How revamped GMHBA Stadium crowds compare to previous years as Richmond attendance doesn’t live up to ‘sellout’

Geelong has played five AFL games with the Joel Selwood Stand in action. Have the crowd numbers risen? We look at the numbers and why the Tigers sellout didn’t live up to reality.

See the crowd numbers at GMHBA Stadium here. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

It was declared a sell out.

On the morning of Geelong’s clash with Richmond at the 40,000 seat GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night, the Cats’ social media channels revealed that general public tickets were all gone – including corporate packages.

It made sense given it was Richmond’s first game at the venue since 2017 and its third since 2010, with the Tigers and Cats generally get well over 40,000 at the MCG.

When the fixture was released in November, the Richmond clash promised to be one of the highest attended games at the revamped Kardinia Park with the addition of the Joel Selwood stand.

But just 31,054 fans went through the gates on Saturday night.

It is a figure that will surely see the AFL fixture boffins question whether Richmond will head down the highway next year rather than face Geelong on the hallowed turf of the MCG, where the two sides have had an average attendances of 58,504 in their last six meetings.

Where were the other nine thousand? What explains the discrepancy between the proposed sellout and the reality?

Tyson Stengle celebrates with fans after the win over Richmond. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Richmond and Geelong’s formline surely had something to do with it, with another loss looming large for Tigers supporters in a bleak season and the Cats having lost four in a row.

In their last meeting back in 2017, the two red-hot sides clashed late in the season and 32,266 fans came down to see a 14-point Geelong win. Three weeks later, the two sides played in front of more than 95,000 in a qualifying final.

The weather also would have turned some fans away on Saturday night.

Geelong is cool at the best of times in winter, and the mercury topped 14.3 on Saturday. The ‘feels like’ reading would have been much chillier.

It has been half a decade since GMHBA Stadium was fully operational with its seating due to the Covid impacted seasons and the $142 million stage 5 upgrade to the stadium that ran behind schedule.

Plenty has changed in that time, with the pandemic opening sports fans’ eyes to the convenience of watching the game they love from the comfort of their own home.

In 2019, an average of 27,811 turned out for their nine games at the venue, compared to 28,519 (2018) and 29,822 (2017) – making finals in all three of those years.

From their five matches to date in 2024, an average of 32,604 fans have attended – 81.5 per cent of the purported 40,000 capacity – a figure that the Cats are pleased with overall.

The highlight was a bumper crowd of 39,352 against St Kilda in round one where the place was rocking, and 31,194 at Geelong’s thumping win over last-placed North Melbourne on a Sunday in round five.

For context, just 21,664 fans came to the corresponding clash between the Cats and Roos in 2019.

Their other two games were against interstate sides, with the crowd of 30,821 at their loss to GWS perhaps a reflection of Tom Hawkins’ popularity, breaking the club record for games played in that match.

The blockbuster 87,775 attendance for a Geelong home game against Carlton at the MCG can’t be forgotten, either, which Cats fans attended in their droves, albeit off six-straight wins.

While the Cats haven’t enjoyed their usual success at GMHBA Stadium in 2024, there is no doubt patrons are getting a good show in the refurbished arena, with light shows and great atmosphere pre-game.

The club has received plenty of positive feedback on this front.

The opening of Club Chin Chin, an extension of the popular Asian fusion restaurant in Melbourne, has also been a hit.

Geelong has another four games to come at Kardinia Park in the back-half of the season and Hawthorn (Saturday twilight), the Western Bulldogs (Saturday night), Adelaide (Saturday twilight) and West Coast (TBC).

Their clash with the Hawks in round 17 – which is on during school holidays – will be their first meeting at Kardinia Park since round 2006, aside from their Covid-affected meeting in 2020 in front of empty stands.

The perplexing ‘sell out’ at the Richmond game is an outlier at this stage, but there will be a big watch on the turnout for that match-up between the two arch rivals.

Originally published as How revamped GMHBA Stadium crowds compare to previous years as Richmond attendance doesn’t live up to ‘sellout’