All the key ticketing questions answered ahead of new season

All the key ticketing questions answered ahead of new season

How do you go about getting a ticket to the footy in another COVID-impacted year? Herald Sun expert Jon Ralph explains everything you need to know.

The AFL has not given up hope of an increase in the current crowd capacity of 50 per cent before Round 1 if the run of zero community transmissions in Victoria continues.

The league continues to push its case to the State Government despite securing 50 per cent capacity last week, with March 13 the date the state would hit 28 days without community transmission.

The Herald Sun understands the State Government has made no promises and any increase would likely be a smaller rise than allowing 75 per cent capacity.

Watch every match of the 2021 AAMI Community Series LIVE on Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your free trial now & start streaming instantly >

But the league could at least submit a proposal to the State Government in the week ahead of the March 18 opener.

Even if that is rebuffed, it may be only one or two rounds until the capacity rises given a prolonged run of zero cases as the league quickly proves it can safely protect socially distanced fans.

TICKET Q&A: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
Herald Sun footy expert Jon Ralph answers all your questions on getting a ticket in the early rounds of the season.

So are we happy that 50,000 fans get into the MCG or dirty so many are being turned away?

Ralphy: Bloody excited. Footy is back, and we get to watch it … Or to be exact we get to go into a ticket ballot or anxiously sit at our computer repeatedly hitting refresh for a chance to nab a golden ticket to those massive games. But as the AFL says, it has done well to secure certainty for the MCG and Marvel Stadium of at least 50 per cent capacity. And given Boxing Day’s maximum crowd was 27,000, we should be glad the fans actually get to go to the footy from Round 1 onwards.

Yeah, but are we any chance to get a ticket?

Ralphy: If you are a North Melbourne supporter your chances are off the charts. As a Tiger or Collingwood supporter, not so much. The AFL has cleverly handed control of how to divide the tickets to the clubs themselves, who are going through that process right now.

But for the MCG, of the 50,000 tickets available, 11,000 will go to MCC members, 10,000 to AFL members and about 500 to corporates. In all, the AFL says about 27,500 will be available to members of Richmond and Carlton in Round 1.

Plus the AFL and MCC members who are supporters of those clubs – they will presumably try to get those tickets to watch their side.

When are the tickets for Round 1 on sale?

Ralphy: In the week before Round 1, according to the AFL on Monday. The Tigers-Richmond game is on Thursday, March 18 so fans will have to wait until the Monday of that week to see if they get a ticket or not.

So of those 27,500 tickets for the club members, what is the breakdown?

Ralphy: Clubs are working through it as we speak. But the indication from the AFL and Richmond on Friday was that it might be only between 500-1000 tickets given to Carlton for its members.

But the Dogs are likely to get about 4000 of the 27,500 tickets available for the Pies-Dogs Round 1 clash at the MCG. So, effectively, clubs will do whatever they can to satisfy their massive membership bases and the away team will just have to wait its turn.

The same Carlton fans who can’t get a Round 1 ticket will be more of a chance to acquire one in Round 2 – when they host the Pies on Friday night at the MCG.

What about Marvel Stadium?

Ralphy: The AFL said on Monday the breakdown of the 28,961 tickets available goes like this: 21,931 club members (and general admission), 3209 Medallion Club members, 3231 AFL members and about 590 tickets for the corporate suites.

So, even fewer club members will get in compared to the MCG because of capacity, but in total 25,162 club and AFL members will get to watch their teams at Marvel Stadium.

How long until we get more fans to the footy if the COVID numbers still remain in the string of donuts?

Ralphy: Not long, which is the fantastic news. The AFL is asking about bigger capacity for Round 1 already and the State Government isn’t saying ‘yes’, but they are not giving a definite ‘no’. We won’t get to 75 per cent capacity even if the AFL hits 28 days without community transmission, but we could get to 60 or 65 per cent.

Even if capacity doesn’t increase by Round 1, if the numbers stay the way they are, it could be Round 2 or Round 3 when capacity increases.

Then again, if this godforsaken 12 months has taught us anything, it’s not to get ahead of ourselves.

How are clubs going to allocate those tickets?

Ralphy: It depends upon the clubs. Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale told the Herald Sun on Friday the Tigers would likely use a ballot system. As in, you register your interest and if you are lucky enough you get a ticket regardless of your membership category.

So if half the 100,000-strong Richmond membership base puts in for the ballot, then perhaps over half of them would get a ticket. Geelong is likely to use a first-in best-dressed approach for its fans for selling tickets instead of a ballot system.

What if I pay $1000 bucks or more for a reserved seat category membership?

Ralphy: Fair point. Should that put you at the head of the queue – in front of normal 11-game members? Maybe, but if those rank-and-file members could never get into games why buy memberships? It’s a conundrum for clubs, which is why they will be so desperate to get this COVID crisis under control before 2022 rolls around.

So what about GMHBA Stadium?

