Optus Stadium welcomes largest Australian sports crowd since before Coronavirus

With Western Australia’s COVID-19 restrictions eased to allow 100% capacity at venues, 54,159 fans attended Friday’s AFL match between the West Coast Eagles and Collingwood at Perth’s Optus Stadium.

The attendance figure is not only the largest sports crowd in Australia since the beginning of the pandemic, but also the largest in the southern hemisphere since March 2020.

It’s also the largest AFL crowd recorded since the 2019 Grand Final at the MCG.

The past year has seen only two T20 International matches in India recording larger attendances in the world, with crowds of 67,200 and 66,352 reported at Narendra Modi Stadium last month - the three remaining matches in the series were played behind closed doors due to a spike in cases.

Restrictions were eased in Western Australia on Monday to allow its stadiums to be filled to full capacity, including up to 60,000 at Optus Stadium.

Also on Friday night in Perth, 11,485 spectators attended RAC Arena for the NBL match between the Perth Wildcats and Illawarra Hawks - the highest crowd of the NBL21 season to-date.

Western Australia joins Queensland, NSW and the ACT in allowing 100% crowds at sporting venues.