AFL Perth Saturday showdown hit the jackpot

Article posted by Coliseum, October 1^st, 2021

Image: Bec Murkins (LinkedIn)

The Australian Football League’s (AFL’s) mega windfall from staging the Grand Final in Perth (Australia) has been revealed.

The ‘perthnow’ stated that after two COVID-ravaged years which still continues to claw the world, the league is estimated to have raked in between $35 and $40 million from Saturday’s (September 25^th) showpiece, which was claimed by the Melbourne Demons. The Demons won the match by a 74-point margin, defeating the Western Bulldogs 140-66.

The 2021 AFL Grand Final was an Australian Rules football match contested between the Melbourne Football Club and the Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium in Perth, Western Australia, on September 25^th, 2021. It was the 125^th annual Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL) staged to determine the premiers of the 2021 AFL season.

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The match was played at Optus Stadium in Perth because an ongoing COVID-19 lockdown prevented the match from being played with a crowd at its contracted ground, the 1,00,024-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Victoria. It was the first Grand Final played in Perth and the second consecutive Grand Final to be played outside Victoria.

The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent and only fully professional men’s competition of Australian Rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport’s governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the game.

The 65,000-capacity Perth Stadium, also known by naming rights sponsorship as Optus Stadium, is a multipurpose stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Burswood. It was completed in late 2017 and officially opened on January 21^st, 2018.

The ‘perthnow’ further stated that the windfall came in the form of ticket sales, corporate hospitality and catering revenue.

Many of the 36,000 seats snapped up by footy-mad fans for the decider were priced above $400.

Sponsors, stakeholders and hospitality packages accounted for the remaining 24,000 tickets.

A 32-person suite cost more than $115,000, while outdoor open-air 10-person boxes were priced at $26,500.

The demand was so high that premium seating could have been sold many times over.

It comes after the league’s revenue dropped $119m million to $675m in 2020 due to COVID restrictions which limited crowds and the number of rounds played.

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