Media Release - Gather Round 2025 pays Resilience Dividend
Gather Round delivers a $113.9m boost — a resilience dividend for South Australia
Adelaide, 5 September 2025 — For immediate release
The CENTRE FOR RESILIENCE (C4R) welcomes the South Australian Government’s independent evaluation that AFL Gather Round 2025 delivered a record $113.9 million Total Economic Contribution to South Australia, validating the event’s growing role in strengthening the State’s economic and social resilience. Independent evaluation by IER shows the result is 24% higher than 2024 ($91.6m) and 36% higher than 2023, with 241,613 visitor nights, more than 54,000 interstate visitors, and average stays of 4.7 nights across the State.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE GOVERNMENT’S RELEASE
$113.9m Total Economic Contribution (independently confirmed by IER).
Up 24% YoY and up 36% on 2023.269,506 total match attendances across Adelaide Oval, Norwood and the new Barossa Park venue; 36% interstate attendees.
241,613 visitor nights (↑26% vs 2024), >54,000 interstate visitors with strongest growth from WA and NSW.
Barossa Park’s debut generated $4.87m in direct expenditure for the region, demonstrating regional spill-overs and infrastructure legacy benefits.
Record hotel performance: average 93% occupancy over Thu–Sat, 10,669 rooms occupied on the Friday night (all-time record), and $4.6m average nightly room revenue.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S RESILIENCE
1) Economic & jobs resilience
Major events are now a repeatable shock absorber for SA’s visitor economy. The uplift across accommodation, aviation and hospitality indicates stronger cash-flow buffers for SMEs and broader employment hours during shoulder periods, reducing exposure to single-sector downturns. The Friday record for rooms and revenue underscores capacity utilisation that flows through to staff rosters, suppliers and local logistics.
2) SME capability & value-chain depth
The Government’s data confirms material spending in precincts and festivals aligned with Gather Round (e.g., the Footy Festival and Norwood Food & Wine Festival). These activations distribute spend across dozens of local traders and producers, building repeat visitation and improving SMEs’ ability to scale for peak demand — a key marker of operational resilience.
3) Regional resilience & legacy infrastructure
Barossa Park’s inaugural AFL fixtures delivered $4.87m direct expenditure and showcased how co-investment in regional venues creates enduring capacity for sport, community events and tourism. This is classic resilience design: an asset with multi-use and year-round applicability, strengthening regional incomes beyond a single weekend.
4) Connectivity & mobility resilience
With ~200,000 airport passengers across the week and 90+ additional flights, Gather Round pressure-tests transport systems, airline scheduling and last-mile logistics — revealing where operational contingencies and surge planning succeed or need refinement.
Case studies
Record hotel sector performance – Adelaide metro
What happened: 93% average occupancy across Thu–Sat; 10,669 rooms occupied on Friday (record), $4.8m revenue that night.
Why it matters for resilience: cash-flow injection, workforce hours, and supplier orders rise together, lifting liquidity and payroll resilience across accommodation, housekeeping, laundry and food services.Norwood Food & Wine Festival – local trader uplift
What happened: 90,000+ people attended; more than 50 local traders involved; live screens kept fans in-precinct and spending longer.
Why it matters: diversified revenue for independent operators, with brand discovery likely to translate into return patronage.Barossa Park debut + ‘Bounce Around the Barossa’
What happened: Two AFL matches at the new venue; hop-on/hop-off bus moved ~4,000 passengers to 45+ businesses and townships.
Why it matters: structured dispersal spreads income, builds new visitor pathways, and tests transport-to-retail linkages for future events.
C4R PERSPECTIVE: TURNING MOMENTUM INTO LONG-TERM RESILIENCE
C4R supports the State’s continued partnership with the AFL and recommends the following resilience-first refinements ahead of future Gather Rounds:
Lock in multi-year certainty to enable SMEs to plan inventory, staffing and finance — while continuing independent evaluations to maintain public confidence in the benefit–cost profile. (IER methodology note below).
Expand regional dispersion through curated satellite events and transport links (building on Barossa Park), with measurement of regional multipliers and repeat-visitation rates.
Strengthen supply-chain readiness (workforce pools, logistics, circular services like laundry/waste) with simple opt-in frameworks for SMEs to access training and procurement pipelines aligned to major events.
Codify an “event resilience playbook” covering surge mobility, cyber and payments robustness for precinct traders, heat/cold contingencies, and accessible wayfinding — reusable across other State events.
Track broader outcomes beyond spend: SME survivability metrics, new-to-region visitors within 12 months, and regional business formation rates post-event.
Quotes Attributable to C4R
“Gather Round has matured into a resilience engine for South Australia — activating SMEs, proving out regional infrastructure like Barossa Park, and building repeat visitor flows. The step-up to $113.9m confirms the value of partnership, planning and measurement.” — C4R
“Our priority now as a state is to lock in certainty and keep lifting regional dispersion, SME capability and surge-readiness so that every additional visitor-night compounds into stronger year-round resilience for businesses and communities.” — C4R
About the Centre for Resilience (C4R):
The Centre for Resilience is an independent, SA-based initiative advancing economic, social, infrastructure and leadership resilience through research, measurement and practical programs with business, government and community partners. Learn more at https://www.c4resilience.com/.
Media enquiries: via the C4R Contact page.