Simply no question that this is true. If I couldn't sit on a train, and arrive within 200m walking distance to Etihad, I would never attend sport in Melbourne. The MCG is an inconvenience to me, but I say that because it would take me an extra 4 minutes by tram. All of Melbourne's sporting complexes are within a few square kilometres of each other in the dead centre of the city.
You then begin to see how easily you can have AFL teams which draw crowds. Supporters in AFL here aren't divided by where they live as much as they are by success. Collingwood wouldn't have the supporters they have if they didn't draw people from the north, east, south and west. Its there in numbers, an AFL club in Melbourne can double its membership base if they look successful, which highlights the fact that you can draw people from any corner of Melbourne to attend games at location friendly stadiums with some success - just look at Hawthorn and the bandwagon effect. If that stadium was placed where ANZ is in Sydney, comparatively speaking, you would simply not see that kind of jump.
I dunno how folk up there do it.
