Kevin Bartlett says the now-traditional Thursday night season opening clash between Richmond and Carlton at the MCG will break the 60-year-old record for the biggest crowd at a VFL/AFL regular season match.
The current record for a crowd at a home-and-away game stands at 99,256 at the MCG, which was set on the 16th of June 1958 between Melbourne and Collingwood in their yearly Queen’s Birthday clash.
Despite the capacity of the ground being far reduced in its now fully-seated configuration compared to 1958, Bartlett believes the crowd number will rival the 100,021 people that packed the MCG for last year’s Grand Final– the record attendance for the ground since its latest redevelopment.
“The opening game of the season, Richmond and Carlton, will create the biggest home and away crowd in the history of the game,” the Tigers great told SEN’s KB and The Doc.
“We’ll get 100,000 there.”
The Tigers will unfurl their first premiership flag for 37 years at the match - nearly six months after their emphatic eight goal Grand Final victory over Adelaide.
Richmond and Carlton today announced a commitment to a 10-year plan to share the gate receipts of the blockbuster season opener, three years after the Blues pulled out of the original gate sharing agreement.