News GMHBA Stadium Stage 5 Redevelopment

[kurt_kb]

The Geelong cheer squad is consistently the emptiest looking part of the ground. I was sitting directly behind it on Saturday, just up from the rows that are reserved for cheer squad use, and saw countless times across the game the accredited cheer squad leader admonish Geelong supporters for sitting down in the dozens of seats that had remained empty for the whole game.

Surely having people in those seats is a better look for the cheer squad and club than leaving them empty the whole game? It was bizarre. If it's so regularly not filling up behind the goals, maybe the club needs to onsell more of those seats to club members rather than leaving them allocated to the cheer squad.

 

[Stab Pass]

What do I want the club or Ticketmaster to do? How about they try harder? Of course they can't steal from members. But Dazbroncos has already said the only game his tickets were not resold for was the Port game. It can be done. We get emails and texts from the club all the time. How about reminders coming up to home games about whether you're going to make it? How about the club/Ticketmaster reminding those trying to get tickets that resale options might come up at the last minute? Honestly, a lot of responses on this topic reek of "I'm alright, Jack" mentality. When the club goes to the AFL about next year's draw and says it wants another home game (as Hocking has forecast), and that they want it against one of the bigger Melbourne clubs, what do you think the AFL will/could say? Well, we gave you a game against Hawthorn and the crowd was only 33,188, so sorry, we have to pass on that.

What a nonsense argument. So the game moves to the Hawks home ground and we get 60,000 with a capacity of 104,000. What a waste of the billions in taxes the state government has poured into the MCG. Roos pull 25k to Marvel and capacity is 52k. Disgrace their home game should go to Gold Coast.

 

[Jemaine]

None of the club, AFL and Ticketmaster are responsible for people who have a seat/ticket not turning up. There were reports of attendants not scanning tickets and just letting people in, for about the last hour to ensure the crowd flowed and stop excessive cueing. How many were not counted. I was there on Saturday and looking around the stadium it looked very full to me.

If that's true then that's disgraceful, let's not have a Hillsborough situation.

Speaking of people not being scanned, I contacted the Club yesterday about the out of control amount of non-Social Club members sitting in the unreserved A34 area this season (and encourage other Social Club members to do so).

The Club are very aware of it and to their credit they had some of their team in the area with scanners to randomly check people's tickets (and they caught a bunch), but as I mentioned to them this should be security guards doing it and not some poor kid from the membership team.

They said that they want to make the area like L2 at the MCG where tickets have to be shown for access, but it needs to be approved by the KP Stadium Trust and at this stage they have not agreed.

So it's looking unlikely for this year but perhaps next.

 

[cats_09]

This is not a forum for politics, so all I'll say is that Australians (individuals and companies) do not pay enough tax. Tax is not a dirty word. As to the issue, your responses have almost all been flippant - too cold, too wet, flat tyre, pet dying, daughter's tennis. Your only touch of insight was the re-selling issue. It's something you apparently do well, but you are happy that if others don't, oh well, that's just the way it is. Sounds to me like you are quite comfortable for a sell-out at Kardinia Park to have an attendance of 33,188. I'm not, and I want the club/AFL/Ticketmaster to sort it. If they can't, the taxpayers and ratepayers deserve to be pissed off. And you know what, that's not actually party political. Can't see how you think that point is such a "gotcha". And at the risk of injecting more politics, I've never voted Right wing in my life and never will.

Wouldn't the better organisation to take up these concerns with be the KP Stadium Trust - the ones that actually run the stadium?

Don't forget that the Geelong FC is a tenant and as such pays a lease to use the venuue

SO IF attendees were let through the gates without having tickets scanned, wouldn't that be an employer driven directive given to those working on the gates, and as such fall back on the KP Stadium Trust?

As such, should the Club or Ticketmaster be made scapegoats where a situation may not be their making?

 

[bombersboy]

If that's true then that's disgraceful, let's not have a Hillsborough situation.

