that size

Perhaps regional venue of 30k in ballarat would be the go

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

Collingwood vs Melbourne = 60,611

 

[manicmagpie]

Collingwood vs Melbourne = 60,611

I think we missed the season record by about 600 people.

 

[Sammoll]

Port Adelaide vs Gold Coast: 40,897 at Adelaide Oval

Great crowd to farewell Boak and Ken. Breaks the record for largest Port vs GC game by about 6k.

 

[Hawkk]

Port Adelaide vs Gold Coast: 40,897 at Adelaide Oval

Great crowd to farewell Boak and Ken. Breaks the record for largest Port vs GC game by about 6k.

Who knew Port fans loved Ken Hinkley so much…

 

[Air_Chester]

We shall never really know an Essendon ceiling due to Marvel Home games.

Flip the script of Collingwood and Essendon over the last 25 years of win/loss and we may well be talking Essendon as the biggest club in the land.

I’ll always wonder how things would be if Essendon went for a Collingwood MCG deal instead of taking the Docklands money. They went from the two most attended seasons of all time in 1998/99 with 16 MCG games down to 9 games in 2000 onwards.

Financially they may not regret it, but the stats nerd in me shakes my head at limiting your capacity before your best ever season (and the quarter century since).

Who knew Port fans loved Ken Hinkley so much…

FICKLE, as Bryan Danielson would say.

 

[manicmagpie]

Collingwood end up on 1,384,257. This is the 2nd highest total of all time, missing their own 2023 record by just 570. It's an increase of 17,255 on last season. The last 3 seasons have all easily beaten previous record totals and have all been within 17k of each other.

It's also a new home crowd record total of 757,601 - an increase of 21k on their record from last year. Collingwood averaged 68,872 for home games overall and 75,159 for home games at their home ground.

 

[manicmagpie]

Melbourne's season total is 846,048 - this is their 3rd highest total of all time behind the previous 2 seasons. It's a fall of 85k from last year's record.

Port's season total is 759,992 - this is their 4th highest total. It's a drop of only 22k from last season despite going from 3rd to 13th.

 

[GenericUsername202]

Who knew Port fans loved Ken Hinkley so much…

So they should. Before he came along, they were playing in front of tarps and finishing down the bottom of the ladder. Yes, he didn't win them the flag, but Port are a much stronger club today because of him. The idiots over at the Port board would do well to recognise that instead of trashing him whenever they can.

 

[Underarm]

I’d counter:

1. - 25K in a 30K seater looks better than a 25K in a 50K seater

2. Collingwood have taken a big step next year in moving to a reserved bay model. I would think most other clubs are watching very closely at the impact and would bet it’s probably the way of the future.

it might look better on TV, but is it better for the fans who actually attend?

There's no matchup in Victoria that doesn't have the potential to hit 30k if the absolute perfect conditions are met.

 

[magpiemaniac44]

Collingwood end up on 1,384,257. This is the 2nd highest total of all time, missing their own 2023 record by just 570. It's an increase of 17,255 on last season. The last 3 seasons have all easily beaten previous record totals and have all been within 17k of each other.

It's also a new home crowd record total of 757,601 - an increase of 21k on their record from last year. Collingwood averaged 68,872 for home games overall and 75,159 for home games at their home ground.

Pretty crazy.
Just on this, 5 of the top 6 attended games this year were Collingwood home games, and all Collingwood home games at the MCG reached 60k which would have to be some sort of record as well

 

[Hawkk]

it might look better on TV, but is it better for the fans who actually attend?

There's no matchup in Victoria that doesn't have the potential to hit 30k if the absolute perfect conditions are met.

The lowest 10 MCG games in 2023/25 v 2003/05

Melbourne v GWS 16,246 (2024)
Melbourne v Port Adel 17,867 (2024)
Richmond v GWS 19,049 (2024)
Richmond v Adelaide 23,231 (2025)
Melbourne v GWS 23,278 (2025)
Melbourne v Gold Coast 24,506 (2025)
Melbourne v Fremantle 25,202 (2025)
Hawthorn v Fremantle 27,951 (2023)
Melbourne v North Melb 28,774 (2024)
Melbourne v Fremantle 29,944 (2023)

Compared too 2003 to 2005

Hawthorn v Port Adel 11,682 (2004)
Melbourne v Port Adel 12,410 (2003)
Carlton v Fremantle 16,088 (2005)
Carlton v Port Adel 16,371 (2006)
Melbourne v Fremantle 17,009 (2003)
Hawthorn v Brisbane 17,159 (2004)
Melbourne v West Coast 17,534 (2003)
North Melb v Fremantle 18,486 (2003)
Richmond v Fremantle 18,666 (2004)
North Melb v Adelaide 19,231 (2004)


Will try and do Marvel later today. Clearly games that used to draw 20,000 are now drawing 30,000 at the MCG. In 10 to 15 years those games could be drawing 40,000.

 

[Hawkk]

Pretty crazy.
Just on this, 5 of the top 6 attended games this year were Collingwood home games, and all Collingwood home games at the MCG reached 60k which would have to be some sort of record as well

And here I was last week talking about Hawthorn’s 10 MCG games drawing 50,000 plus lol. As good as last night was, I was still hoping for 65,000 plus.

