More beds, more flights, more fans: Adelaide prepares for biggest Gather Round yet

The numbers show this year’s Gather Round will be the biggest yet, with thousands more tickets sold, rooms booked and visitors expected.

Gather Round 2025 is shaping up to be the biggest yet for South Australia, with more hotel beds and seats on planes allocated than ever in preparation of the “remarkable surge”.

Last year’s event brought in more than $91m to the state’s economy — up 10 per cent from Adelaide’s inaugural Gather Round in 2023 — and that’s only expected to grow in 2025.

Already, five of the nine games have sold out, including both Norwood and Barossa games, and the Crows v Geelong match at Adelaide Oval.

Big crowds during the AFL Gather Round match between the Adelaide Crows and Melbourne Demons at the Adelaide Oval on April 4, 2024. Photo by Phil Hillyard

More than 100,000 tickets were sold in the first four hours of going live, AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said on Tuesday.

“The demand this year has been bigger than ever,” he said.

In line with a bigger, better Gather Round, Adelaide Airport has forecast passenger numbers to jump by 33 per cent compared to last year, from 174,000 passengers to 232,000 over the week of the sporting event.

To accommodate the “record” boost, airport managing director Brenton Cox said there would be more seats available on arriving and departing Adelaide flights over the period.

“It is one of the busiest weeks of the year for the airport with thousands of visitors coming from across Australia to enjoy this feast of footy and our great state,” he said.

“This year is set to be a record year for passengers through Adelaide Airport during Gather Round week.”

In the two weeks leading up to this year’s football spectacular, hotels and accommodations in the Greater Adelaide area were already 10 per cent higher than the previous year.

Crowds stacked the streets of Norwood for the annual Food and Wine Festival that coincides with Gather Round. Picture: Frankie The Creative

An increase in available beds by 4 per cent this year will lend itself to a year “like never before”, Australian Hotels Association SA chief executive Anna Moeller said.

“We would be expecting Saturday (April 12) would crack the 90s — in terms of occupancy percentage — Thursday (April 10) as well and Friday (April 11) would be close to completely full,” she said.

“Once you can get someone staying here, it means, if they’ve travelled from somewhere else, they are bringing new money into the state, and that’s when not just the accommodation sector gets a boost but the whole state.”

More than 265,000 people attended a Gather Round match in 2024, with about 46,000 visitors to the state.

“This is only expected to grow due to the increasing popularity of the festival,” tourism minister Zoe Bettison said.

Ms Bettison said most recent data revealed a “remarkable surge” in occupancy, with an average of 1201 more rooms booked per night of the footy festival.

Gather Round 2025 kicks off on Thursday, April 10 as the Adelaide Crows clash with the Geelong Cats at Adelaide Oval.

Originally published as More beds, more flights, more fans: Adelaide prepares for biggest Gather Round yet