Bombers, Tigers move away from Dreamtime gate shareDaniel Cherny
The Age
15 April 2018Essendon and Richmond have moved away from a gate-share agreement for the Dreamtime game due to uncertainty over fixturing, however the clubs will still work together to promote the game.
In 2016, the clubs moved to lock in the fixture - first played in 2005 - for a decade. Upon announcing their joint commitment, it was outlined that a gate-share agreement, similar to the one used by Essendon and Collingwood for the Anzac Day clash, would be put in place.
However, despite talks between the clubs this year, the Bombers and Tigers both told The Sunday Age they were unlikely to have a gate share for 2018. While the sides meet twice this season - the round 11 Dreamtime clash, which is an Essendon home game, and a return meeting in round 21, which is a Richmond home game - the inability to guarantee two matches a year between the clubs a year has created a hurdle which looks likely to be insurmountable at this point.
The sides have met twice in most seasons over the past decade, but not every year, making a gate-share agreement in which the revenue from matches between the clubs is shared more complicated than the Bombers-Pies agreement. Collingwood and Essendon have met twice in the home and away season every year since the first of their now traditional Anzac Day meetings in 1995, with the exception of 2016.
The Bombers and Tigers are instead likely to settle for a commercial marketing agreement and partnership around the Dreamtime game at the MCG, which has become the centrepiece of the AFL's annual Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous round.
The introduction of the top six, middle six, bottom six fixture model - in which club fixtures are weighted for difficulty depending on where they finished the previous season - ahead of the 2014 season, has made ensuring return fixtures for marquee clashes more difficult.
However, Richmond and Carlton struck an agreement for a 10-year gate-share agreement around their season opener ahead of this season, having previously abandoned a similar arrangement. Under the Tigers-Blues deal, the clubs have agreed to a fixed-fee return for the away team for any year where the clubs are only scheduled to meet once. The move was made in a bid to help ensure the clubs maintained a stranglehold on the season opener.
Last year's Dreamtime match drew a crowd of 85,656, with the Tigers winning by 15 points. Only days ago Richmond became the first AFL club to pass the 90,000 members milestone.
http://www.watoday.com.au/afl/richmond-tigers/bombers-tigers-dreamtime-gate-share-afl-richmond-essendon-20180414-p4z9m9.html