Ralphy: They will be at 50 per cent too, they just didn’t have the advanced COVID-safe plans the MCG and Marvel had for rival sports so their approval has been delayed by a week or so.

It will be 50 per cent for the start of the season, with its first GMHBA Stadium game in Round 2 against Brisbane.

The Cats’ current capacity is 36,000, so about 18,000 fans will get in.

The Cats have had to go through restricted capacity games over the years when they demolish stands without too much difficulty.

But like many clubs the Cats are desperate to get capacity to 75 per cent so they can start making some cash again.

Is anyone making any money off 50 per cent capacity?

Ralphy: Not really. As AFL fixture boss Travis Auld said on Friday, the break-even for clubs is about 50 per cent. If Richmond hosts 50,000 fans in Round 1, it will make some money off the corporates, but the MCC, AFL and club members will have already paid up for their tickets. The time when clubs get filthy rich is 100,000-seat crowds where heaps of fans pre-purchase reserved seats. So while clubs will again stay afloat because members have paid up, they won’t get the gravy of reserved seats from non-members until 75 per cent capacity.

Why don’t we just move all Victorian games to the MCG to ensure 50,000 capacity?

Ralphy: Show me the money, baby. Every venue including Marvel Stadium and GMHBA Stadium has contracts, not only to play a certain number of games but with all the associated subcontractors like food and beverage providers. So, the AFL has already said it won’t happen, even if it makes practical sense.

HOME GROUND ADVANTAGES
If venue capacity stays at 50 per cent Victorian clubs starved of home crowds in 2020 will be able to bask in early-season clashes with opposition fans mostly shut-out of marquee clashes.

The AFL confirmed on Monday that Round 1 tickets would go on sale early in the week of March 14-20 as clubs sort through their ticket allocations.

Clubs are expected to hand opposition members a small number of tickets which will mean home teams including Richmond, Collingwood and Essendon will have significant home-crowd advantages in Round 1.

It is understood the Pies will hand the Western Bulldogs around 4000 tickets for their members based on previous away member attendance rates.

Not since Richmond’s preliminary final victory over GWS in 2017 will crowds have been so one-sided in Victoria.

With the MCG at a capacity of 50,000 and Marvel Stadium’s fan limit 28,961, rival fans will have to be AFL, MCC or Medallion Club members to watch their team at away contests.

The MCG will have a club member allocation of 27,500 and Marvel Stadium’s club member allocation will be 21,931.

Essendon on Monday night confirmed that it had asked the AFL to consider moving its Round 1 Marvel Stadium contest against Hawthorn to the MCG so more than 20,000 extra fans to watch the contest.

The MCC is open to such a move but with the ground hosting Melbourne-Fremantle the same day at 1.45pm any prospect of the league approving the request would appear remote.

The league had already ruled out clubs moving games on Friday when it revealed the 50 per cent capacity, saying it would honour existing contracts with venues including its own Marvel Stadium.

The league has rarely hosted multiple games at the MCG on the same day given the challenge of getting fans into the venue as well as cleaning and catering demands.

At the Docklands venue Medallion Club members will be handed 3209 tickets and AFL members will receive 3231 seats, with 590 corporates allowed into suites.

Richmond is expected to use a ballot system for fans, while Geelong will likely throw open its tickets to members on a first-come, first-served basis.

Carlton fans who cannot access a ticket to Round 1 will receive the lion’s share of the allocation for their home clash against Collingwood at the MCG in Round 2.

And Hawthorn fans who cannot access tickets to their away clash against Essendon at Marvel Stadium in Round 1 will get almost all of the club members allocation for their Round 2 clash against Richmond at the MCG.

Fans were again frustrated by the difficulty in securing tickets on Monday as AFL clubs apologised to members attempting to access AAMI Community Series tickets.

Collingwood, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs were among clubs apologising to fans who could not get through to TicketMaster’s website and purchase tickets.

The AFL told the Herald Sun it had been in constant communication with Ticketmaster about the issues but said no members had been shut-out of the process.

Ticketmaster said in a statement: “There was no malfunction or major ticketing bungle on the Ticketmaster site today.

“The site is fully operational and tickets are still available for purchase … thousands of member tickets have been sold today and this is a great indication that fans are excited for footy to be back in 2021.”

“General public sales that commenced at 3pm are also showing really strong demand.”

Jeez...4000 for rd 1 doesn't give us a lot of chance. Be like an interstate crowd.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Grantysghost

Jeez...4000 for rd 1 doesn't give us a lot of chance. Be like an interstate crowd.

---

Better than Carlton who will only get 500-1000. Of course there will also be away supporters who are MCC and AFL members, but the home teams will have a significant crowd advantage. Hopefully allowed capacities will increase.

It is going to be fun and games trying to get tickets this year, we will have to be on the ball.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bornadog

It is going to be fun and games trying to get tickets this year, we will have to be on the ball.

---

Considering "There was no malfunction or major ticketing bungle on the Ticketmaster site today." we have to assume it was operating as intended, which was very poorly. Imagine how it will go when something does go wrong!