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.

 

[____]

Because the MCG gives the game more gravitas

Its pretty obvious grand finals in 2020 and 2021 felt less important than those before and after

To be honest that had more to do with the fact that the Gabba was only at 75% capacity and that a lot of people couldn't legally travel to Perth in 2021.

 

[Macca180]

For who? We're not the Victorian Football League any more, share it around.

Imagine having a grand final at the Gabba, SCG or Adelaide Oval when you have the MCG with 100k people

lol

It´s the biggest sporting event in the country.

Come on mate.

 

[Hawkk]

To be honest that had more to do with the fact that the Gabba was only at 75% capacity and that a lot of people couldn't legally travel to Perth in 2021.

The MCG is to Australian sport what Wembley and Lords is to English sport. You don’t get that with many other sports in the world…

 

[Canberra Pear]

Imagine having a grand final at the Gabba, SCG or Adelaide Oval when you have the MCG with 100k people

lol

It´s the biggest sporting event in the country.

Come on mate.

Yeah, the biggest sporting event in the country, not Victoria.

After Optus is upgraded, and Victoria Park is built in Brisbane, that's four 63k-plus stadiums it could be played at.

 

[dave10]

An interesting thing that has been lost in translation over the years.

When they built the previous Ponsford Stand in 1970, the pulled apart the western structures of the members stand as seen in this photo. The western end of the second tier of the members stand seating was extended westwards to join up with the eastern end of the top tier of the new Ponsford Stand in 1970.

 

[Hawkk]

There is a new story in Code Sports that renos could see the MCG capacity drop from 100,000 to 70,000 for three to four seasons from 2030. Take out MCC and AFL members and that leaves 20,000 to 25,000 seats for public reserve and club members.

The last time this happened 25 years ago the average club membership of MCG co-tenants was 30,000 (compared to 86,000 in 2025) and average attendances was 42,000 (compared to 59,000 in 2025).

I could see Melbourne staying put but would Collingwood, Richmond and Hawthorn be tempted to play more home games at Marvel given that the public reserve would be almost double what it is at the MCG (40,000) and it would look much better on TV. Carlton (6/5) and Essendon (5/6) would be the logical teams to also play more games at Marvel during the $2b renos.

 

[manicmagpie]

There is a new story in Code Sports that renos could see the MCG capacity drop from 100,000 to 70,000 for three to four seasons from 2030. Take out MCC and AFL members and that leaves 20,000 to 25,000 seats for public reserve and club members.

The last time this happened 25 years ago the average club membership of MCG co-tenants was 30,000 (compared to 86,000 in 2025) and average attendances was 42,000 (compared to 59,000 in 2025).

I could see Melbourne staying put but would Collingwood, Richmond and Hawthorn be tempted to play more home games at Marvel given that the public reserve would be almost double what it is at the MCG (40,000) and it would look much better on TV. Carlton (6/5) and Essendon (5/6) would be the logical teams to also play more games at Marvel during the $2b renos.

None of that makes sense, particularly for Collingwood.

If the capacity goes down to 70k they will proportionally reduce the MCC, AFL and club/public areas by 30%, meaning that the club/public would probably have closer to 35k than 20k.

Additionally, AFL Members are also counted as club members, so you would be moving games from a stadium that can accommodate 50k of your members (through club/afl areas) down one that will have less than 40k for the same people.

Not to mention the fact that due to capacity concerns you are proposing shifting games that on recent evidence won't fit in a 70k stadium to one that struggles to get 45k.

Maybe for clubs that don't have the numbers in the AFL Members it might be passable, but not for Collingwood. I think a better solution is to be flexible with the bays allocated to the MCC and AFL and reduce them (and therefore boost club/public areas) for games as required.

 

[Canberra Pear]

Everybody banging on that we can't move the grand final because of capacity.

With a capacity of 81.5k in its oval form, Accor would become the largest-capacity oval stadium in the country.

Looks like we're getting a few years of Sydney grand finals.

 

[Hawkk]

None of that makes sense, particularly for Collingwood.

If the capacity goes down to 70k they will proportionally reduce the MCC, AFL and club/public areas by 30%, meaning that the club/public would probably have closer to 35k than 20k.

Are you sure about that? They didn’t do that in 2003-06 with the AFL members.

Additionally, AFL Members are also counted as club members, so you would be moving games from a stadium that can accommodate 50k of your members (through club/afl areas) down one that will have less than 40k for the same people.

Eddie McGuire spoke about this years ago when he said that Collingwood compete with the AFL for members (as they get much less money for club support vs premium membership). Not sure about current numbers but Coll, Carl, Ess, Rich and Haw used to account for 50-60 per cent of AFL members. It’s probably higher than that now. It’s the same issue with the MCC members - which is why the Dons supposedly went to Marvel in the 90s (to get the MCC members to cough up).

