2026 Attendances

[MattF185]

And by the time the seaon starts NRL would have had a month head start, and the Giants home ground would be unavailable because of the Sydney Show.

Honestly, so what. We are our own competition

 

[Underarm]

Honestly, so what. We are our own competition

Its the job of the AFL to grow the game nationally, not just in Melbourne.

 

[The Educator]

I'm hoping with the fact that the 150th anniversary test is a day/nighter and the fact that channel 7 has the rights to both AFL and cricket that the AFL season starts the weekend after.

This would then bring the double benefit of no round 0 and either the AFL having to get rid of gather round or revert finals to 8 teams.

Showing a complete misunderstanding of the economics of both sports broadcasting and stadia if you think channel 7 / foxtel and the MCG would be up for the AFL reducing its season for a one off test ...let-alone the AFL!

AFL TV rights are 3 times the value of the cricket rights for a reason

The David King suggestion from a month ago on SEN where he would rather the season start a couple of weeks later and finish on the second Saturday of October would make sense. A Thursday 18th March 2027 start time instead.

This is more plausible. Most likely would be the AFL just plays the big Melbourne clubs outside of Victoria that weekend

 

[Rouel_14]

I’m thinking it will be lucky to start with a 7 Thursday night.

3 level one bays $110 a ticket
Quite a few level 2 $180 a ticket
Up the back of the Ponsford $55

Going to need big MCC and Reserve roll ups.

Isn’t the whole point of dynamic pricing so when demand is there you rise the price and when it’s not you drop it?

Half the level 1 tickets and what you’d have lost in blues interest you might pick up from away fans thinking there are half a shot at a sneaky chance of lightning striking twice.

 

[Walshawk]

Which completely defeats the purpose of giving the weekend to only the Northern states.

SA has Gather round, WA has SoO. Vics have everything else. Why do they need to take the 1 thing the AFL has given the Northern States?

But this has all been done to death elsewhere.

How would a game in Adelaide or anywhere else, say on the Sunday, have any impact of the Sydney market? Opening round works because thousands of fans from Victoria travel up for the first game. A game in SA makes no difference to how many fans would travel to NSW/Qld.

 

[AstuteTiger]

I’m thinking it will be lucky to start with a 7 Thursday night.

3 level one bays $110 a ticket
Quite a few level 2 $180 a ticket
Up the back of the Ponsford $55

Going to need big MCC and Reserve roll ups.

Isn’t the whole point of dynamic pricing so when demand is there you rise the price and when it’s not you drop it?

Half the level 1 tickets and what you’d have lost in blues interest you might pick up from away fans thinking there are half a shot at a sneaky chance of lightning striking twice.

I'll go with 75K. These prices are insane and will likely prevent it from topping 80K like most years in the last decade or so.

I just had a look, and the $55 level 4 seats at the city end still have many available (about 6-7 full rows in each bay), but not as many as when I posted the screenshot last week, which had countless rows empty in each bay.

Southern Stand, level 4, about 3 full rows empty in each bay.

AFL and MCC reserves may not be full, but very close to it.

On dynamic pricing, that's what I thought also when it was first introduced, that clubs could raise the prices if high demand is there.

I think you will find that more of those level 4, $55 tickets will go.
Those $110 tickets, there are quite a few available with 2 days out from the game.



Level 2, a lazy $180

 

[dave10]

I'll go with 75K. These prices are insane and will likely prevent it from topping 80K like most years in the last decade or so.

I just had a look, and the $55 level 4 seats at the city end still have many available (about 6-7 full rows in each bay), but not as many as when I posted the screenshot last week, which had countless rows empty in each bay.

Southern Stand, level 4, about 3 full rows empty in each bay.

AFL and MCC reserves may not be full, but very close to it.

On dynamic pricing, that's what I thought also when it was first introduced, that clubs could raise the prices if high demand is there.

I think you will find that more of those level 4, $55 tickets will go.
Those $110 tickets, there are quite a few available with 2 days out from the game.

View attachment 2547457

Level 2, a lazy $180

View attachment 2547458

Same story the following night. $55 for level four in Ponsford Stand as well.

