State of Origin 1 won’t sell out as Adelaide goes cold on rugby league’s showpiece event

State of Origin is struggling to pull a crowd for the series opener in Adelaide, with locals blaming an “insulting” and “disrespectful” advertising campaign.

The NRL has conceded State of Origin I in Adelaide will fail to sell out.

With less than a week until kick-off, the NRL is reporting 41,000 tickets have been sold for a match to be played at the 53,500-capacity Adelaide Oval.

That leaves 12,500 seats empty, as of Wednesday afternoon.

NRL management is hoping to reach 45,000 – a strong crowd but still facing the awkwardness of 8500 empty seats for rugby league’s showpiece event.

Failure to sell out in a non-NRL city would allow critics who dislike taking Origin away from the traditional Sydney and Melbourne a reason to gloat.

Expensive tickets to LIV Golf and the AFL’s Gather Round last month has also led to claims Adelaide sports fans have “wallet fatigue.”

Adelaide fans are renowned for their walk-up so the crowd just may nudge above 45,000 through a late promotional burst.

Advertising for the upcoming Origin match in Adelaide.

Well-placed Government sources in South Australia believe the Origin game will only pull around 42,000 but the NRL has quickly denied this.

“We are tracking towards a strong crowd number for State of Origin 1 in Adelaide with more than 45,000 fans expected,” said an NRL spokesman.

“Ticket sales have picked up significantly since the teams were named on Monday and the expectation is that will continue.”

A billboard slogan in Adelaide’s main street, Rundle Mall, which reads ‘Real footy is coming soon to Adelaide’, has been taken as disrespectful by local AFL fans.

“If you want to attract an AFL audience to a rugby league, I’m not sure insulting them about their game will help,” said one sporting official.

Tickets for Origin I range from $45 to $259.

Indications show thousands of rugby league fans from the eastern states will make the journey to Adelaide and the South Australian Government is determined to continue encouraging and promoting big sporting events.

Tickets for State of Origin 1 aren’t selling as well as expected. Picture: Josh Woning

Around 65,000 fans flocked to watch LIV Golf live at the Grange Golf Course in Adelaide last month and more than 220,000 fans attended nine games in and around Adelaide as part of Gather Round – the AFL’s version of rugby league’s Magic Round.

The significant financial outlay to attend these events may have hurt rugby league’s chance of an Origin sellout.

Crowd figures compared to rival events aren’t all doom and gloom for the NRL. The Wallabies-Springboks Test in Adelaide last year pulled a crowd of 36,366.

Both Adelaide-based AFL clubs are also performing strongly and pulling large crowds. Port Adelaide is currently third on the AFL competition table with Adelaide Crows sitting eighth.

The average home crowd this year for Port Adelaide is 38,964 with the Adelaide Crows average being 39,472.

It is unknown what the SA Government paid to host Origin but reports suggest it cost around $15m to lure Gather Round to Adelaide.

The NSW side will fly into Adelaide on Monday and depart on Thursday. Game two in Brisbane will be a 52,000 sellout at Suncorp Stadium while the Sydney game at Accor Stadium should attract a crowd of more than 80,000 fans.

Originally published as State of Origin 1 won’t sell out as Adelaide goes cold on rugby league’s showpiece event