Speaking of people not being scanned, I contacted the Club yesterday about the out of control amount of non-Social Club members sitting in the unreserved A34 area this season (and encourage other Social Club members to do so).

The Club are very aware of it and to their credit they had some of their team in the area with scanners to randomly check people's tickets (and they caught a bunch), but as I mentioned to them this should be security guards doing it and not some poor kid from the membership team.

They said that they want to make the area like L2 at the MCG where tickets have to be shown for access, but it needs to be approved by the KP Stadium Trust and at this stage they have not agreed.

So it's looking unlikely for this year but perhaps next.

Thanks for posting this. I have often thought the same thing and just been to slack to contact the club. I have thought at times why do I bother paying for a Social Club membership. I recall that in the early years of my membership they used to have attendants who would check tickets/membership card.

 

[tommy2011]

What a nonsense argument. So the game moves to the Hawks home ground and we get 60,000 with a capacity of 104,000. What a waste of the billions in taxes the state government has poured into the MCG. Roos pull 25k to Marvel and capacity is 52k. Disgrace their home game should go to Gold Coast.

Hey, I think ALL Cats home games should be at Kardinia Park, but the AFL needs little excuse to bat that one away every time, and 33,188 for a home game against Hawthorn is ammo for them in their quest to keep other deals (stadiums and clubs) sweet. Maybe you think it's nonsense, but the AFL thrives on nonsense decisions.

 

[Stab Pass]

No, it is nonsense. If there was only 50k at the MCG for a Hawks v Geelong game would it mean that both games should be played at Geelong the following season because the G was half full? Oh and that would be half sold, not sold out and only 50k turning up. The AFL cares about tickets sold, not bums on seats as they take their cut based on seats sold not how many turn up.

 

[pattymalone00]

None of the club, AFL and Ticketmaster are responsible for people who have a seat/ticket not turning up. There were reports of attendants not scanning tickets and just letting people in, for about the last hour to ensure the crowd flowed and stop excessive cueing. How many were not counted. I was there on Saturday and looking around the stadium it looked very full to me.

Would be pretty ironic if that is the case because I arrived an hour and a half early and the security in the Selwood stand were trying to stop me taking a hawks flag (that I got from the mcg shop) in

 

[kurt_kb]

Would be pretty ironic if that is the case because I arrived an hour and a half early and the security in the Selwood stand were trying to stop me taking a hawks flag (that I got from the mcg shop) in

Bit rough given it's a GA seating and standing area in the pocket, and most of the stand not an exclusive Cats area regardless.

 

[tommy2011]

Wouldn't the better organisation to take up these concerns with be the KP Stadium Trust - the ones that actually run the stadium?

Don't forget that the Geelong FC is a tenant and as such pays a lease to use the venuue

SO IF attendees were let through the gates without having tickets scanned, wouldn't that be an employer driven directive given to those working on the gates, and as such fall back on the KP Stadium Trust?

As such, should the Club or Ticketmaster be made scapegoats where a situation may not be their making?

No, it is nonsense. If there was only 50k at the MCG for a Hawks v Geelong game would it mean that both games should be played at Geelong the following season because the G was half full? Oh and that would be half sold, not sold out and only 50k turning up. The AFL cares about tickets sold, not bums on seats as they take their cut based on seats sold not how many turn up.

If that WAS the case then all Geelong home games would be played at Kardinia Park. Have a look at the stadium deals (you can't, because the entities involved won't let you). In your scenario, Collingwood would not be playing a home game at Marvel. But they do. Nonsensical really, isn't it?

