Fixture Gather Round - SA announced as host for next 3 years 2024-2026

[Festerz]

16.04.23

GATHER ROUND SOUTH AUSTRALIA
AFL LOCKS IN SA FOR NEXT THREE SEASONS

The AFL in partnership with the SA Government is pleased to announce ‘Gather Round…. A Festival of Footy’ will be hosted in South Australia for the next three seasons.

The inaugural ‘Gather Round’ has been an overwhelming success, with all nine games sold out, more than 220,000 fans attending matches across the Adelaide Oval, Norwood Oval and Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills and tens of thousands of fans attending the footy festival on the banks of Torrens.

More than 60,000 fans purchased tickets from interstate.

Across 2024, 2025 and 2026, Gather Round …. A festival of footy will be hosted exclusively in South Australia, with Adelaide Oval to be the central venue, with the intent from both the AFL and the SA Government to take regional matches in 2024 to the Barossa / McClaren Vale region.

As part of the three-year term, both the AFL and SA Government have also committed to establishing a community football legacy fund, that will benefit local footy clubs in the state beyond the weekend of matches.

The AFL will lock in the fixture dates of the round in the coming weeks to give fans as much lead time as possible to book travel and accommodation.

Ticketing information will be release later in the year.

“South Australia really turned it on. Gather Round and all the activity across the state, the nine matches, the footy festival and the community football engagement has been some of the best days and events the AFL has ever delivered,” AFL Chief Executive Gillon McLachlan said.

“It has been a success because everyone in football got behind the idea, clubs, players, corporate partners and most importantly our fans, to deliver an extraordinary few days,

“While the concept has real momentum, and we plan on taking it to other states around the country, we also feel in order for it to be as successful in the other states we need to continue to build out the concept in South Australia,

“The reality is we only had a few months to pull this together, and we hope by locking it in now we are giving everyone a longer runway to put together a bigger and even better event, and our fans certainty around booking travel and accommodation.

“The match at Mount Barker was a special afternoon on Saturday and an important part of recommitting to South Australia was to establish the community legacy fund, ensuring local footy clubs’ benefit from bringing the Gather Round to town.”

During the round the AFL has facilitated dozens of community club and school visits, held seminars for community club volunteers and delivered more than 10,000 footballs to regional community clubs.

Details on the Community legacy fund will be communicated at a later date.

“On behalf of the AFL I want to thank to Premier Malinauskas and his team in the SA Government who in partnership, delivered an unbelievable few days for footy and the state of South Australia.”

The AFL will also work with the AFLPA on the commitments to the players.

“The players have been strong partners in the Gather Round concept and have embraced wholeheartedly the round. We will now work with the AFLPA on the commitments to the players in the coming years.”

SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said “The inaugural Gather Round has been a stunning success, in no small part thanks to the willingness of South Australians, and our interstate visitors, to show up.
“We know that this has delivered huge benefits for our state, and that is why I’m so pleased to see it return for the next three years.”

“With more time to plan, we know we can make Gather Round even bigger and better than what it has already become.”

“I want to thank Gillon McLachlan, the AFL, wider footballing community, public servants, councils and others who’ve all worked so hard to deliver such an amazing event in just a few months.”

“But most of all, I want to thank each and every person who showed up.”

“This agreement is because of you.”

-ends-

 

[Great8]

I’d be more than happy to get Port or the Crows in a stand-alone fixture.
The more Essendon fans that can attend the better

 

[Wargreymon90]

I’d be more than happy to get Port or the Crows in a stand-alone fixture.
The more Essendon fans that can attend the better

Essendon and Carlton have always been able to draw a crowd in Adelaide

 

[Great8]

Essendon and Carlton have always been able to draw a crowd in Adelaide

A normal game in Adelaide is about a 90/10 split in Port and the Crows favour whereas Gather round could potentially be a 50/50 split of tickets. Give me that any day.

 

[ibd77]

Resurrect Football Park please.

Just as much chance as Waverly being resurrected to its former glory. FB is dead & buried.

 

[windyhill]

Just as much chance as Waverly being resurrected to its former glory. FB is dead & buried.

I know, I miss both though.

 

[Engimal v3]

Any particular reason Port vs Adelaide didn't headline? Too much of an advantage?

 

[blackus]

Good luck to SA.
Not surprised at all, the AFL has always been about flying off the seat of their pants.
The weekend hadn't even been completed and more importantly assessed, and they commit to 4 years in SA.
Like the knee jerk reactions to rule changes.
Wouldn't you review how the weekend went, what was good, bad, indifferent before making a decison?

