South Melbourne never had a huge supporter base when they were Melbourne based… let alone when they’ve relocated and half a century later on, not surprised they haven’t pulled crowds in the 80s. They already bat above their average and have contributed to big MCG crowds, although majority of the...
I think you overestimate how many people are clued onto this sort of stuff. For the average punter, they will look out the window to make their decision. It sounds as though the weather was very localised so can’t see it impacting the attendance by 5k.
Seems strange as there were plenty of empty seats.. some might have been impeded, but i’m sure i saw some second level seats not used all (unless they were in a function perhaps).
I think one thing that hasn’t been mentioned in the Hawks-Tassie deal is the competitive advantage the ground gives the team. You can almost always bank 3 wins a year there, often the full 4, which makes it worth continuing, even at just 1-2 games, in my opinion.
I think only concern would be MCC. In years gone by, they’ve opened up tickets to provisional members prior to the bounce. Could see a situation where the ground is sold out but there’s some scattered empty seats in the top deck of the members. But would still hit 97-98k in that case you’d reckon.