CARLTON Football Club is pleased to advise it will renew its gate-share agreement with the Richmond Football Club for the next 10 years.

As a commitment to continuing to foster the traditional season opener match as a major AFL event, the agreement was formalised between the two clubs this week.

Since 2007, the Blues and Tigers have faced off 10 times in the AFL season-opener blockbuster, with the average crowd for the match just under 75,000.

Carlton CEO Cain Liddle welcomed the new decade-long agreement between both clubs.

“It’s a great privilege for Carlton and Richmond to be given the opportunity to open the AFL season each year and we are excited to formalise our shared commitment to growing what is one of the AFL’s greatest rivalries,” Liddle said.  

“Our members and supporters will be thrilled that Carlton will now benefit financially, irrespective of whether Round 1 is a home or away game and we look forward to working with Richmond to break the all-time attendance record for this game in 2018.”

Richmond CEO Brendon Gale said it was an investment for the future.

“Both Richmond and Carlton have invested heavily in building this game into a major event, and this announcement further underlines that joint commitment and investment for the future,” Gale said.

“Both clubs love playing in the marquee match, and we know our members and fans love it too.

"This traditional season-opener has been an enormous success, and we’re looking forward to working closely with Carlton to continue to grow it further.”

In the event that the Clubs only play each other once in an AFL season, as is the case in 2018, the Clubs have agreed on a fixed fee return for the away team.  

The 2009 season-opener crowd holds the record of 87,043, and is expected to be broken this year. 

With a crowd of 90,000-plus expected at the MCG, the Carlton Football Club encourages all supporters to join or renew as members, to provide the best opportunity of ensuring entry to the blockbuster match on Thursday 23 March. 

Sign up as a #BoundByBlue member in 2018 by clicking here.