Price hike: AFL raises premium on big-game reserved seats
FOOTY fans will face a price hike at some high-demand AFL games this year, after the league quietly approved a contentious change to the ticketing system.
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THE AFL is now allowing clubs to charge a premium of up to $20 on reserved seats.
Fans will face the extra cost at some high-demand games this year, after the league quietly approved a contentious change to the ticketing system.
The previous maximum surcharge for reserving seats at home games was $12 a ticket.
For a high-demand clash, a club can now lift the price of a ticket four times, in increments of up to $5.
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Previously, clubs could only slug fans with four $3 rises as tickets became scarcer.
Clubs are already cashing in on the new rule.
Hawthorn increased its cheapest reserved seats against Collingwood, on level four of the MCG, from $40 to $57 last Saturday. The game attracted 58,051 fans.
Greater Western Sydney Giants also made the most of the new change in round one.
It increased prices by up to $17 for its opening round victory over the Western Bulldogs in Canberra.
AFL Fans Association president Gerry Eeman accused the AFL of trying to slip the price hike “under the radar’’.
He said: “Where is the public disclosure? Where is the transparency? Why does it take detective work for these rises to be uncovered?’’
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AFL spokesman Jay Allen confirmed the reserved-seat price hike, but said general admission tickets had been frozen in Melbourne for five years and clubs could lower entry costs if they wanted.
“Our clubs are best placed to understand what their supporters want, including having ticketing strategies to encourage the most number of people to the most number of games,’’ he said.
“Dynamic pricing allows them to move ticket prices marginally, and only up to a maximum of $20.’’
He said the “most affordable’’ option was to buy a club membership.
But Mr Eeman said the league was taking supporters who wanted to guarantee a seat for a ride, by increasing costs without notice.
“That is poor and quite frankly a bit sneaky,’’ he said.
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