AFL is ready to declare that Brisbane’s Gabba site will host the 2020 grand finale due to the coronavirus

Brisbane’s Gabba is expected to be named as the venue for this year’s AFL final today – the first time the decider has played outside of Victoria.

But the gabba is a long way from the AFL’s birthplace in Victoria, and a grand final will look very different from the Mecca of the game at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

The Australian Football League, formerly known as the Victorian Football League (VFL), has crowned the team that won the Premier League at the MCG since 1897.

Every grand finale was played there, except during World War II when the floor was part of the war effort and in 1991 when it was upgraded.

This season it was already a difficult pill for Victorian diehards to swallow, as the MCG had no footy.

There are typically around 45 home and away games, plus a couple of finals, with around 3 million people watching AFL games on the MCG each year.

In 2020, less than a quarter of that number of games were played at the MCG, many of them without a single fan in the stands due to COVID-19.

AFL commentator and Collingwood President Eddie Maguire said any location that is set to host the grand finale will be emotional for Victorians.

On Tuesday afternoon around 400 AFL officials and players boarded three charter flights from Melbourne to Queensland in the run-up to the final.

Queensland’s different footy code

NRL has dominated Queensland for more than a century, but it was a tough road to go in 2020 when the Brisbane Broncos fell to their worst form in decades, with no Queensland team making the top eight.

Queensland’s two AFL teams haven’t played in a grand final since 2004, and it has been 17 years since the Brisbane Lions last brought home the Premier League.

But the tide may change, and the AFL confirms that its free-to-air Queensland viewership has increased more than 25 percent this season.

The number of Queenslanders watching games on a Friday night is up 26 percent, while participation in local games is also increasing.

The Gold Coast Suns have 24 percent more fans watching their games, while attendance at Brisbane Lions games is up 19 percent.

Ms. Palaszczuk has also asked Queenslanders to adopt a second interstate team this season, with the state hosting a large majority of this year’s AFL competition.

“We know it is only this once and that we have to take care of the AFL while Victoria is going through a very difficult period,” she said on Tuesday.

It is believed that Queensland’s bid to host the grand finale included a pitch to invest in additional legacy projects and raise the profile of the game across the state.

The Queensland government has announced part of their pitch to the AFL hosting rights commission, which included young Queensland players like Ryden Clarke.

“I’ve only seen the Grand Final on TV so far, and yes, I know it’s always played in the G. But we have a G here in Queensland – it’s Gabba,” said Clarke.

Best case scenario for participation

This is where fans will likely notice the biggest difference.

The grand AFL final is usually played in front of more than 100,000 fans at the MCG, while the gabba on October 24th reaches a maximum audience of around 30,000.

On the upside, the Gabba is going through a $ 35 million upgrade that has been in preparation since 2019 and is initially set to be completed before the T20 World Cup, which has since been postponed.

The renovation should be completed in early October.

Talk about good timing.

The heat is on

If the game is played in Brisbane, the weather at 7:00 p.m. is also an important factor.

The average daytime temperatures in October in Melbourne and Brisbane can vary by up to 8 degrees.

Players will definitely notice a difference when playing at 27 ° C, the average October high in Brisbane, compared to just 19 ° C in Melbourne.