AFL CEO Andrew Dillon has unveiled a bold vision for the AFL to increase attendances at AFL and AFLW games and events over the next three years beyond the 10 million fan barrier.
Dillon started the year challenging the AFL's senior leadership team to break the 10 million barrier after the 18 clubs and AFL recorded another record year of attendances at AFL and AFLW events and seeing the accelerated growth of events such as Gather Round, the AFL Finals Series and the Grand Final Festival.
Last year there were 9,219,524 fans across AFL and AFLW games and major events and the AFL has forecast that will grow to almost 9.5m in 2025.
He wants the AFL team to support all 18 clubs in building that number to get more than 10 million attendees and also has set a target of building club and AFL memberships to more than 2m.
Currently there are 1.31m members of AFL clubs, meaning 1 in 21 of all Australians is a paid up member of an AFL club.
Dillon also wants to further support community football. After last year setting the target of 1 million participants by 2033, Dillon also wants to see more than 10 million people attend community games each year. The figure across Australia is estimated at about 9 million going to the local footy across the year.
Dillon said to reach 10 million attendees at AFL and AFLW events, the AFL needed to:
* Work closely with 18 AFL clubs to turn more fixtures into marquee games and events while also building football 'mega events' that take the game to more people.
* Work with 18 clubs to drive double-digit percentage increases in AFLW crowds through investing in scheduling, marketing, and the fan match day experience to drive attendance at women's matches, particularly among those girls and women taking up participation in the game in greater numbers.
* Further support clubs in driving greater membership and getting members to games.
* Consider future AFL and AFLW representative games like last night's successful Indigenous All Stars concept that saw an incredible 37,865 people turn up to see the best Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fans take on Fremantle.
* Invest 10 per cent of football revenue back into community football to drive participation growth to more than 1 million participants by 2033, particularly in NSW (Western Sydney especially) and Queensland
* Continue to work with Indigenous and diverse communities such as the Indian and Chinese community to find better ways for girls and boys to engage with and participate in Australian football
* The AFL would also continue to look at measures to make the game affordable and accessible, having left GA prices at Marvel Stadium and the MCG at $27 for the seventh year in a row.
"People love big events and our clubs have been incredibly innovative and creative in driving big events for their fans. We want to help them create more of them for football fans. Bigger, better and more often," Dillon said.
Last year, 9,219,524 fans attended AFL and AFLW pre-season, home and away and finals games and the AFL Gather Round live site and AFL Grand Final live site.
"The AFL is forecasting that we will have about 9.5 million people come to our games and events in 2025 and want to push that to more than 10 million over the next couple of years.
"Putting a target of 10 million people attending our events, our games, our finals series, the Grand Final festival and Gather Round challenges us to look at how we can work better and more closely with clubs to build bigger marquee events for our fans during the year.
"Our clubs have been amazing in building out our blockbusters on our calendar. Where once we had Anzac Day now we have multiple Anzac Day blockbusters and now Anzac Day Eve has grown in stature as has the King's Birthday game with Freeze MND and now the King's Birthday Eve game. Dreamtime has grown from one game to two rounds.
"It is about challenging ourselves on how can we help clubs to build memberships to two million, get 10 million a year to AFL and AFLW games and events while continuing to have another 10 million go to community games.
"The drive to 10 million is not just about numbers — it's about evolving the game, broadening its reach, and strengthening its connection with old and new fans.
"It's a commitment to ensuring Australian football remains Australia's most attended sport, a leader in women's sport globally, and a league that keeps finding new ways sport can connects with communities.
"That means continuing to reimagine the way Grand Final and Gather Round live sites operate — and looking at how we can continue to turn them into bigger festival-like experiences that capture the excitement of the game for a wider audience.
"It also means more AFLW Marquee events and fixtures, cross-promotions with the AFL, and deeper engagement with grassroots and community footy will be key to ensuring AFLW reaches new heights.
"And it means we will invest in innovation in the way we engage diverse communities or people across western Sydney and take the game to them where, when, where and how it suits them."
Dillon said that building on the TV audience was important but the reality was that the more people were engaged with the game at all levels, the stronger the TV audience.
"We had 400 million hours of our game televised last year, which is 40 per cent more than the next closest sport, and we want to continue to expand that and we think having more events and more close games with low margins drive not only big crowds but big audiences."
Dillon says the Kabbadi experiment, where a number of former AFL players played an Indian team in a Kabbadi exhibition match around the Boxing Day Test, has led to more discussions at the AFL about how football can better engage Australia's Indian community.
He also said building participation and crowds for grassroots game was also a priority because it helped to provide greater revenue and volunteers for clubs that have done it tough but are the heart of local towns.
"We have already said that our aim is to get to 1 million participants by 2033 and we saw strong growth in 2024. But there is so much more we can do and if we don't break into new communities, we can’t get there," he said.
"We introduced Superkick last year that transitions kids from NAB AFL Auskick into community football and we need to keep innovating how we make the game an option for busy families while still being affordable and accessible."
