A sell-out crowd of 11,000 people squeezed into the venue in 2013 when the same two clubs played.

The February 24 twilight fixture will be the first hitout of the Tigers’ premiership defence and Essendon is looking to make further inroads into finals next year after an active recent trade period which resulted in the Bombers’ adding Jake Stringer, Devon Smith and Adam Saad to their ranks.

Tickets for the match will again be pre-sold from a date to be announced by the AFL and both clubs are already shaping to have the biggest membership bases in 2018.

Wangaratta’s most recent AFL pre-season game between St Kilda and North Melbourne last year attracted a crowd of 6216.

But the Tigers-Bombers match-up will be one of only four matches played in regional Victoria next year.

The AFL has cut the pre-season for clubs from three matches to two which will make competition among regional venues even more intense in future years.

It will be the fourth match played at the Norm Minns Oval since the venue underwent a major upgrade to a standard capable of hosting pre-season fixtures.

Wangaratta’ councillor David Fuller confirmed the 11,000 ground capacity.

“To have two of the biggest clubs in the AFL return to Wangaratta is a major show of faith from the AFL,” he said.

“When the AFL comes to Wangaratta, fans turn up in big numbers and the events run excellently.

“It will deliver a direct benefit of more than $1 million, plus flow on effects from overnight stays.”

AFL North-East Border general manager John O’Donohue said the Richmond-Essendon match-up was a coup.

“It will be great to have two high profile and well supported clubs in the region to launch the 2018 season,” he said.

“Richmond has a vested interest in the North-East with its Next Generation Academy in this area and it is an opportunity to further build a relationship with fans.”