Cats cold on playing all home games in Geelong once GMHBA Stadium is complete

Even with a complete stadium, Geelong has no plans to ask for the full 11 home games at GMHBA Stadium. Here’s why.

The Geelong faithful will not get the chance to see more home games any time soon. Picture: Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Geelong will not push for 11 home games at GMHBA Stadium once the ground’s refurbishment is complete, with the Cats keen to sign up more Melbourne-based members and caught in a state government deal.

The Cats celebrate a late goal at home in 2022. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Once Kardinia Park’s northern stand is complete in the middle of next year, Geelong’s home ground will have a capacity of 40,000, more than the home venues of Brisbane, Gold Coast and GWS Giants.

But the Cats have no plans to capitalise on the expanded capacity and ask the AFL for more than the standard nine games in Geelong each year.

According to Cats chief executive Steve Hocking, the club is caught in a deal between the state government and the AFL that locks all 10 Victorian sides into playing home matches at Melbourne grounds the MCG and Marvel Stadium.

Geelong also believes it has an untapped source of potential members living in the Melbourne metro area, as it pushes to crack 100,000 members by 2025.

“There is a state government contract that is in place that requires all Victorian teams to play ‘X’ amount of games at both the MCG or Marvel Stadium,” Hocking told members at the club’s AGM.

“We are part of that, we are in Victoria, we are not interstate.

“We are part of a bigger competition and our role in that is we are part of that contract so there are games we naturally have to play in Melbourne.

“We have moved away from Marvel Stadium, we are playing at the MCG, we are making it work for us and we are looking to grow our membership base off the back of that.

“Whether that changes in the future, we will be ready for that change and we will absolutely consider that … at this point in time we are making the most of Melbourne with those restrictions that are in place.”

Jake Kolodjashnij thanks the Geelong fans. Picture: Graham Denholm/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The Cats hope a slate of blockbusters at the MCG in early 2023 – including home games against Collingwood (round 1) and Hawthorn (round 5) – can open the gates for an influx of Melbourne members.

The club believes that it has 600,000 supporters nationwide, of which between 275-300,000 live in metro Melbourne, but only 26,000 of those are signed up members.

“We are a big club and we need to get to 100,000 to compete against those bigger clubs,” Hocking said.

“Those bigger clubs (such as Richmond and Collingwood) get an audience with the AFL. That is the club we want to be and we are going to continue to push towards that.”

Originally published as Cats cold on playing all home games in Geelong once GMHBA Stadium is complete