New ticket era for disabled music and sport fans

Disabled fans have endured an antiquated system of form-filling and phone calls in an attempt to buy concert and sporting event tickets. Until now.

Exclusive: Disability advocate and keen music and sports fan Dane Cross had pretty much given up on trying to buy tickets to big gigs and matches.

Fans who require disability access to venues have struggled for decades with antiquated systems which forced them to email or call about tickets, and then hope someone got back to them before they all sold out.

After years of pleading for a fair go on access to hot tickets, a new digital platform launched by Ticketek will now give disabled fans the opportunity to buy seats at the same time as everyone else at dozens of venues.

Those already on board for the initiative include big outdoors venues including the MCG, Commbank Stadium in Sydney, Coopers Stadium in Adelaide and Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane through to theatres around the country.

Fans requiring accessible tickets can now buy through a new Ticketek online platform, including the Tina Turner musical. Picture: Daniel Boud

Upcoming events which be available on the accessible ticket platform – depending on the venue – include tours by Jerry Seinfeld and Iron Maiden, the musicals TINA, Wicked and Mamma Mia and Big Bash matches.

Cross, who is a Spinal Life senior adviser on accessibility, said disabled fans had encountered “push back” for years trying to get equitable access to buy tickets.

“It’s been such a difficult process in the past that it’s been enough to prevent me from actually even wanting to go to an event,” he said.

“The new ticketing platform puts us on a level playing field in the sense we’re able to try to buy tickets in real time like everyone else and not be in some long queue hoping that someone’s going to call us back with our fingers crossed that the tickets are still available.”

Disability advocate Dane Cross with wife Stacey at an Ed Sheeran gig. Picture: Supplied

Ticketek managing director Cameron Hoy said there are several types of accessible seating available through the new digital platform, including allocations for customers who use wheelchairs, require easy access, have a vision impairment or use a hearing loop.

“Offering an ideal purchasing experience for accessible seating is a project we hold close to our hearts. We are aware that the process has not been as easy as it should be to date, so we are delighted to be delivering this improved experience for fans and their companions,” Hoy said.

Tickets to the upcoming Jerry Seinfeld tour in Australia will be accessible through the new ticketing system. Picture: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Good+Foundation

Companion seating still needs improvement according to Cross, whose wheelchair ticket could be far away from where his wife Shelley and sons Ashton and Dawson are seated.

The new platform allows for companion tickets to be bought at the same time as the accessible seats but doesn’t guarantee they will be together.

“This is my biggest bugbear,” Cross said. “At most events I’ve been to, there will a wheelchair space and then one other seat next to it.

“I want to go to these things with my family and friends, like everyone else does, but I can’t go to a football game with my sons because I have to sit in the wheelchair space and they’re somewhere else.”

Cross said the equitable ticketing platform was a welcome initiative but venues, promoters, artists and sporting bodies could improve how many accessible tickets were available and their location across all price points from front rows to nosebleed sections.

“If I can get a chance at getting in the front row or moshpit, that’s where I’ll be.”

For details about the accessibility platform, go to ticketek.com.au.

Originally published as New ticket era for disabled music and sport fans