 

[manicmagpie]

all Collingwood home games at the MCG reached 60k which would have to be some sort of record as well

I’m pretty sure no one playing at least 6 home games at the G (i.e. Coll, Melb, Rich, Haw, Carl, Ess in the 90s) has done it.

It may have happened for teams playing 4 or so home games at the G and it’s definitely happened with less games than that. Technically the Bulldogs and Geelong both have a higher MCG home game average this year than Collingwood.

 

[Hawkk]

The lowest 10 MCG games in 2023/25 v 2003/05

Melbourne v GWS 16,246 (2024)
Melbourne v Port Adel 17,867 (2024)
Richmond v GWS 19,049 (2024)
Richmond v Adelaide 23,231 (2025)
Melbourne v GWS 23,278 (2025)
Melbourne v Gold Coast 24,506 (2025)
Melbourne v Fremantle 25,202 (2025)
Hawthorn v Fremantle 27,951 (2023)
Melbourne v North Melb 28,774 (2024)
Melbourne v Fremantle 29,944 (2023)

Compared too 2003 to 2005

Hawthorn v Port Adel 11,682 (2004)
Melbourne v Port Adel 12,410 (2003)
Carlton v Fremantle 16,088 (2005)
Carlton v Port Adel 16,371 (2006)
Melbourne v Fremantle 17,009 (2003)
Hawthorn v Brisbane 17,159 (2004)
Melbourne v West Coast 17,534 (2003)
North Melb v Fremantle 18,486 (2003)
Richmond v Fremantle 18,666 (2004)
North Melb v Adelaide 19,231 (2004)


Will try and do Marvel later today. Clearly games that used to draw 20,000 are now drawing 30,000 at the MCG. In 10 to 15 years those games could be drawing 40,000.

For Marvel Games

St Kilda v GC 13,486 (2025)
Melbourne v West Coast 16,394 (2025)
North Melb v Fremantle 17,589 (2024)
North Melb v GC 17,781 (2024)
St Kilda v GC 17,992 (2024)
St Kilda v Port Adel 18,052 (2024)
St Kilda v West Coast 18,252 (2024)
St Kilda v North Melb 18,279 (2024)
Richmond v GC 18,423 (2025)
St Kilda v W Bulldogs 20,508 (2025)

In 2003 to 2005

W Bulldogs v Fremantle 12,542 (2003)
Richmond v Port Adel 15,920 (2003)
North Melb v Port Adel 16,910 (2004)
W Bulldogs v Fremantle 18,734 (2004)
W Bulldogs v West Coast 18,831 (2004)
St Kilda v Port 19,131 (2003)
Richmond v Port Adel 21,310 (2005)
St Kilda v West Coast 21,930 (2003)
Carlton v W Bulldogs 22,938 (2003)
Hawthorn v North Melb 23,722 (2005)

Low drawing Marvel games used to outdraw MCG games. And despite MCG crowds now being 10,000 larger than 20 years ago, Marvel games have gone backwards — thanks largely to the absolute collapse of St Kilda crowds. The Saints evidently feature in six of the lowest drawing Marvel games over the last three years, despite making the finals in 2023. The Dogs don’t feature in any, despite featuring in four 20 years ago…

 

[Underarm]

For Marvel Games

St Kilda v GC 13,486 (2025)
Melbourne v West Coast 16,394 (2025)
North Melb v Fremantle 17,589 (2024)
North Melb v GC 17,781 (2024)
St Kilda v GC 17,992 (2024)
St Kilda v Port Adel 18,052 (2024)
St Kilda v West Coast 18,252 (2024)
St Kilda v North Melb 18,279 (2024)
Richmond v GC 18,423 (2025)
St Kilda v W Bulldogs 20,508 (2025)

In 2003 to 2005

W Bulldogs v Fremantle 12,542 (2003)
Richmond v Port Adel 15,920 (2003)
North Melb v Port Adel 16,910 (2004)
W Bulldogs v Fremantle 18,734 (2004)
W Bulldogs v West Coast 18,831 (2004)
St Kilda v Port 19,131 (2003)
Richmond v Port Adel 21,310 (2005)
St Kilda v West Coast 21,930 (2003)
Carlton v W Bulldogs 22,938 (2003)
Hawthorn v North Melb 23,722 (2005)

Low drawing Marvel games used to outdraw MCG games. And despite MCG crowds now being 10,000 larger than 20 years ago, Marvel games have gone backwards — thanks largely to the absolute collapse of St Kilda crowds. The Saints evidently feature in six of the lowest drawing Marvel games over the last three years, despite making the finals in 2023. The Dogs don’t feature in any, despite featuring in four 20 years ago…

Saints also don't sell their worst games out of the city.

Which I guess it the point - why build a 30k stadium in Melbourne when it suits everyone to play those games in non afl towns?

 

[Teagueeee15]

The context around those MCG games in 2003-05 is that the renovations were going on, so you had MCC members being moved to the AFL members with temporary portable facilities in Yarra park, giant holes in the stands causing arctic winds like Waverley and most of the bowl seating left over had ans looking directly into the sun. A shiny new indoor Docklands venue would have been a much better experience, so not surprised it drew better.