The clubs have misread the market. I think they’ve set prices based on a round one, season launch style marquee fixture as per years past. This year the ‘launch’ magic is gone after last weekends MCG Sunday game took the limelight for this.

It’s basically now just round two, featuring teams having lost games week prior and other teams not expected to play finals.

That’s why ticket sales are slower than expected. The Clubs will learn next time.

 

[Underarm]

I'll go with 75K. These prices are insane and will likely prevent it from topping 80K like most years in the last decade or so.

I just had a look, and the $55 level 4 seats at the city end still have many available (about 6-7 full rows in each bay), but not as many as when I posted the screenshot last week, which had countless rows empty in each bay.

Southern Stand, level 4, about 3 full rows empty in each bay.

AFL and MCC reserves may not be full, but very close to it.

On dynamic pricing, that's what I thought also when it was first introduced, that clubs could raise the prices if high demand is there.

I think you will find that more of those level 4, $55 tickets will go.
Those $110 tickets, there are quite a few available with 2 days out from the game.

View attachment 2547457

Level 2, a lazy $180

View attachment 2547458

Those level 1 seats are going to stick out like a sore thumb on tv as well. BT going to have a field day.

I assume they make more money this way, but crowds are always down when games start off as fully ticketed before anything has been sold.

 

[Underarm]

How would a game in Adelaide or anywhere else, say on the Sunday, have any impact of the Sydney market? Opening round works because thousands of fans from Victoria travel up for the first game. A game in SA makes no difference to how many fans would travel to NSW/Qld.

This is supposed to be the Northern States marquee thing. Like Gather round or SoO in Adelaide and Perth. The more you add to the rest of the country, the less special it is. The less media attention on those specific games.

If you give Adelaide a match, why not Perth? And then suddenly thats 7 matches and the complete point of setting the opening round that way is pointless.

 

[ep12]

Bought 5 tickets in N25 which just went on sale for tomorrow night in the AFL. This has been the case for years now with the best seats in the AFL going on sale in the week of the game (level 2 N23/N24/N25, Level 2a P21/P23 and level 1 undercover M17, M18, M19, M22. these are all Medallion club returned seats or unused dining.)

Anyway, the point was the Pax number was only 73,500 for these which is way lower than usual for this game. Taking into account empty Carlton reserved seats and Mcc walk ups, 74-77k is about accurate i would say.

 

[Walshawk]

This is supposed to be the Northern States marquee thing. Like Gather round or SoO in Adelaide and Perth. The more you add to the rest of the country, the less special it is. The less media attention on those specific games.

If you give Adelaide a match, why not Perth? And then suddenly thats 7 matches and the complete point of setting the opening round that way is pointless.

Disagree. It is like saying other games on ANZAC Day make Pies v Bombers less special. The games are in different states, different markets. It makes absolutely no difference.

 

[____]

Showing a complete misunderstanding of the economics of both sports broadcasting and stadia if you think channel 7 / foxtel and the MCG would be up for the AFL reducing its season for a one off test ...let-alone the AFL!

AFL TV rights are 3 times the value of the cricket rights for a reason




This is more plausible. Most likely would be the AFL just plays the big Melbourne clubs outside of Victoria that weekend

The AFL did delay the start of the season in 2015 for the cricket world cup final, and as a benefit at the time it got rid of the split round 1, which is a shit idea but much better than round 0.

 

[ep12]

Fully ticketed event for tonight seems like a really bad idea. Back 6 rows of Q1-Q7 arent going to go on sale and back 10 rows of Q31-Q36 the same. Plus M5-M8 have only had half the bays on sale to make it look more full on the night.

 

[Walshawk]

The AFL did delay the start of the season in 2015 for the cricket world cup final, and as a benefit at the time it got rid of the split round 1, which is a shit idea but much better than round 0.

We can have a split opening round - six games the week before the cricket, 2 x NSW/QLD + 2 + Vic, then 1 x SA and 2 x late WA games whilst the test is on.

 

[dave10]

Fully ticketed event for tonight seems like a really bad idea. Back 6 rows of Q1-Q7 arent going to go on sale and back 10 rows of Q31-Q36 the same. Plus M5-M8 have only had half the bays on sale to make it look more full on the night.

