South Australia will host the AFL Gather Round for the next three seasons, the league has confirmed.
The news comes on the final day of the inaugural event, which both the AFL and the South Australian government have hailed as a success.
The inaugural Gather Round brought nine AFL matches to South Australia, including a game at Mount Barker's Summit Sport Park and two at Norwood Oval.
In a statement, the AFL said all nine games had sold out and more than 220,000 people had attended the matches including 60,000 from interstate.
Speaking outside Adelaide Oval on Sunday, AFL chief executive officer Gillon McLachlan said the Gather Round would move to other states in the future.
"We're going to take on the road at some point but, when you've started something from nothing, the state's done what it's done … I think you need a level of tenure," he said.
Mr McLachlan said the three-year commitment would allow clubs, players, supporters and local venues to have certainty in planning.
"AFL supporters can put this in their calendar as a place where all 18 clubs come together," he said.
Earlier on Sunday, Mr Malinauskas said the state was competing against Western Australia and New South Wales, which also wanted to host the Gather Round.
"Others might try to trump us on money but what we trump every other state around is we are a footy state," he said on Sunday.
"The South Australian public have backed it in and that's our trump card."
The league said next year's Gather Round would include matches in the Barossa or McLaren Vale wine regions.
Under the agreement, the AFL and the state government have committed to establishing a community football legacy fund, the details of which are yet to be announced.
Mr Malinauskas thanked everyone who travelled from interstate for the event, as well as South Australians for "backing this concept in", and said next year would be "bigger and better".
"Gather Round is about bringing people together," he said.
"Footy does that unlike anything else, which is why this is an event that I think is going to have a bright future."
While Mr Malinauskas said he could not disclose how much the state government had spent on this year's Gather Round, he said the figure was "less than half" of the government's $40 million major events fund.
The state government has yet to calculate the full cash injection generated from the Gather Round, but Mr Malinauskas said its "value" had been proven and pointed to record hotel bookings and sold-out crowds as markers of success.
"It has undoubtedly exceeded all our expectations and hopes," he said.