 

[Stab Pass]

Team	Games	Average	HG Capacity
Collingwood Magpies	8​	62,374​	100,000​
Carlton Blues	7​	61,755​	53,000​
Essendon Bombers	7​	60,233​	53,000​
Richmond Tigers	9​	50,873​	100,000​
Fremantle Dockers	8​	45,888​	60,000​
West Coast Eagles	9​	43,242​	60,000​
Adelaide Crows	9​	42,390​	53,000​
Geelong Cats	8​	42,253​	40,000​
Sydney Swans	7​	39,313​	48,000​
Port Adelaide Power	9​	37,420​	53,000​
Melbourne Demons	7​	34,754​	100,000​
Hawthorn Hawks	7​	34,495​	100,000​
Western Bulldogs	8​	29,858​	53,000​
St Kilda Saints	7​	29,832​	53,000​
Brisbane Lions	9​	27,954​	42,000​
North Melbourne Kangaroos	8​	23,621​	53,000​
Gold Coast Suns	9​	14,685​	25,000​
GWS Giants	8​	12,867​	25,000​

Average home game attendance for 2024 vs home stadium capacity. Now a home game or two can end up elsewhere and distort the numbers a little but you get the drift. Everyone from Melbourne down would lose their home games if the AFL cared about home attendance and just about every team if it was a percentage of capacity argument.

 

[kurt_kb]

Team	Games	Average	HG Capacity
Collingwood Magpies	8​	62,374​	104,000​
Carlton Blues	7​	61,755​	104,000​
Essendon Bombers	7​	60,233​	104,000​
Richmond Tigers	9​	50,873​	104,000​
Fremantle Dockers	8​	45,888​	60,000​
West Coast Eagles	9​	43,242​	60,000​
Adelaide Crows	9​	42,390​	53,000​
Geelong Cats	8​	42,253​	40,000​
Sydney Swans	7​	39,313​	48,000​
Port Adelaide Power	9​	37,420​	53,000​
Melbourne Demons	7​	34,754​	104,000​
Hawthorn Hawks	7​	34,495​	104,000​
Western Bulldogs	8​	29,858​	42,000​
St Kilda Saints	7​	29,832​	42,000​
Brisbane Lions	9​	27,954​	42,000​
North Melbourne Kangaroos	8​	23,621​	53,000​
Gold Coast Suns	9​	14,685​	25,000​
GWS Giants	8​	12,867​	25,000​

Average home game attendance for 2024 vs home stadium capacity. Now a home game or two can end up elsewhere and distort the numbers a little but you get the drift. Everyone from Melbourne down would lose their home games if the AFL cared about home attendance and just about every team if it was a percentage of capacity argument.

104,000 capacity for the MCG is a bold claim. As is listing it as Carlton and Essendon's home ground. Docklands certainly holds more than 42,000 too.

 

[Stab Pass]

104,000 capacity for the MCG is a bold claim.

That's what the MCC claim it to be.

 

[kurt_kb]

That's what the MCC claim it to be.

Definitely not.

From the stadium's website:

 

[Stab Pass]

Fair enough, I got the numbers from a listing of the capacity of all the AFL grounds. Seems the MCG one was wrong. Fixed the errors.

 

[tommy2011]

Team	Games	Average	HG Capacity
Collingwood Magpies	8​	62,374​	100,000​
Carlton Blues	7​	61,755​	100,000​
Essendon Bombers	7​	60,233​	100,000​
Richmond Tigers	9​	50,873​	100,000​
Fremantle Dockers	8​	45,888​	60,000​
West Coast Eagles	9​	43,242​	60,000​
Adelaide Crows	9​	42,390​	53,000​
Geelong Cats	8​	42,253​	40,000​
Sydney Swans	7​	39,313​	48,000​
Port Adelaide Power	9​	37,420​	53,000​
Melbourne Demons	7​	34,754​	104,000​
Hawthorn Hawks	7​	34,495​	104,000​
Western Bulldogs	8​	29,858​	53,000​
St Kilda Saints	7​	29,832​	53,000​
Brisbane Lions	9​	27,954​	42,000​
North Melbourne Kangaroos	8​	23,621​	53,000​
Gold Coast Suns	9​	14,685​	25,000​
GWS Giants	8​	12,867​	25,000​

Average home game attendance for 2024 vs home stadium capacity. Now a home game or two can end up elsewhere and distort the numbers a little but you get the drift. Everyone from Melbourne down would lose their home games if the AFL cared about home attendance and just about every team if it was a percentage of capacity argument.