Not to mention the fact that due to capacity concerns you are proposing shifting games that on recent evidence won't fit in a 70k stadium to one that struggles to get 45k.

Maybe for clubs that don't have the numbers in the AFL Members it might be passable, but not for Collingwood. I think a better solution is to be flexible with the bays allocated to the MCC and AFL and reduce them (and therefore boost club/public areas) for games as required.

That’s the ideal solution. The other headache will be broadcasting games. Hopefully they turn the cameras around and shoot the Northern Stands. Could be a blessing in disguise as the Northern and Ponsford stands are always fuller than the Southern outer.

 

[The_Wookie]

Everybody banging on that we can't move the grand final because of capacity.

With a capacity of 81.5k in its oval form, Accor would become the largest-capacity oval stadium in the country.

Looks like we're getting a few years of Sydney grand finals.

No, the contract stipulates a floor of 70k as I understand it. Wont be moved unless it goes under that

 

[Canberra Pear]

No, the contract stipulates a floor of 70k as I understand it. Wont be moved unless it goes under that

Damn. Could've been a good opportunity to share it around.

 

[The_Wookie]

at this price id have liked to see it go to 110k not just 105k.

Really give major event stagers, world cup promoters etc no choice.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

at this price id have liked to see it go to 110k not just 105k.

Really give major event stagers, world cup promoters etc no choice.

From how I understand it if they built the southern stand with the design as the northern stand it would go to 110 but presumably they want more space between the seats etc. to make it the premium stand and to learn from Perth Stadium

 

[Hawkk]

Surely the big push would be to pack the new stand full of Superboxes ala North America and Europe.

 

[Cleavy]

how much is the AFL planning to chip in regarding this redevelopment? $0?

 

[stochastic]

how much is the AFL planning to chip in regarding this redevelopment? $0?

Lol AFL chip in more than any other sporting body

 

[Cleavy]

Lol AFL chip in more than any other sporting body

they're not chipping in a lot on the other stadium

 

[The_Wookie]

how much is the AFL planning to chip in regarding this redevelopment? $0?

The AFL has paid an indexed annual amount since the Southern Stand was built that is separate to match costs and ground rental. Theres no reason for it to change - the amount might. And prepare for an extension to the grand final/finals deal.

 

[The_Wookie]

they're not chipping in a lot on the other stadium

This has never been the case with the MCG.

And if they chipped in a tenner, it would be more than most sports have ever done for a stadium

 

[Hawkk]

The AFL has paid an indexed annual amount since the Southern Stand was built that is separate to match costs and ground rental. Theres no reason for it to change - the amount might. And prepare for an extension to the grand final/finals deal.

More MCG home and away games too? That would help keep the Coll, Rich, Haw, Melb quota of home games whilst allowing for more Carl and Ess games too. Solves a few issues for the AFL and the clubs…

In a decade we might see the AFL drawing 70,000 plus to MCG games (it’s jumped from 40,000 to 60,000 in 20 years).

 

[Cleavy]

The AFL has paid an indexed annual amount since the Southern Stand was built that is separate to match costs and ground rental. Theres no reason for it to change - the amount might. And prepare for an extension to the grand final/finals deal.

thanks The_Wookie

 

[The_Wookie]

More MCG home and away games too? That would help keep the Coll, Rich, Haw, Melb quota of home games whilst allowing for more Carl and Ess games too. Solves a few issues for the AFL and the clubs…

League needs games at Docklands to pay for it. I dont see much change there.

 

[The_Wookie]

 

[Tents]

There were signs of growth for GWS crowds at Engie Stadium this year.

The crowds for the six non-marquee games (excluding Collingwood opening round and Sydney derby) were up 11% on average.

Crowds for the marquee games dropped, but that might be explained by Collingwood no longer being reigning premiers and Sydney not being multiple games clear on top of the ladder.

 

[Bjo187]

There were signs of growth for GWS crowds at Engie Stadium this year.

The crowds for the six non-marquee games (excluding Collingwood opening round and Sydney derby) were up 11% on average.

Crowds for the marquee games dropped, but that might be explained by Collingwood no longer being reigning premiers and Sydney not being multiple games clear on top of the ladder.

Yeah they got some good crowds for games that could have been a concern, the best was the suns one from memory. It shows the floor has increased for their own fans, the drop off in the marquee games is likely less opposition supporters showing up.

Once they get 10k of their own fans to games then anything the opposition brings is a bonus, they're definitely getting closer to that now, with growth each year in their own fans turnout.