The AFL has laughed in the face of “the people’s game” all the way to the bank with its ticket distribution scheme for this weekend’s grand final.
For the second year in a row, more than half of Geelong’s members were denied a ticket. This year Hawthorn fans have experienced the anguish, too. The only alternative out there is the array of corporate hospitality packages, costing in the vicinity of $1,500.
It’s pretty hard to stomach. I know first-hand because I am a paid-up Geelong member who looks consigned to the idiot box this weekend.
Were the AFL’s corporatization of the grand final justified, maybe I would just accept it.
But it isn’t. For the everyday fan, the grand final has unnecessarily become the least accessible sporting event of its kind in the world.
No venue at the 2006 FIFA World Cup had a capacity of 100,000. Neither does Wembley, home to the FA Cup final. Same for this year’s Super Bowl host.
Yet all these events managed to service more everyday fans and less “corporates” by percentage than the AFL grand final.
FIFA provided 9.64% of tickets to each of the competing teams at each World Cup match in 2006. An additional 36.22% were made available – at standard prices – via the online ticket ballot.
More than half the crowd at the FA Cup final derives from the competing clubs; each of whom receive 27.78% of available tickets.
Even the so-called beacon of commercialization in sport, the Super Bowl, manages to dish out 17.5% of tickets to each of the competing teams.
You would like to think the AFL, which loves to put itself in line with global trends, would be on par with these major events.
Far from it.
A paltry 11.5% of grand final tickets go to each competing team.
Oh, and did I mention that the other major leagues in America have “playoff priority” for season ticket holders? Or that last year UEFA gave 17,000 seats to each club competing in the Champions League final?
Did I mention that every other major grand final in the country has tickets – at standard prices – available to the general public and, more importantly, all members?
The AFL is in a league of its own when it comes to cutting up the grand final pie.
Adding to the ticketing dismay is the fact the league worked so hard to get scalping outlawed, when in fact the biggest scalpers appear to be the AFL and the clubs it hands 16,000 tickets to.
I can buy a ticket to Geelong’s grand final brunch for $225 and, if I were only lucky enough, score a ticket in the ballot for $161. So why is it that, after missing out on the ballot, I go to buy both of them as a package through an official AFL agency and it costs $1,200?
Why is it that after being given tickets by the AFL, most clubs hand them straight back again to be part of the “Centre Square” rort?
All I want to do is see my team play in a grand final. I, clearly, do not have a spare $1,200 lying around.
So much for “the people’s game.”
Best Off Ground is blogging daily during grand final week. Yeah…
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