Oranges and lemons. If Collingwood's home ground had a capacity of 40,000, their average crowd would probably be around 38,000. As the table points out, Geelong's home crowd average is 42,253; home ground capacity, 40,000. What's the average of the games played at Kardinia Park? If the AFL was only interested in "sold" seats, they would not allow games in Launceston, Hobart, Alice Springs, Carrara or Western Sydney. It's highly compromised, the AFL does what it likes. If we don't regularly fill Kardinia Park to bursting point, we lose any leverage we might otherwise have.

 

[Stab Pass]

The point is we sell more seats as a percentage of capacity than almost every other stadium in the AFL. If it's cold and wet and a few thousand people who have paid for the seats don't turn up then the AFL wouldn't care. The Hawks played at Geelong this year not because the stadium sold out but because the Hawks are rubbish and we'd pull more people into a home game played at the G against the likes of Collingwood, Carlton or Essendon than Hawthorn. Next year Easter Monday will be our home game and likely back at the G. It will have nothing to do with how many were at KP on Saturday and everything to do with the AFL and "event" fixturing. In 2026 the Hawks will be back at KP if we play them twice. Oh and we play two home games at the G because we get good crowds against the bigger teams. If we were as successful as North and the crowds fell away then we'd be playing two home games at Marvel.

 

[cats_09]

Team	Games	Average	HG Capacity
Collingwood Magpies	8​	62,374​	100,000​
Carlton Blues	7​	61,755​	100,000​
Essendon Bombers	7​	60,233​	100,000​
Richmond Tigers	9​	50,873​	100,000​
Fremantle Dockers	8​	45,888​	60,000​
West Coast Eagles	9​	43,242​	60,000​
Adelaide Crows	9​	42,390​	53,000​
Geelong Cats	8​	42,253​	40,000​
Sydney Swans	7​	39,313​	48,000​
Port Adelaide Power	9​	37,420​	53,000​
Melbourne Demons	7​	34,754​	104,000​
Hawthorn Hawks	7​	34,495​	104,000​
Western Bulldogs	8​	29,858​	53,000​
St Kilda Saints	7​	29,832​	53,000​
Brisbane Lions	9​	27,954​	42,000​
North Melbourne Kangaroos	8​	23,621​	53,000​
Gold Coast Suns	9​	14,685​	25,000​
GWS Giants	8​	12,867​	25,000​

Average home game attendance for 2024 vs home stadium capacity. Now a home game or two can end up elsewhere and distort the numbers a little but you get the drift. Everyone from Melbourne down would lose their home games if the AFL cared about home attendance and just about every team if it was a percentage of capacity argument.

Marvel is the official home ground for both Carlton & Essendon

The MCG is officially home to only 4 teams: Collingwood, Hawthorn, Melbourne & Richmond

 

[Stab Pass]

Marvel is the official home ground for both Carlton & Essendon

The MCG is officially home to only 4 teams: Collingwood, Hawthorn, Melbourne & Richmond

That table is a bit like software, doesn't really work until v3......

 

[foxdog50]

None of the club, AFL and Ticketmaster are responsible for people who have a seat/ticket not turning up. There were reports of attendants not scanning tickets and just letting people in, for about the last hour to ensure the crowd flowed and stop excessive cueing. How many were not counted. I was there on Saturday and looking around the stadium it looked very full to me.

Yes and I was one of them... I purchased 6 tickets , and I had the tickets on my phone and the person only scanned 2 out of my 6 tickets and just said go straight in..

 

[tommy2011]

The point is we sell more seats as a percentage of capacity than almost every other stadium in the AFL. If it's cold and wet and a few thousand people who have paid for the seats don't turn up then the AFL wouldn't care. The Hawks played at Geelong this year not because the stadium sold out but because the Hawks are rubbish and we'd pull more people into a home game played at the G against the likes of Collingwood, Carlton or Essendon than Hawthorn. Next year Easter Monday will be our home game and likely back at the G. It will have nothing to do with how many were at KP on Saturday and everything to do with the AFL and "event" fixturing. In 2026 the Hawks will be back at KP if we play them twice. Oh and we play two home games at the G because we get good crowds against the bigger teams. If we were as successful as North and the crowds fell away then we'd be playing two home games at Marvel.

