AFL crowds sink to lowest level in 26 years amid fans’ COVID concerns

The 2022 AFL season has seen crowd figures fall to their lowest level in 26 years, excluding the past two COVID-ravaged seasons, with average attendance after 90 matches standing at 30,517.

Digital ticket issues, cost of going to games, scheduling and ‘over-umpiring’ have been blamed for the fall along with fans concerns about COVID.

With crowd numbers falling well below the pre-pandemic average of 35,100 in 2019, average attendance for the 2022 season is 30,517 per game, according to AFL Tables, the smallest since 1996 when games attracted an average of 29,637 fans. went to games.

That is despite a strong turnout for round one, when an average of 40,000 people went to the first nine games of the season.

New daily COVID cases in Victoria and NSW each exceeding 7,500 and Western Australia and South Australia each experiencing their highest case numbers in 2022.

Perth’s Optus Stadium also operated at reduced capacity through the first seven rounds of the 2022 AFL season while Geelong’s GMHBA Stadium remains at reduced capacity due to ongoing redevelopment.

Last Sundays’ WS Giants vs West Coast Eagles match in Sydney drew just 5,057 people, less than the 6,040 who attended the Western Bulldogs and Gold Coast Suns contest in Ballarat a day earlier.

Meanwhile, last weekend’s ‘dreamtime’ at the MCG game had a crowd of 70,226, the second lowest recorded since 2011.

The fall comes despite the AFL having frozen general admission tickets for all MCG and Marvel Stadium matches and introduced a new $50 family membership in 2022.

Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs are the only AFL teams averaging higher home-and-away attendances in 2022 compared with 2019. That figure factors in the 58,002 who attended the season-opener between the two clubs.

Image: AFL at Marvel Stadium.