South Australia’s premier is continuing to push for a long-term contract to host future Gather Rounds, but has hosed down the likelihood of an announcement being made this weekend.
Gather Round kicks off tomorrow for a fourth year after SA secured a three-year hosting rights deal following the success of its event in 2023.
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said today he was looking forward to “fruitful” discussions with Premier Peter Malinauskas but added negotiations were “complex”.
“We’ll continue to have the discussions, and if it makes sense to do it this weekend, then we’ll do it. If it takes two weeks or two months later, we’d do that as well,” Mr Dillon said.
Mr Malinauskas has set his sights on the state having a more enduring fixture on the AFL calendar, but today said discussions for an extension would take place “in coming days, weeks, months if need be”.
Past AFL Gather Round matches have been lauded as a success by the government. (ABC News)
“Making sure that Gather Round remains on everyone’s bucket lists, that when you come once, you want to come back a second time … means we have to innovate, we have to keep it fresh,” he said.
“We’ve got a few ideas about how we can achieve that, but that’s only going to be realised if we’ve got some certainty around a deal beyond one year.”
When asked about whether he was willing to take a one-year deal in the interim, Mr Malinauskas said: “I think going into those sorts of specifics starts to run negotiations through a forum like this [press conference], which is just not good practice.”
Speaking on Channel Nine last night, Mr Malinauskas said he was willing to invest more into Gather Round if he was assured the event would be held in SA for several years.
“If the AFL make it a year-in-year-out proposition, I think they’ll do themselves a disservice, and also footy itself,” he said.
“So, give us the long-term contract, we’ll invest into the future and make more locations like the Barossa.”
Peter Malinauskas says hotel bookings were up on last year’s for the Gather Round weekend. (ABC News)
Mr Malinauskas said there were more hotel bookings this year than at the same time last year, and other metrics — visitor arrivals at the airport and across the border, as well as ticket sales — pointed to an event “as big as last year’s, maybe a little bit bigger again”.
Mr Dillon agreed, adding that the federal government’s cut to the fuel excise and efforts to secure supply have boosted confidence for travellers to drive across state lines.
“Gather Round works here, we can see by the number of people travelling from interstate, we can see it by the ticket sales, we can see it by the broadcast ratings around Australia,” he said.
The government previously said an estimated 20,000 fans drive to SA for Gather Round, but some supporters last month were reconsidering due to fuel costs and supply concerns.
The state will play host to all 18 AFL teams from April 9 to 12 across three venues, including one in the Barossa Valley, about an hour’s drive from Adelaide.