Richmond Tigers Tops 'Booming' Australian Football League Attendance For '17

Australian Football League side Richmond Tigers is "leading a booming season" of AFL attendances -- without a single Friday night fixture, according to Michael Warner of the HERALD SUN. The Tigers have pulled crowds of 705,459 to 14 matches, ahead of Collingwood with 696,944. Essendon, "enjoying its first season free of the drugs scandal," is next best with 663,420. Richmond’s home game average of 60,920 is the highest in the club’s history -- up 48% on last year when the Tigers "bombed out of finals contention." Essendon's home crowds "are up by the greatest margin" -- a "whopping" 60%. Gold Coast sits last, pulling just 196,722 fans through the gates for all its matches. Richmond CEO Brendon Gale said that he expected club attendances to "crash through" the 1 million mark for the fourth time by the end of the season. Gale said, "The players love the fact their home ground is one of the great stadiums in the world and they get to play there in front of big crowds" (HERALD SUN, 7/6). 

Source: Herald Sun