Overview
The Melbourne Cricket Ground — always the MCG, never by its full name in any conversation that intends to be taken seriously — was first played on in 1853, making it the oldest major sporting venue in continuous use in the world outside of a handful of British and European grounds. The site was granted to the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) by the colonial government, and the MCC has managed it ever since — a private club administering a public cultural institution, a Victorian arrangement that has somehow persisted through nearly 170 years of Australian democracy.
The ground hosted the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, the first Olympic Games held in the Southern Hemisphere, using a temporary athletics track laid over the outfield. The Olympic Stand, completed for the Games, remains one of the five main stands. The stadium was progressively redeveloped from the 1990s through 2006, reaching its current capacity of 100,024 — the largest stadium in Australia and the largest in the world dedicated to cricket, which still holds the record for the most sustained all-round use of a single sporting surface: the same oval turf serves AFL football from late summer through winter and then Test cricket through the summer months.
The Boxing Day Test Match (26 December to 30 December) is the MCG's most celebrated annual fixture — a summer cricket Test between Australia and visiting nations played to crowds that regularly exceed 70,000 per day and 350,000 across the match. The ritual of attending the Boxing Day Test on the 26th, often with a crowd exceeding 90,000, is one of Melbourne's defining cultural traditions, combining post-Christmas heat, outdoor beer gardens, and the specific pleasure of watching five days of cricket in a stadium built for 100,000 people who are all there because they want to be.
Events Schedule
AFL Season (March–September): Approximately 30 home games for Melbourne's three MCG-based AFL clubs (Melbourne, Collingwood, Richmond) plus finals and the AFL Grand Final in late September. Grand Final tickets are allocated via membership and ballot; hospitality packages are available through the MCG.
Cricket Season (October–March): Domestic and international fixtures including Sheffield Shield, Big Bash League T20, and all Australian home Test matches scheduled for Melbourne. The Boxing Day Test (26 December) is the marquee event; public ticket sales open 4–6 months ahead. The New Year's Day ODI and T20 international fixtures are typically the most family-accessible cricket events at the MCG.
Major concerts: The MCG hosts 3–5 major concerts annually, typically in January and March, converting the oval into a concert floor of 60,000–80,000 capacity. Check the MCG Events calendar for announced shows.
When to Visit
MCG Tours operate on non-event days between 10 AM and 3 PM, with tours departing every 30 minutes from Gate 3, Olympic Stand. The National Sports Museum is open daily 10 AM–5 PM. Check the MCG website at least one day ahead to confirm no event is scheduled — tours are cancelled on all match days and on days with major stadium maintenance. The tour office closes by 2:30 PM regardless of posted hours. Allow 90 minutes for the combined tour and museum visit.
Admission and Costs
MCG Tour (includes MCC Museum entry): A$28 adults / A$15 children (5–15) / A$20 concession. National Sports Museum only: A$12–15 per adult. AFL match tickets: A$28–90 per adult depending on match, seating category, and opposition (MCG or Collingwood home game at full capacity command premium pricing). Boxing Day Test: A$30–120 per session day depending on stand and day of match. Book AFL and cricket tickets through Ticketek 4–8 weeks ahead for popular matches.
The Case for a Guide
- Dressing room stories — the players' rooms beneath the Members Pavilion are only accessible during tours; the guide's accounts of the rituals, superstitions, and preparation routines of Australian cricket and AFL teams are specific to this location and unavailable from any published source
- Olympic legacy — the 1956 Games are covered superficially in public knowledge; the guide's version includes the political boycotts, the blood-in-the-water water polo match, and the specific engineering challenges of converting a cricket oval into a 100,000-seat athletics stadium on a six-month deadline
- MCG superstitions — the Melbourne Cricket Club maintains several traditions that seem archaic from outside (the Long Room, the restricted Members Reserve, the dress code) but make more sense once a guide explains the 170-year social history that produced them
- AFL vs cricket season handover — the tour demonstrates the logistics of transitioning the ground between AFL and cricket surface management, a process involving the repositioning of the turf wicket squares and the adjustment of the drainage system — surprisingly interesting for people who have never thought about what happens under a cricket pitch
Tips for Visitors
Book MCG Tours well ahead in summer: The tours run only on non-event days, and the summer cricket schedule reduces available tour days significantly between October and March. Check the MCG website at least one week ahead and confirm no event is scheduled before making travel plans around a specific tour day.
AFL match day logistics: For AFL home games, trains to Jolimont Station (2 minutes from Flinders Street on the Lilydale/Belgrave line) are by far the fastest option. The walk from the city via Birrarung Marr takes 25 minutes but involves extremely crowded shared paths after the match — plan the return journey via the train.
Boxing Day Test tickets: Public sales typically open in August for the December Test — buy early for Day 1 which regularly sells 90,000+ tickets. Day 3 and Day 4 are generally the most affordable and least crowded while still offering excellent cricket atmospherics.