What about tomorrow night.. It’s much worse than tonight!

This is one of the biggest scams going. ‘Due to overwhelming demand’ they said. Absolute bullocks and fans shouldn’t cop it.. Means 15-20,000 won’t go between both games at the G.

 

[Rouel_14]

Yeah, it’s a real odd mix.

MCC not selling any more visitor passes as of this morning so they must be expecting a decent roll up.

I bit the bullet this morning and paid $100 for level 1 ticket. Absolute sucker for punishment.

Now for the 3 hour trek down from Albury. Please show up tiges.

70,000+ would be a good show considering both team form lines.

Fully ticketed event for tonight seems like a really bad idea. Back 6 rows of Q1-Q7 arent going to go on sale and back 10 rows of Q31-Q36 the same. Plus M5-M8 have only had half the bays on sale to make it look more full on the night.

 

[What else we can do]

What about tomorrow night.. It’s much worse than tonight!

This is one of the biggest scams going. ‘Due to overwhelming demand’ they said. Absolute bullocks and fans shouldn’t cop it.. Means 15-20,000 won’t go between both games at the G.

Wouldn't surprise me if the official attendance is under 70k tonight.

 

[dave10]

Wouldn't surprise me if the official attendance is under 70k tonight.

My guess at this stage is 72,500 tonight and 66,000 tomorrow night. I can only speak with authority on tomorrows match and I think what they’ve done pre selling this game is a disgrace and I can’t believe Hawthirn supporters aren’t complaining to their club and Essendon fans to theirs. Think about it, it’s a shocker.

It’s an example of misreading the mood of the match, applying a greedy attitude to the first game and denying thousands of Flexi / GA members access to a game that wasn’t on track to sellout at any stage.

This should have been sold as a typical Bombers / Hawks game. Sell reserved on demand and allow a very strong GA walk up on the night as is traditionally the case for this fixture. Crowd likely 80-82k.

What they’ve done is force fans to pay absurd prices for ordinary seats and the fans aren’t copping it.

 

[parano1a]

Any early projections for Pies-Crows? 70k possible?

 

[Cmarsh]

My guess at this stage is 72,500 tonight and 66,000 tomorrow night. I can only speak with authority on tomorrows match and I think what they’ve done pre selling this game is a disgrace and I can’t believe Hawthirn supporters aren’t complaining to their club and Essendon fans to theirs. Think about it, it’s a shocker.

It’s an example of misreading the mood of the match, applying a greedy attitude to the first game and denying thousands of Flexi / GA members access to a game that wasn’t on track to sellout at any stage.

This should have been sold as a typical Bombers / Hawks game. Sell reserved on demand and allow a very strong GA walk up on the night as is traditionally the case for this fixture. Crowd likely 80-82k.

What they’ve done is force fans to pay absurd prices for ordinary seats and the fans aren’t copping it.

But will the AFL and the clubs learn from it?

 

[parano1a]

denying thousands of Flexi / GA members access to a game that wasn’t on track to sellout at any stage

They aren't doing this, though? The members just need to login to Ticketek to confirm their tickets. Takes 5 minutes.

 

[manicmagpie]

Any early projections for Pies-Crows? 70k possible?

Possible but unlikely and would need a pretty healthy walk up on the day. Ticket sales are not within 12k of Coll/StK.

More likely to be around 60-65k as is becoming standard for Collingwood v non-Vics.

 

[dave10]

They aren't doing this, though? The members just need to login to Ticketek to confirm their tickets. Takes 5 minutes.

No they don’t. GA / Flexi members need to upgrade to a reserved seat. Cheapest reserved seat is $55. Members without a season reserved seat can’t scan in and sit in the GA. There’s no GA access.

 

[parano1a]

GA / Flexi members need to upgrade to a reserved seat. Cheapest reserved seat is $55.

So GA members have to pay an additional $55 to sit on Level 4? If that's true it is ridiculous.

 

[dave10]

So GA members have to pay an additional $55 to sit on Level 4? If that's true it is ridiculous.

That’s correct