As part of the AFL’s 2011 Victorian-based advertising campaign of ‘Meet You at the Footy’, a permanent stage will be established in the Southern Stand to host a range of AFL and club activity through the season. For the opening four rounds to the season, the AFL has worked with Music Victoria to host four bands live at the opening four Friday night matches of the season.
The schedule is:
Friday March 25, Round One, Geelong v St Kilda - Little Red
Friday April 1, Round Two, St Kilda v Richmond - Paris Wells
Friday April 8, Round Three, Collingwood v Carlton - A combined super-group
Friday April 15, Round Four, Richmond v Collingwood - Airbourne
The innovation is part of a series of changes for the 2011 premiership season that the AFL has developed with Victorian-based clubs, to build the pre-match experience for supporters and to add to the big-event nature of Friday night games at the MCG.
In 2010, AFL matches drew an all-time record of 7,147,052 fans across the premiership season and finals, and large attendances remain the primary goal of the AFL Commission and executive.
The stage in the southern stand, as previously used during recent AFL Grand Finals, will see Melbourne’s emerging artists perform in the immediate pre-match period, said AFL General Manager Strategy and Marketing Andrew Catterall.
“We think that going to the footy and going to see live music are two of the cultural things that make Melbourne great,” Mr Catterall said.
“The objective of Live at the G is to help celebrate the links between footy and music here in Melbourne, to help expand their audience to up to 80,000 people at the ground and one-million plus television viewers, and also to help build the energy in the stadium before the bounce.
“We hope Live at the G encourages more people to come to the footy and to go and see live music in Melbourne and support Australian artists.”
Mr Catterall said the concept had been developed through the off-season with the support of Patrick Donovan at Music Victoria, James Young from Cherry Rock, the artists and their management, the MCC, the AFL’s media partners and the participating home match clubs.
In 2011, the AFL is using state-based campaigns around its matches, with ‘See for Yourself’ already up and running in South Australia, and specific campaigns to come in other states.
In Victoria, the tradition of attending matches in large numbers as a social experience is celebrated. For all round one matches nationally, the AFL will present each game in the same fashion, with a club legend asked to present the match ball at round one, a countdown to the opening bounce, the playing of the national anthem and the role of a club supporter to blow the siren at his or her team’s first match of the year.
