A-League Grand Final to be held at 30,000 capacity AAMI Park

While this weekend's A-League grand final promises to be one of the biggest ever fixtures in domestic Australian football, a longstanding dispute between the AFL and Football Federation Australia (FFA) means that the event will be held at Melbourne’s 30,000 capacity AAMI Park.

First revealed as a possibility last October, the scenario of Melbourne Victory not having access to the Etihad Stadium has come to pass. Etihad Stadium, which packed in 50,873 for last weekend's semi-final between the Victoria and Melbourne City, was the preferred host for the marquee match but will instead be hosting a Western Bulldogs AFL fixture on Sunday.

In spite of negotiation between the FFA, AFL and the Victorian Government, the AFL and the Bulldogs were not willing to make amendments to their scheduled fixture.

As a result, AAMI Park will be filled with 22,000 for Victory members and 3,500 travelling Sydney fans – leaving limited opportunities for other fans to attend.

Melbourne Victory have the right to host a home grand final as the highest ranked qualifier, but with AFL having the first call on the Etihad Stadium, and the Melbourne Cricket Ground also unavailable, the FFA have  been forced to move their grand final to the smallest of Melbourne’s stadia.

Considering three previous grand finals at the Etihad Stadium have each attracted over 40,000 fans, this will see the A-League lose close to $1 million in ticket sale revenue alone. AAMI Park will now hold the distinction of becoming the smallest stadium by capacity ever to host an A-League grand final.

The scheduling conundrum arose following the FFA deciding to push the original grand final date back a week due to various clubs competing in the AFC Champions League.

AAMI Park also hosted seven matches during the recent AFC Asian Cup, with the non availability of the MCG meaning Melbourne lost out on hosting the final of that competition to Sydney.

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