It was another strong year for Austadiums in 2022, with sport rebounding seeing fans return to stadiums in bigger numbers and record website traffic.
The Austadiums website continues to surge in popularity, with another record year of traffic. 2022 saw an 85% increase in visits to the site compared to 2021, which is up on the 74% increase recorded last year compared to 2020.
A further 13 stadiums were added to the database, bringing the total to 570, while more new features were launched, with the most recent being Stadium Concerts – listing upcoming major stadium concerts across Australia.
The 2022 Stadium Awards have been run and won, with Optus Stadium being voted most popular Australian stadium for the third consecutive time. You can find out more here.
As part of the ‘Year That Was‘ series, we look back to reveal the most viewed content, trends, crowd figures and most attended stadiums and sport.
MOST VIEWED STADIUMS
1. MCG
2. Accor Stadium
3. SCG
4. Allianz Stadium
5. Marvel Stadium
After topping the list in the previous four years since it opened, Optus Stadium lost its top spot as the most viewed stadium on Austadiums, falling out of the top five completely. The MCG was the viewed the most on Austadiums, thanks largely to the T20 World Cup, with the sold-out India v Pakistan match especially driving big numbers.
MOST POPULAR NEWS
1. Brisbane 2032 Olympic venues announced
2. A look inside Allianz Stadium as opening event is announced
3. A-League champions Western United to deliver on stadium
4. Cronulla returning to reduced-capacity Shark Park for 2022 NRL season
5. Accor Stadium’s super video screen officially unveiled
The Brisbane Olympics venue article was the most read on Austadiums this year, as it was in 2021. The next two most popular articles were regarding new stadium developments – one which opened with much fanfare, and another which was promised long ago but is yet to commence construction – although it did feature new renders of the club’s training facility which Western United will eventually play home games out of.
The Austadiums Sport database listed 1714 events in 2022 (up from 1354 in 2021 and 1080 in the 2020 Covid-affected year). There were still 21 events closed to the public (all in the first four months of the year – 16 in NZ & 5 in Perth) – down from 109 events last year. Covid and stadium redevelopment reduced capacity at 70 events (down from 580 events in 2021).
The total attendance across all events listed on Austadiums in 2022 was 17,673,801 (up from 10,561,418 last year and just short of the 18,683,771 recorded in the last non-Covid affected year of 2019. The average attendance of events (open to the public) was 10,330 (up from 10,234 last year and significantly down from 17,062 in 2019).
HIGHEST ATTENDED STADIUMS
1. MCG – 3,527,194 (47,029 avg)
2. Marvel Stadium – 1,387,552 (23,923 avg)
3. Optus Stadium – 1,348,738 (31,366 avg)
4. Adelaide Oval – 1,067,950 (24,836 avg)
5. SCG – 959,298 (22,840 avg)
The MCG was again the most attended stadium in the country, exceeding the 3.2 million spectators that attended the iconic ground in 2019, no doubt helped by the T20 World Cup. Melbourne venues had the top two spots with Marvel Stadium second. Suncorp Stadium dropped out of the top five from last year, with the SCG coming into fifth spot.
We also revealed the stadium which filled up the most, listing the top five average attendances in terms of percentage of capacity (for stadiums which held 10+ events during the year). Tasmania’s MyState Bank Arena topped the list with an average crowd of 91% of its capacity (4,357 average from 19 events), followed by Penrith’s BlueBet Stadium 82% (18,473 from 12 events) and Perth’s RAC Arena 71% (10,001 from 18 events). The best performing major stadium was the new Allianz Stadium with its average attendance of 23,707 (13 events) being 56% of its capacity.
HIGHEST ATTENDED CITIES
1. Melbourne – 7,076,672 (15,691 avg)
2. Sydney – 3,616,332 (9,962 avg)
3. Perth – 1,618,387 (12,546 avg)
4. Brisbane – 1,417,936 (9,581 avg)
5. Adelaide – 1,379,283 (8,675 avg)
The top five cities remained unchanged from 2021, with Melbourne topping the list at more than 7 million spectators at an average of 15,691 per event, Sydney second, and Perth having the second-best average attendance. Brisbane and Adelaide round out the top five.
HIGHEST SPORTS ATTENDANCES
1. 2022 F1 Australian Grand Prix (d4) – 128,294 (Albert Park)
2. 2022 F1 Australian Grand Prix (d3) – 123,247 (Albert Park)
3. 2022 F1 Australian Grand Prix (d2) – 112,466 (Albert Park)
4. AFL: GF – Geelong Cats v Sydney Swans – 100,024 (MCG)
5. AFL: QF – Geelong Cats v Collingwood – 91,525 (MCG)
The F1 Australian Grand Prix had the three highest attendances of the year with huge crowds flocking to the Albert Park GP Circuit in Melbourne including a sell-out on race day of almost 130,000. The AFL Grand Final was the highest crowd at a stadium, with the MCG reaching its maximum capacity of 100,024 – the largest AFL crowd since 1986. The top 10 events were all held in Melbourne with AFL games at the MCG being five of those. The NRL Grand Final in Sydney was 11th with 82,415 in attendance.
HIGHEST ATTENDED SPORTS COMPETITIONS
1. AFL – 6,756,761 (32,641 avg)
2. NRL – 3,266,295 (16,665 avg)
3. A-League – 1,111,945 (5,946 avg)
4. NBL – 1,073,881 (4,972 avg)
5. BBL – 501,845 (9,469 avg)
In the 2022 calendar year, the AFL was again the dominant sports league/competition in terms of both aggregate and average attendance, double that of the NRL. Followed by the A-League, NBL and BBL, although the BBL’s average of 9,469 was third best. It’s also worth noting the T20 World Cup was attended by 751,597 spectators at an average of 25,053.
On to 2023, where we hope with no further restrictions in place, spectators return to stadiums in record numbers. The Austadiums Tickets Hub has recently been enhanced and further improvements planned, while the new concerts feature is proving to be popular. There are many other enhancements planned for Austadiums and we look forward to another big year.
