Adelaide pubs busy as AFL Gather Round brings in punters, but future of event remains uncertain

Peter Higgs has come from Sydney with his son Dylan to attend seven AFL matches in one weekend.

The pair arrived in Adelaide on Wednesday, went to the McLaren Vale wine region on Thursday and are heading to the Barossa Valley on Sunday, where their favourite team, the GWS Giants, is playing.

This will be Mr Higgs's fourth AFL Gather Round.

"Living in Sydney, sometimes we get one game a fortnight, other times we get nothing for three or four weeks," he said.

"But, being diehard footy fans, I want to get to nine games.

"I'm struggling this time to get to seven, but last year I only got to six, so It's a little bit better this year and I'm sure it will improve."

Mr Higgs is the kind of AFL fan that the head of the South Australian branch of the Australian Hotels Association, Anna Moeller, says has delivered a higher occupancy rate and higher food and beverage sales than last year, after worries that high fuel prices would keep interstate tourists away.

"Certainly in the CBD or anywhere that's close to the [Adelaide] Oval, we've got an uplift on last year of double digits," Ms Moeller said.

She said figures were looking particularly good for Sunday night, which meant people were staying in Adelaide beyond Gather Round.

"I think it's making us feel differently about ourselves — there's such a vibe around — and I think people from other states — and this is perhaps the most important — are seeing us differently as well."

The Cathedral Hotel lies just a short distance from Adelaide Oval, where Essendon and Melbourne clashed this afternoon.

Pub co-owner Kym Bond said Gather Round was "massive" for his business and set it up for the season.

"Even with the fuel stuff at the moment, punters are flooding in the doors, and they're enjoying themselves, having a few beers and a schnitty — so it's all good," he said.

The Sydney Swans face the Gold Coast Suns at a sold-out Norwood Oval in Adelaide's eastern suburbs later this afternoon, while Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs will close out the day when they go head-to-head under lights at Adelaide Oval.

Negotiations ongoing

This is the last year that South Australia is certain to host Gather Round.

Premier Peter Malinauskas is hoping to sign a deal with AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon to keep the event in the state for five more years, but is not confident of an outcome being announced this weekend.

Speaking in Adelaide today, AFL general manager of operations Tristan Salter said the negotiations would not be rushed.

He said there were a lot of stakeholders involved and a lot of details to work out.

ABC SA Grandstand host Aaron Bryans said one issue could be that a Tasmanian team will be in the AFL from 2028, but not all 19 teams could play in the same round because of the uneven number.

Bryans said it might be hard to convince a team — probably Adelaide or Port Adelaide — to play twice within five days to allow all interstate teams to play in Gather Round.

"You've just go to convince the footy clubs that it's easy to do," Bryans said.

"If they can play two games in five days, we get a full Gather Round with all 19 teams, and it means Gather Round stays in Adelaide; otherwise, it's going to have to move."

Over the past three years, $8 million has been invested by the AFL, the SANFL and South Australian government to upgrade local facilities as part of a joint Gather Round funding package.

But SANFL chief executive Darren Chandler said half of the state's football facilities remained below standard, and the league would only invest another $1 million into local football infrastructure in South Australia if Gather Round stayed in the state.

"We're certainly prepared and we've made that really clear to the AFL and the government invest another million dollars over the next three years but that comes with Gather Round being here in South Australia," Mr Chandler said.

Geelong takes on the West Coast Eagles at Norwood Oval first-up tomorrow, followed by GWS and Richmond at Barossa Park, before Port Adelaide faces St Kilda in the last match of Gather Round at Adelaide Oval in the evening.

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