Remove this Banner Ad

2026 Attendances

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Melbourne West coast at Marvel on Mother’s Day in two weeks has the potential of being really bad. Would get to 30k at the G if it was on the Saturday arvo but it’s going to be grim.
 

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

Melbourne West coast at Marvel on Mother’s Day in two weeks has the potential of being really bad. Would get to 30k at the G if it was on the Saturday arvo but it’s going to be grim.
There’s lots of games with interesting nuances and swings in crowds.

West Coast at the MCG probably bring 5-6k but perhaps only 2/3k at Marvel.. It all contributes to the crowd. Also, being Mothers Day means the Eagles fans might not travel for a weekend footy trip.

Bombers play the Lions next Saturday. Lions fans don’t travel in big numbers to Marvel either. This fixture would almost certainly be a lock for 40K+ at the G next Saturday arvo but I don’t think it goes beyond 32-33K next week based on ticket sales (and Bombers form).
 
They don't schedule day games for state specific public holidays. Only exception is Kings Birthday, which isn't a holiaday in WA or QLD.

If they do try to take advantage of it, they'll play a game in Sydney on the Sunday night to take advantage of the day off the following day.

I mean they kind of do it with Labor Day in Queensland (night before) don’t they?
 
Agreed. It also helps that Tasmania is a destination for travellers.

Way back in 2011 the Suns almost drew 20,000 to their 11 home games and sold out Carrara half a dozen times. The new stadium will be a destination venue and should see large numbers of travellers making the trip to Hobart to watch the games (that’s the business case for the team after all).
Not if seats aren't easy to get. I suspect most footy fans would book the flights first, but they're not doing that if they're not likely to get a ticket.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Not if seats aren't easy to get. I suspect most footy fans would book the flights first, but they're not doing that if they're not likely to get a ticket.

I’m not convinced that capacity (after the first year or two) will be an issue.
There are 250,000 to 275,000 people who live within a 50km radius of Macquarie Point. For Geelong it’s 700,000 (and they struggle to draw 25,000 to Thursday night matches despite being a very big club).

I know the hype for the Devils is huge right now, but it’ll be an enormous achievement to regularly draw 20,000-plus for Thursday, Friday, Saturday night and Sunday twilight matches (80 per cent of games).

It’s the same issue with Launceston (140,000 to 160,000). Those four games only draw 10,000 to 15,000, and according to PwC, 25 per cent are travellers, so you’re drawing on 6–7 per cent of the local population.

If the same portion of the population turns up far more regularly for Devils games, you’re looking at 15,000 Devils fans turning up week in, week out from the surrounding population. Even if you get a few thousand more, you’re still 4,000 or 5,000 short of capacity.

Compare with the other AFL stadiums. Melbourne and Sydney have 5 million people within a 50km radius; Brisbane has 2.5 million. Even the Gold Coast and Canberra have 1 million and 600,000 respectively.

One of the biggest issues the Devils have (and why they really need to play in both markets) is that the population is so decentralised.
 
Last edited:
I’m not convinced that capacity (after the first year or two) will be an issue.
There are 250,000 to 275,000 people who live within a 50km radius of Macquarie Point. For Geelong it’s 700,000 (and they struggle to draw 25,000 to Thursday night matches despite being a very big club).

I know the hype for the Devils is huge right now, but it’ll be an enormous achievement to regularly draw 20,000-plus for Thursday, Friday, Saturday night and Sunday twilight matches (80 per cent of games).

It’s the same issue with Launceston (140,000 to 160,000). Those four games only draw 10,000 to 15,000, and according to PwC, 25 per cent are travellers, so you’re drawing on 6–7 per cent of the local population.

If the same portion of the population turns up far more regularly for Devils games, you’re looking at 15,000 Devils fans turning up week in, week out from the surrounding population. Even if you get a few thousand more, you’re still 4,000 or 5,000 short of capacity.

Compare with the other AFL stadiums. Melbourne and Sydney have 5 million people within a 50km radius; Brisbane has 2.5 million. Even the Gold Coast and Canberra have 1 million and 600,000 respectively.

One of the biggest issues the Devils have (and why they really need to play in both markets) is that the population is so decentralised.
I wouldnt have thought its not out of the realms of possibility that they could sell 18-20,000 reserved seats before the season starts, leaving only a few thousand for everyone else. Bear in mind its only for 7 games so its not going to be a massive cost. Not all of them will attend every game but the seat will be sold.
 
I wouldnt have thought its not out of the realms of possibility that they could sell 18-20,000 reserved seats before the season starts, leaving only a few thousand for everyone else. Bear in mind its only for 7 games so its not going to be a massive cost. Not all of them will attend every game but the seat will be sold.

My thought process exactly. If the sell 15,000 reserved seats and they are only 60% turn up weekly that’s 5-6000 empty seats a week. Going to be a heap of potential locked out.

They have an opportunity to design membership model, with a new team and a new stadium. A real blank page they could do anything with.

All bays, not seats?

Benny has first hand seen the battle at Tiger land it will be fascinating what they do.
 

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

My thought process exactly. If the sell 15,000 reserved seats and they are only 60% turn up weekly that’s 5-6000 empty seats a week. Going to be a heap of potential locked out.