Maybe you need to tell Steven Hocking. He's on the record (as recently as K Rock on Saturday) as saying Geelong wants 10, and then 11 home games at Kardinia Park. He did NOT say home games at the 'G were on the wishlist. Good crowds at the 'G sounds great but the fact is they are not a money spinner for the Cats. Best financial outcome is all home games at Kardinia Park. That's why the club needs to pack it out whenever possible - to put as much pressure on the AFL to meet that request. And last week was a perfect time to do it. It wasn't done. BTW, Hocking also said the twilight timeslot was preferred by the Cats.

 

[Stab Pass]

The AFL likely couldn't care less if there were 33,000 or 38,000 at the Hawks game if 40,000 seats had been sold. We play two home games at the G so the AFL can meet it's commitment to the MCC. The AFL like to have "record" attendances and Geelong playing Collingwood or Carlton at the G adds to those numbers so it's win/win for them. Hocking will ask for 10 or 11 home games as Cook did for years and just like Cook, won't get them. As Hocking said, unlikely to happen until Tassie joins and the Hawks and North have more home games in Melbourne and even then, if the Cats were still up and the games was against one of the bigger drawing Melbourne clubs then the AFL would play it at the G. Our attendance vs capacity let alone seats sold vs capacity is probably the best in the competition, and it won't matter one iota to the AFL when they do the 2025 fixture.

 

[Thunder Road]

For what it is worth, total home attendance at the 6 AFL games this season is 196,211- an average of 32,702. This is 81.75% of the total capacity, which we still don’t officially know but assume to be 40,000. Not bad at all- especially as ticket sales for the games (including 2 sold out games) is much higher so, hypothetically, we have a 90%-95% sold stadium so far this season.

32,705 per game is also about 10,000 more per game than last season’s average- when not one single game achieved the supposed restricted capacity of 24,000-26,000 (I think I saw both figures quoted at various points as being the capacity during the redevelopment.)

The highest attendance last season was 23,185. This seems to support the idea that, “if you build it, they will come.”

We improved the ground, bumped the capacity by about 4,000 and now we get 10,000 more people per game. Oh, and we let in a lot more opposition fans (to some people’s chagrin, but for the greater good, I believe)
Imagine if we had been able to build a 50,000 capacity KP!

For a bit of perspective, if the MCG averaged 81,750 per match it would match our attendance percentage. It doesn’t. But it does get a few games per season in the 90% range and, of course, ONE game per year at 100%
I suspect we are doing quite well in comparison with all other grounds at the moment.

Like everyone else I’d love to see us sell out and fill up every game. I suspect that with the right opponent, fixture time, weather and significance of the game we will indeed do just that- occasionally.

 

[Thunder Road]

Of course, if the wifi and mobile signals worked… 100% every game

 

[tommy2011]

The AFL likely couldn't care less if there were 33,000 or 38,000 at the Hawks game if 40,000 seats had been sold. We play two home games at the G so the AFL can meet it's commitment to the MCC. The AFL like to have "record" attendances and Geelong playing Collingwood or Carlton at the G adds to those numbers so it's win/win for them. Hocking will ask for 10 or 11 home games as Cook did for years and just like Cook, won't get them. As Hocking said, unlikely to happen until Tassie joins and the Hawks and North have more home games in Melbourne and even then, if the Cats were still up and the games was against one of the bigger drawing Melbourne clubs then the AFL would play it at the G. Our attendance vs capacity let alone seats sold vs capacity is probably the best in the competition, and it won't matter one iota to the AFL when they do the 2025 fixture.

Good arguments. They probably couldn't care less, but they wouldn't hesitate to use it in their considerations. I'll stay in Fantasyland and hope Hocking has better luck than Cook.