Saturday night's AFL preliminary final between Collingwood and Geelong will be televised live into Melbourne as officials expect the MCG to be close to full come the opening bounce.

The league announced on Thursday the clash would be televised live on Network Ten.

Some tickets for the game are still available, but they are in standing-room sections.

"We're going live because the tickets have sold exceptionally well," an AFL spokesman said.

The strong sales mean the 100,000-capacity MCG will be either full or very close to it and will earn the game the biggest attendance of the season.

The crowd should comfortably surpass the 86,972 from the season-opener between Carlton and Richmond.

Saturday night's game will be the first final (apart from the grand final) televised live into Melbourne since the 2007 preliminary final between the Cats and Pies, which drew a crowd of 98,002.

Friday night's preliminary final between St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs will be telecast into Melbourne on a 30-minute delay by the Seven Network.

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