They have an opportunity to design membership model, with a new team and a new stadium. A real blank page they could do anything with.

All bays, not seats?

Benny has first hand seen the battle at Tiger land it will be fascinating what they do.
60% would be exceptionally low and would be unheard of outside Melbourne short of a cyclone hitting. But 75-80% is realistic and would result in 4-5000 empty seats if they sell 20k.
If they sell unreserved bays then you might get more people but you wouldnt be able to command the same dollars for a membership.
 
12,597 for our game against North at Manuka according to the ground announcer..may require another source to confirm though
Confirmation of attendance verbally announced now available from Austadiums.

This was our 10th biggest crowd at Manuka (out of 40 games we have played in Manuka), and is significantly higher than the average crowd of 10,600 for our Manuka games.

It is also our highest ever attendance for a match against North - not just in Manuka but also at our Engie home ground. Our previous highest attendance against North was 11,753 for our match against them last year.


 
Last edited:
After Round 7 (excluding Gather Round).

HOME CROWDS
Club (# of home games played) = Total (Average)
  • Carlton (3) = 220,134 (73,378)
  • Essendon (3) = 203,769 (67,923)
  • Collingwood (2) = 104,089 (52,045)
  • West Coast (3) = 152,038 (50,679)
  • Adelaide (3) = 143,666 (47,889)
  • St Kilda (3) = 143,452 (47,817)
  • Fremantle (3) = 134,081 (44,694)
  • Hawthorn (4) = 177,990 (44,498)
  • Richmond (3) = 132,303 (44,101)
  • Sydney (3) = 122,486 (40,829)
  • Port Adelaide (3) = 110,967 (36,989)
  • Melbourne (3) = 110,493 (36,831)
  • North Melbourne (3) = 105,821 (35,274)
  • Brisbane Lions (3) = 98,883 (32,961)
  • Western Bulldogs (3) = 96,627 (32,209)
  • Geelong (3) = 82,318 (27,439)
  • Gold Coast (3) = 52,207 (17,402)
  • GWS (3) = 37,903 (12,634)

HOME AND AWAY CROWDS
Club (# of games played) = Total (Average)
  • Collingwood (6) = 391,554 (65,259)
  • Carlton (6) = 360,525 (60,088)
  • Essendon (6) = 297,643 (49,607)
  • Melbourne (6) = 290,356 (48,393)
  • Richmond (6) = 278,445 (46,408)
  • Fremantle (6) = 265,655 (44,276)
  • Hawthorn (6) = 265,531 (44,255)
  • Adelaide (6) = 259,180 (43,197)
  • Sydney (6) = 250,677 (41,780)
  • St Kilda (6) = 243,032 (40,505)
  • West Coast (6) = 228,171 (38,029)
  • Geelong (6) = 228,053 (38,009)
  • Western Bulldogs (6) = 210,618 (35,103)
  • Brisbane Lions (6) = 210,494 (35,082)
  • Port Adelaide (6) = 205,826 (34,304)
  • North Melbourne (6) = 205,655 (34,276)
  • GWS (6) = 151,814 (25,302)
  • Gold Coast (6) = 115,225 (19,204)
 
60% would be exceptionally low and would be unheard of outside Melbourne short of a cyclone hitting. But 75-80% is realistic and would result in 4-5000 empty seats if they sell 20k.
If they sell unreserved bays then you might get more people but you wouldnt be able to command the same dollars for a membership.

Maybe less likely outside of Melbourne but in 2023 when Richmond finished top 8 their member show rate was 50%. The pub released this data in their emails. Let’s be honest, we are saying it holds 24,000 but 20,000 is going to be a sell out most weeks.

I think you could as you are sitting a new standard. At Richmond the higher you climb up the membership ranks it actually becomes compulsory to have bays. Essentially all of level 2 are bays not seats.

The world is their oyster, they can train members to return seats, opt out to seats etc right from the very start.
 
They don't schedule day games for state specific public holidays. Only exception is Kings Birthday, which isn't a holiaday in WA or QLD.

If they do try to take advantage of it, they'll play a game in Sydney on the Sunday night to take advantage of the day off the following day.
There was this Freo game back in 1997 on WA DAY which was a Monday Public holiday only in WA with a crowd of 22,500 which was about on average for the time for them

 
Maybe less likely outside of Melbourne but in 2023 when Richmond finished top 8 their member show rate was 50%. The pub released this data in their emails. Let’s be honest, we are saying it holds 24,000 but 20,000 is going to be a sell out most weeks.

I think you could as you are sitting a new standard. At Richmond the higher you climb up the membership ranks it actually becomes compulsory to have bays. Essentially all of level 2 are bays not seats.

The world is their oyster, they can train members to return seats, opt out to seats etc right from the very start.

I'm thinking you mean 2022, we didn't play finals in 2023.
Member show rates dont take into account AFL reserve and MCC reserve 'Richmond club support members', where we have 19K members combined. AFL 6.5K and MCC 12.5K

If they added this to Richmond's reserve seat areas, the show rate would be roughly 60-70% overall.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Remove this Banner Ad

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top Bottom