‘We’d be remiss not to consider what its value might be’

Magic Round is booming for the NRL, while Gather Round has also become a showpiece for the AFL. But will both festive events soon be moved to new venues?

Magic Round is booming for the NRL, with TV ratings projected to tip at over six million people for the first time and hosting rights for the blockbuster round up for grabs beyond 2026.

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo told The Australian the showcase event is only going from strength to strength since its inception in 2020, and while the Queensland government have been “terrific” and “loyal”, the game’s chief didn’t rule out Magic Round moving state beyond 2027.

“It’s possible,” Abdo said. “Like, why not? It’s an opportunity we’d be remiss not to consider what its value might be, not just commercially or financially, but in terms of growing the game in a different market. But having said that, the Queensland government have been terrific investors.

“They have been very loyal to us, and they backed us right in the beginning.

“And people enjoy going to watch games at Suncorp stadium, and it is a good destination … but we haven’t considered (moving Magic Round) at this stage.”

Year on year the round’s popularity has only increased.

“It’s grown every year, obviously, we weren’t able to play Magic Round in 2020 but since 2021 the crowd has grown from 130,000 to just a tick under 150,000 people across three days last year,” Abdo said. “This year we’ll go over 150,000 – tickets have sold out, which is terrific.

“And then you add another twenty, twenty-five thousand the night before, for women’s State of Origin, you’ve got a four-day festival where it celebrates both the men’s and women’s game.”

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Forty per cent of those fans who attend Magic Round are from interstate but it’s at home that people are tuning in more than ever before, Abdo said.

“The broadcast ratings of the round just continue to grow, our viewership in 2019 was 4.3 million and we’ll get to six million people this year,” he said.

“Last year we got 5.9 million viewers, that’s a 39 per cent growth since 2019.

“We had 150,000 people attend last year. And of those we had, 40 per cent travelled from outside of Queensland.”

It’s a similar story of success for the AFL. For the AFL, the round is also a TV ratings bonanza, with Gather Round attracting the highest ratings of any AFL round so far in 2025 – with an average audience of 6.4 million. Three of the nine matches had an average viewership of over one million.

The AFL’s Gather Round, which was held in Adelaide for the third successive year, was enormously successful and is locked in South Australia until 2026.

However, the AFL is yet to determine whether it will stay in the state beyond next year.

“We like long-term partnerships, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look at other opportunities around the country,” AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said on the eve of this year’s Gather Round.

The match between Richmond Tigers and Fremantle Dockers at Barossa Park was a hit with the fans during Gather Round Picture: Getty Images

It’s also proven to be a blockbuster event to the code and South Australia with huge crowds turning up. Like the NRL, a total of 43.8 per cent of tickets sold were to interstate fans.

All up, the AFL had 269,506 fans show up in SA (up from 267,643 in 2024), across three ­venues – Adelaide Oval (53,000 capacity), Barossa Park (10,000) and Norwood (10,000).

Eight of the nine matches sold out. The only match that didn’t was Carlton versus West Coast at Adelaide Oval on Saturday afternoon but still had 41,252 fans flock to the game.

The boom for local tourism has been immense, with Adelaide Airport registering its busiest week on record with approximately 200,000 people flying in and out of Adelaide. This eclipsed the previous record of 182,000 set during Gather Round 2023.

The free Bounce Around the Barossa hop-on, hop-off bus service transported almost 4000 passengers to more than 45 local businesses, wineries, and townships across the region.

And it was the first time games were played at Lyndoch in the Barossa – which was a tremendous success on many levels.

In 2024, the round delivered $90m of economic impact for SA. Premier Peter Malinauskas said the government had a target of $100m target in 2025.

“I want to make it as hard as possible for them to take it away from us,” he told ABC radio after the most recent round. Negotiations between the AFL and the SA government about Gather Round’s future are continuing.

In Brisbane this weekend, the iconic Caxton Street has been shut down and is a fan zone with live entertainment, food trucks, merchandise outlets, games, giveaways, mascots, and appearances from NRL greats.

Abdo said he hoped the round continued to grow on many levels.

“We just want to continue to grow out the week,” Abdo said. “Outside of football and the integration of the women’s game, expanding the events of the week is important to us, so providing even more opportunities for every stakeholder in the game to celebrate the fact that everyone is ­together in one place.

“We have a meeting with all the club CEOs … but the main focus is on our fans and providing them with great experiences we can deliver. We want to get our sponsors to continue building fun activations in and around the stadium and Caxton Street and around the city.”