GEELONG is hoping the lure of Jimmy Bartel's 250th game will help spark a late surge of ticket-buying for Thursday night's clash with Adelaide at Simonds Stadium
The weeknight slot is proving unpopular with Cats fans, with more than 4000 tickets (2000 reserved seats, 1300 general admission and 900 standing room) still available on Wednesday afternoon.
"It's been tough, but I think if you have a look at the whole (of round one), it's been pretty soft, the attendances," Geelong's general manager of commercial operations, Steve Hocking, told AFL.com.au.
"Possibly it's crept up on people. We haven't had a round one game down here for a long time, so I think that's all part of it as well."
During the past decade, tickets for games at Simonds Stadium have usually been hard to come by.
But the opening of the Players Stand has increased the capacity to 33,500, meaning sell-outs are no longer such a regular occurrence.
"So we've got plenty of tickets available," Hocking said. "People can certainly get good seats still.
"I think people are deciding at the last minute whether they'll show up or not."
The early starting time of 7.10pm, which will prevent many Melbourne-based Cats fans from heading down the highway, is another issue that has hurt ticket sales.
"That's a bit of a challenge, just around families and so forth," Hocking said.
"But we had a season launch in Melbourne last week and I was talking to a couple who are travelling from Echuca, by bus and train, to get to the game."
The Thursday night timeslot also limits the number of Adelaide supporters prepared to make the trip across the border for the match.
The upside is that the weather should be perfect, with a daytime maximum of 28 predicted.
The Cats’ season-opener won't be the first VFL/AFL game played in Geelong on a Thursday.
Way back in 1900 the Cats hosted Melbourne on Thursday, May 24 (Queen Victoria's birthday) at the Corio Oval, with the home side prevailing by 66 points.
Although this Thursday’s game has not been a hit with fans, Geelong won't be asking the AFL to keep it away from such slots in the future.
"We're not sitting here annoyed about it at all," Hocking said. "We've got a Friday night game down here against North Melbourne in round 10, so we're willing to sample that as well.
"I think the challenge for us is changing from what has been a very traditional type of fixture and moving into the future.
"The reality is that these games are part of our future and we need to adapt to it."
Looking further ahead, the Cats might have a run of home games at Simonds Stadium early in the 2015 season.
The reason is that the MCG, the SCG and the Adelaide Oval will be off-limits to footy for most of March due to the cricket World Cup.
Adelaide's Oval's last World Cup cricket match is scheduled for Friday, March 20, while the SCG will host a semi-final on Thursday, March 26.
The MCG will host the final on Sunday, March 29.
"We'll have some fixturing concerns for the first two or three rounds next year, until those grounds become available," the AFL's general manager of football operations, Mark Evans, told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Wednesday.
Evans also said the League is looking at "potentially" staging a blockbuster clash involving a big Melbourne club in Geelong in the first couple of rounds of next season.
"Hopefully Simonds Stadium gets a piece of that action," Hocking said. "It would be terrific for the town."