You really have to query Mclachlan and the AFLs business decisions. Its not like a decision needs to be made yesterday on the next 3 years of gather round. Let the dust settle, let the states digest what it might look like for their state and then the AFL should put it out for tender – if the best deal then comes from NSW or QLD or WA so be it, run with that and maximise the profits for the AFL. Exactly like the GF agreement with the MCG. Why would you lock that away for so long without a tender process and miss out on potential $100s of thousands of dollars in a bidding war ?? If it still ends up at the MCG fine, but at least they would have paid market value and all the clubs benefit

 

[Chief Hopper]

Was there any response as to why lots of the games seemed to have large amount of empty seats?

I saw in the news that many matches were sold out, yet looking at the televised game it seemed not to be the case.
Seeing as tickets for adults as low as $30, maybe many tickets were bought either by scalpers or fans that didn't turn up to a 2nd or 3rd match.

I'm a fan of this round, seems something is amiss going on here though with the tickets.

 

[Bjo187]

You really have to query Mclachlan and the AFLs business decisions. Its not like a decision needs to be made yesterday on the next 3 years of gather round. Let the dust settle, let the states digest what it might look like for their state and then the AFL should put it out for tender – if the best deal then comes from NSW or QLD or WA so be it, run with that and maximise the profits for the AFL. Exactly like the GF agreement with the MCG. Why would you lock that away for so long without a tender process and miss out on potential $100s of thousands of dollars in a bidding war ?? If it still ends up at the MCG fine, but at least they would have paid market value and all the clubs benefit

Yep, ridiculous, not sure why the rush, could have locked in S.A for 2024, and if no better offers, gone back to them for 25/26 anyway. I'll give you one thing, Malinaskaus out negotiated the best the negotiator in the game (apparently).

I'd actually love to see Malinaskaus as the incoming AFL CEO, would be perfect for the gig, however only 2 years as premier, he will likely feel it isn't enough.

 

[Rob]

Was there any response as to why lots of the games seemed to have large amount of empty seats?

I saw in the news that many matches were sold out, yet looking at the televised game it seemed not to be the case.
Seeing as tickets for adults as low as $30, maybe many tickets were bought either by scalpers or fans that didn't turn up to a 2nd or 3rd match.

I'm a fan of this round, seems something is amiss going on here though with the tickets.

It's really not that complicated. Members got free tickets, so not out of the realms of possibility that there were lots of people that took tickets yet didn't go. And double headers are obviously going to have people that don't go to both games, especially when there's an hour gap in the middle.

 

[Jbudds]

Absolutely. It's a hard one to bypass though. How do you fix that?
The AFL has a long standing deal to play the grand final at the MCG. No other grounds in the country can accommodate 90k+.
It's a bit hard for 9 different teams to split their games across 2 grounds, without playing on those grounds regularly.

Well, there doesn't have to be that many people at the GF for a start and it doesn't have to always be at the MCG. NFL don't for the super bowl for example.

Here is the real question, why does a not for profit organisation like the AFL prioritise financial commercial interests in front of everything else? If you are going to do that, then pay taxes, otherwise put the best interests of the game first.

Gather Round is a success and should continue.

Next year 2 extra rounds should be added to the season that are called Regional Round and Country Round. Each team is home for one and away for the other. But in both rounds, all the games are played away from the regular grounds.

So instead we see games at;
Launceston, Hobart, Devonport,
Alice Springs, Darwin,
Ballarat, Bendigo, Mildura, Shepparton,
Bunbury, Busselton, Geraldton, Karratha, Port Headland, Kalgoorlie, Albany,
Bundaberg, Townsville, Cairns, McKay, Rockhampton, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast,
Canberra,
Wollongong, Newcastle, Albury, Gosford, Port Macquarie, Wagga Wagga, Coffs Harbour,
Mt Gambia, Whyalla,
Auckland, Wellington…

A lot of grounds will need upgrading...

 

[pjcrows]

Yep, ridiculous, not sure why the rush, could have locked in S.A for 2024, and if no better offers, gone back to them for 25/26 anyway. I'll give you one thing, Malinaskaus out negotiated the best the negotiator in the game (apparently).

I'd actually love to see Malinaskaus as the incoming AFL CEO, would be perfect for the gig, however only 2 years as premier, he will likely feel it isn't enough.

Malinauskas is looking beyond either of those roles.

 

[Jars458]

Malinauskas is looking beyond either of those roles.

Australian cricket captain seems beyond him

 

[Cuzz09]

Resurrect Football Park please.

still A nice oval there but no room for big crowd.

Could get 2k Max standing

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[ibd77]

Was there any response as to why lots of the games seemed to have large amount of empty seats?

