There are excuses unfortunately. If it’s raining, people stay home. Thats why the Cats / Bombers game last week only drew 55,000.
98% of footy fans when making decisions to go to the footy don’t think ‘we must go todays because we want more games at the G’… They go because it’s a game they want to go to if circumstances suit them.
The argument for more MCG games is fixtures against clubs like Roos, Saints, Swans and Lions, assuming these latter two clubs are top billing clubs as they currently are. These games invariably would draw 50-70k and that means ~10-30k ‘families’ / fans miss out.
Fremantle are a poor draw with no local fans. They’ve drawn 45,000+ once, at 1:45pm on a Saturday (perfect slot) against Collingwood as a top 4 premiership fancy. There’s no real evidence to support a strong rational argument that this game must draw 50k as a minimum… That’s not to say if circumstances go the Clubs way they can’t.
Will be lucky to get mid 50,000s. Melbourne supporters are awful and wont turn up. Will be only their 4th home game against us since the elimination final which is ■■■■■■■ stupid
Highly unlikely. Melbourne home game kills that ambition off. Saturday night with an iffy forecast will impact the crowd, especially as it’s our away game.
Demons winning today breathes life back into it though. If I was to make an early call, I’d say right in that 52-55k range. If it was Essendon’s home game, I could see 60,000+.
If Melbourne played Eagles in this exact fixture but last night, it draws 25/26k. Lunchtime Sunday and kids go free heavily promoted inflated today’s crowd at the G. Saturday night just doesn’t draw well.
If Melbourne bring 23-25k next week, it basically draws 53-55k which is exactly what I think it will draw.
I agree certain games should be at the MCG. Especially during the clearer weather months of the season. I think Sydney, Bulldogs and Saints are good to go to the MCG. The others only shifted there when the opposition team is performing (which the AFL will support).
If weather is an issue, then the stadium with a roof and more comfort should be the preferred choice for home games during Melbourne winter against these minnow teams.
Timing and days of games cannot be assured. We are going to have our fair share of poor scheduled games. We’ll probably have 4 Sunday games once we reach our peak demand.
This is the perfect opportunity to show we deserve more MCG exposure. If we can exceed Marvel capacity (lets say 45k), then the AFL are more likely to get us more games at the MCG because it benefits both of us and counter act any current MCG contracts in place.
As I said, the argument for more MCG games wouldn’t be using a Fremantle fixture as a reason supporting the notion.
Its games against Dogs, Roos, Saints, Swans, Demons etc where 40,000+ Essendon fans (assume Essendon going ok) and 10-30,000 opposition fans want to go too, but can’t at Marvel presently.
Based on this, strong argument for Essendon to play 8-3 MCG way as an ideal situation with the 3 Marvel games being against the like of Suns, Giants, Dockers or Power.
If thats your expectation then we are genuinely behind Collingwood and Carlton in terms of supporter base size.
Carlton played Melbourne in the same timeslot on a wet Saturday night last year and drew 68k.
We are in the top 4, coming off a win against Collingwood, playing the same opponent and youre expecting 15k less.
If the weather is good, it should be 60k+.
Everytime we draw a sub par crowd its always some excuse, maybe we (me especially) need to stop comparing ourselves to our bigger neighbours and accept our ceiling is not as high as the other big 4 clubs.
I don’t agree. Essendon is at least as big a draw as Carlton, Collingwood clearly the best drawing club.
Last year Melbourne as the home club drew only 49,872 against Carlton on a Friday night. That’s a more realistic comparison being the Demons home game in the better slot. Yes, Carlton were struggling but Melbourne aren’t going as well as last year obviously. The fluctuations in the crowd can be immense…
We will go around in circles… Let’s see what happens. I’m pretty confident if this Melbourne / Essendon fixture was at 1:45pm next Saturday or 1pm Sunday it’d draw 60,000 with many more families going along. And upwards of 65,000 if an Essendon home game. Being a cold Saturday night always disappoints crowd wise and I think this won’t be any different.