The annual Richmond vs. Carlton season opener is expected to demolish the AFL's round one attendance figures.
Richmond will be unfurling their 11th premiership flag at the MCG on March 22nd.
Richmond's chief executive Brendan Gale told the Herald Sun in a recent interview that the possibility of this being a complete sellout was highly likely.
"We have been advising our fans that the best way not to miss out on the game is to become a member" Gale said.
Currently Richmond sit at just shy of 75,000 members and are looking to exceed 90,000 for the first time in the club's history.
Richmond and Carlton also hold the current opening round attendance record, set in 2009 when the clubs began their annual opening clash, with a figure of 87,043 patrons at the MCG. Since then however their opening clashes have received an average attendance of just over 80,000 consistently.
The expected figure for the March 22 clash is set to be around 90,000 but could very well be a full house. Last season they had the highest average for home attendance at 55,958, a category previously dominated by Collingwood, who following their 2010 premiership were exceeding 80,000 members and just shy of 60,000 per home game.
Even Hawthorn saw a massive membership spike into the high 70,000's following their three-peat from 2013- 2015.
It is fair to assume that most Richmond home games, or in general any game they play in Melbourne will be close to a sellout.
Many teams that will travel to the MCG to face Richmond will have to deal with a vocal crowd, that may exceed 70,000 per game.
All its going to take now is one of the big fixture clubs (Collingwood, Essendon, Carlton) to have a decent season to be able to pull their fans out of their homes and into the stands, to make sure the 2018 AFL season is the most attended of all-time.