I saw in the news that many matches were sold out, yet looking at the televised game it seemed not to be the case.
Seeing as tickets for adults as low as $30, maybe many tickets were bought either by scalpers or fans that didn't turn up to a 2nd or 3rd match.

I'm a fan of this round, seems something is amiss going on here though with the tickets.

Double headers spread the tickets across the four clubs involved. Fans of the late game did not show up for the early match and visa versa for the fans for the early game. The biggest mistake was placing Port in the double header where it should have been a standalone match Friday night. Vic vs Vic clubs may fix the double header issues at AO in the future but ideally less games at AO and more suburban or regional matches should be considered.

 

[Jars458]

Any particular reason Port vs Adelaide didn't headline? Too much of an advantage?

Will ruin the festive atmosphere with poisonous intense rivalry and halve the number of people that can attend two games.

 

[Cuzz09]

Port just don't have the interest honestly.

Even when they're up and about the media here are more about the Crows.



On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Great8]

Malinauskas is looking beyond either of those roles.

Yep, he will flip to the Feds for next election and will get a nice juicy portfolio and will be pushing higher

 

[peetoo]

Not. Full blown gather round but Hobart could christen its new stadium with a combination of Tassie team, saints north hawks and possibly other well supported clubs eg richmond carlton in the one weekend
As part of mini carnival

 

[Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods]

Well, there doesn't have to be that many people at the GF for a start and it doesn't have to always be at the MCG. NFL don't for the super bowl for example.

Here is the real question, why does a not for profit organisation like the AFL prioritise financial commercial interests in front of everything else? If you are going to do that, then pay taxes, otherwise put the best interests of the game first.

A lot of grounds will need upgrading...

They might be not-for-profit (I actually wasn't aware of that, or might have heard it a long time ago and forgot), but they still have operating costs, wages, grass roots investment, areas of the game to invest in for the future. Not to mention that they will likely need a decent kitty aside for this concussion suit.

What's the largest capacity stadium outside of the MCG? Even taking into account competition winners, free tickets, corporates, etc, that's a lot of ticket sales to miss out on. I'm not sure how much it costs to put on a grand final, but entertainment alone would eat into a massive chunk.

 

[Gough]

still A nice oval there but no room for big crowd.

Could get 2k Max standing

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

Gather round wouldn't have happened if we were still at Footy Park, it was a shitful place that only die hards could be bothered going to.

 

[Festerz]

Yep, he will flip to the Feds for next election and will get a nice juicy portfolio and will be pushing higher

LOL.

Quick question - how many of the highly popular and successful SA Premiers over the years have switched to a successful career in Federal politics?

None. It doesn't happen. State politics is a totally different ballgame from Federal politics - especially for those outside of NSW/Vic.

As former SA Premiers like Olsen and Rann have shown, the next step up from SA Premier is a shift to a plum diplomatic or consular post overseas or maybe an academic posting.

 

[ibd77]

A normal game in Adelaide is about a 90/10 split in Port and the Crows favour whereas Gather round could potentially be a 50/50 split of tickets. Give me that any day.

No can do unless we have 3 showdowns in a season where 50/50 crowd can be balloted between the two membership bases.

As it stands now, memberships & season ticket holders need to be honored during each clubs home match. You also have all the corporates to consider as well as match day events for each club. This event is too big on its own to incorporate into Gather Round.

 

[ibd77]

Gather round wouldn't have happened if we were still at Footy Park, it was a shitful place that only die hards could be bothered going to.

Agreed, Port & the AFL had to drag the SANFL kicking and screaming back to Adelaide Oval along with the Crows. It was pretty close to never happening as $100M was just recently announced by the SA Government to upgrade Footy Park before the AO proposal was put forward.

Footy Park was inaccessible to the general public or casual supporter. Only the diehard fans ventured out that way where they had a set routine and knew where to park or catch public transport. I lived within walking distance to the ground at the time so it wasn't an issue for me. In regards to hospitality, there was nothing really around other than the Checkside Tavern at FB & the Lakes Resort Hotel at West Lakes.

 

[Great8]

No can do unless we have 3 showdowns in a season where 50/50 crowd can be balloted between the two membership bases.

As it stands now, memberships & season ticket holders need to be honored during each clubs home match. You also have all the corporates to consider as well as match day events for each club. This event is too big on its own to incorporate into Gather Round.

Sorry if you misinterpreted my post. I’m not calling for a Showdown.
I’m wanting Essendon to play Port or the Crows in Gather Round. In a normal fixture against those sides it’s a 90/10 split with Essendon having few fans in attendance. By playing in Gather round we could almost get to a 50/50 split and have 20k Bomber fans in attendance.