Excitement for AFL’s Gather Round builds as ticket sales, Adelaide hotel bookings climb

Three quarters of all hotel rooms in Adelaide are already booked months out from the inaugural festival of footy happening in SA – move fast if you need tickets or a bed!

Three-quarters of all hotel rooms in Adelaide are already booked for the Saturday night during the AFL Gather Round, two months ahead of the festival of footy.

More than 35,000 tickets have been sold for the double header that day which will see Essendon take on Melbourne before Port Adelaide clash with the Western Bulldogs.

Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison said the Saturday night hotel bookings were “more than double what we would normally see this far in advance”.

“That is great news for our tourism and hospitality sector and another reason why we go out hard to secure major events and invest heavily in growing our calendar all year round,” she said.

Adelaide will host all nine games in the round from Thursday, April 13 to Sunday, April 16.

Organisers say tickets are also limited for the round’s opening game between Adelaide and Carlton.

All up 120,000 tickets have been sold, including 40,000 to interstate fans.

Port Adelaide’s Todd Marshall and the Crows’ Reilly O’Brien with young friends, Milana, 10, Khloe, 10, Jack, 11, Max, 9, Noah, 9, Bodhi, 3, and Saige, 1, are all excited about the upcoming AFL Gather Round. Picture: Dean Martin

Crows ruckman Reilly O’Brien said: “People love an excuse to travel and Adelaide is a great place to have it. Football is a celebration and a party so it’s awesome to have a whole weekend dedicated to it.”

So far, among interstate fans of Victorian heavyweight clubs, twice as many Carlton fans have snapped up tickets as Richmond ones for the Tigers’ match-up against Sydney.

Crows fan Tania Jacquier, 57, of West Beach, said the Gather Round would “bring a new dimension” to footy in Adelaide.

Originally published as Excitement for AFL’s Gather Round builds as ticket sales, Adelaide hotel bookings climb