AFLW looks to continue playing season at suburban stadiums

Nicole Livingstone, the AFL’s General Manager of Women's Football, has committed to the competition continue to play its fixtures at suburban grounds rather than major stadia as playing more games in bigger venues was not financially viable.

After the success of the opening round clash between Essendon and Hawthorn Melbourne’s 53,000-capacity Marvel Stadium, Livingstone was responding to calls to play more AFLW fixtures at bigger grounds.

The historic first ever AFLW clash between Essendon and Hawthorn was shifted to Marvel Stadium after tickets for the original venue - Port Melbourne’s 12,000-capacity ETU Stadium - sold out within 24 hours.

12,092 attended the match at Marvel Stadium after the clash between the traditional rivals on 27th August attracted particular interest and a campaign to ‘Move it to Marvel’.

Speaking on the ABC Sport's The W with Sharni and Sam podcast, Livingstone said she was thrilled with crowd numbers after the opening round of the competition, commenting "we had 42,000 people come to the AFLW in round one, which is incredible.

"That's the biggest round one crowd we've had since COVID hit.

"To have 42,000 fans come and see AFLW, it just makes my heart sing."

However, Livingstone went on to advise that playing more games in bigger venues was not financially viable, noting "it's not as easy as just saying 'let's play on the big stadiums

"In most cases they cost four times as much to even open the doors and go in.

"So where is the best spend of the budget that we have? Is it on trying to get every game at a big stadium? I don't think it is.

"We still have those boutique stadiums that really resonate with our audience; they love how close they can get.

"So there's a balance, between picking the marquee games that we want to go in big stadiums, and then also staying true to what we know our fans love.

"The one thing that I don't want to see is us go to big venues, and nobody be there."

With AFLW matches being free to attend when the competition launched in 2017, today attendance remains free for AFL club member while tickets cost just $10 for general admission.

However, double header fixtures paired with men’s games cost more.

Image: IKON Park.