AFL Gather Round 2026 has broken records across the board, catapulting the 2026 Toyota AFL Premiership Season into one of the biggest on record.
A record-breaking 270,018 fans attend the nine games across the four days of footy.
The most attended match was the Gather Round opener between the Adelaide Crows and Carlton which saw 49,184 pack out Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.
Geelong and the West Coast Eagles attracted the highest ever Gather Round crowd at Norwood Oval with 9,434 through the gates, and a record 10,613 were at Barossa Park on Saturday to see North Melbourne take on the reigning premiers, the Brisbane Lions.
Broadcast viewership across the nine Gather Round matches exceeded 6.4 million, the largest Gather Round viewership on record, including Foxtel / Kayo’s biggest ever Gather Round audience.
Friday night’s Collingwood vs Fremantle match was the highest rating game of the year, reaching more than 3.2 million Australians with the average audience being more than 1.2 million.
The free Macca’s Footy Festival at Elder Park, that featured 22 partner activations, saw 112,141 fans visit, which included more than 1,500 fans taking flight on the 150-metre zip line across the River Torrens.
43,045 fans attended on Saturday, the highest ever attended Macca’s Footy Festival day.
The new Next Door presented by Hard Rated live site saw 9,300 fans through the gates across the four days.
Rundle Mall activations had more than 18,000 fans engaged with activations.
The inaugural Run 4 Your Club which took place on Saturday morning saw over 700 fans participating across the 4km stretch with more than $7,000 raised for the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Foundation.
1,650 guests and delegates attended 33 official Gather Round events including AFL Axiom.
In partnership with the Black Dog institute and the Danny Frawley community, the inaugural AFL Health and Wellbeing conference hosted more than 150 guests from Government, Universities, Mental Health services, advocates, specialists and club representatives.
AFL Axiom brought together more than 150 partners from across commercial, broadcast and licensing to focus on one shared ambition: the future of fandom.
Held over two days, AFL Axiom established a new annual platform for collaboration on the biggest opportunities shaping the game — grounded in a simple principle: the strongest growth comes from a shared truth.
The event featured leading voices from business, marketing and sport, including futurist Michael McQueen and Ehrenberg-Bass Institute Professor Jenni Romaniuk, alongside South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas and senior AFL leaders including Chair Craig Drummond and CEO Andrew Dillon.
Digital engagement across the week grew with 71 million social impressions and 3.6 million social engagements, while TikTok engagement grew 18%.
2.22 million fans used the Official AFL app across the week, the biggest AFL Gather Round audience ever.
Other highlights included 453 players making appearances around the state, including 10 footy clinics and 4 school visits.
Meanwhile, the 2026 State Games between the SANFL and VFL women’s and men’s representative teams drew a crowd of 4,472 to Glenelg’s Stratarama Stadium.
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said he was elated off the back of another successful Gather Round in South Australia.
“This year’s Gather Round was a record on every metric. It is the best of our game on so many levels.
“To have an event, where all 18 clubs are represented, with fans, friends and families mixing in the streets and regions, all decked out in club colours – it is unmatched in the country.
“Despite more broader challenges in the community, season 2026 is off to a record-breaking start, with fans consuming footy bigger than ever and we will continue to work with our clubs to make the game as affordable and accessible as possible.
“On behalf of the AFL, I want to thank the South Australian government, our partners, fans, clubs and staff and as the 2026 Toyota AFL Premiership season continues, look forward to seeing more of you at the footy.”
1,741,754 fans have attended matches so far this season making it the 3rd highest all-time season to date.
- 2018 (1,774,541)
- 2023 (1,755,497)
- 2026 (1,741,754)
- 2019 (1,740,919)
- 2024 (1,718,955) *2024 highest attended season on record
The average attendance in 2026 per game is 38,705, ahead of 2025 per game average of 36,969.
