2024 Grand Final registration reminder

[SMAC2024]

I'd assume most clubs would sell most of their 17,500 as September Memberships or whatever their equivalent is. If you think about it, every one of those memberships they sell is free money. BUT you have to balance that with giving hope for people who can't afford as much on memberships and give them some hope as P2. How you manage that balance is tricky - a good club would not get too greedy. Of course there will always be some p1 who don't put in for the ballot so they go to P2 as well. Am i right in thinking last year all P2 got them and some P3, whereas this year not all P2 did and therefore no P3? This is just part of being a bigger club.

I do think the AFL has made a bit of a rod for its own back with the AFL Membership / medallion access.

Members of competing clubs get 35k
MCC get 22,500 - that ain't changing. Nothing the AFL can do about that.
AFL members PLUS medallion members (stadium owned by AFL) get 19k. 15.5k are the afl members. This was a category created by the AFL as another cash cow in the year 2000. It's now a behemoth with a waiting list for Gold nearly as long as the MCC. It's like gambling revenue for Victoria - once it's there it's very had to turn off.

Could they trim the 7k for 'afl contractual obligations' - good luck when they need to keep getting more money for broadcast rights.
7.5k for corporate sales functions? That's a lot of tickets for fat cats!
5k for afl clubs - i do wonder if these will go one day. this is just another way for an afl club NOT competing to make money. surely all clubs would be happy to do away with these and increase allocation to 20k, the clubs could still make money by having more september members, and more fans would get in via their clubs

I’ve not heard of any P3 allocations this year, unlike last.

 

[FFB1]

It would be silly because there are 17500 guaranteed tickets available. Why not give as many members the peace of mind guarantee that the club can? Every single club will have the SMs capped at the maximum number they can. Because that’s what logically makes sense. Not all 17500 people with SMs will use it, that’s why P2s, even some P3s can get lucky.

OK we’ll agree to disagree, no point arguing a topic we don’t really need or want to this week.

 

[braddsey]

Anyone know if it's possible to sell plane tickets if you just bought the cheap non flexible tickets. I'm thinking about changing the dates I fly and I got a ticket for a 9pm Friday flight for 370.

Not possible. Name change not allowed (normally!).

 

[Roytheloinboy]

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Hi [emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji6]]Roytheloinboy can you please let me know if you’d like to sell? Travelled down to Melb on a gamble but missed out in the ballot. Keen for two tickets, allocated or standing.

Hey mate,

Spoken to a few people but haven’t found anyone with lower level tickets to swap yet.

I’d only sell as an absolute worst case scenario and having had people reach out already I’m optimistic.

Will keep you posted though.

Thanks.

 

[Toffee Lion]

And illegal right? Scalper laws and all.

Absolutely but if done from friend to friend etc then nothing you can do. Not very friendly though.

 

[braddsey]

It would be silly because there are 17500 guaranteed tickets available. Why not give as many members the peace of mind guarantee that the club can? Every single club will have the SMs capped at the maximum number they can. Because that’s what logically makes sense. Not all 17500 people with SMs will use it, that’s why P2s, even some P3s can get lucky.

I’ve no idea how many SM’s they offer, but taking it to the full available capacity would make some SM’s unhappy. Our club allocation includes standing room and restricted view seats. I would be disappointed to get a standing ticket as a “guaranteed ticket”. So at most, they could extend and cap at the number of “regular seats” for SM.

I only got SM this year and paid $100 x 4 (didn’t know about SM last year until it was too late). At $100 I would only continue for as long as we’re contending, but if we stop contending and it was dropped back to $50 I would continue.

I’m Melbourne based, but imagine there’s members who may drop the SM after seeing a winning GF. The cost of flights, accommodation, tickets, other expenses, is significant. I would think having seen a winning GF, some may elect to rationalise football spending a little.

 

[Zacs_Magic_Tooth]

I know of P3s who got in this year so not sure what these new BF members are on about

 

[FFB1]

I know of P3s who got in this year so not sure what these new BF members are on about

Plenty of ‘I’m P2 and missed out’ posts on the Facebook pages. At least they aren’t dumb enough to say they were P1 and missed out.

 

[Section 5]

This was sent to me being a snippet from an article in the Financial Review.
.......................................................................................................

AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW 22 SEPTEMBER 2024 Robin Khuda, the migrant success story who just sold his business to a US private equity giant for $24 billion, will be among the 100,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday where he hopes to watch his beloved Sydney Swans win the AFL premiership for the first time in person
........

Having just secured the deal of the year, Khuda’s ticket is secured. The National Australia Bank is hosting him with one of the around 8000 tickets allocated for corporates on Saturday.

The AFL froze the price of entry-level tickets at $185 this year, with the top-shelf tickets worth $493 including a pre-match performance by superstar Katy Perry.

AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon announced in July that an additional 1000 tickets would be allocated to the competing club members, providing them with 35,000 tickets (17,500 each). Members can pay extra – the Swans charge an extra $135 – to guarantee a seat to the grand final if their team make it but still run the gauntlet of a ballot.

More than 23,000 tickets are allocated to Melbourne Cricket Club members, another 15,500 for AFL members and other memberships, sponsors and contractual seats already allocated for the 100,000strong crowd.




The club presidents held a get-together with AFL chiefs on Sunday, before an official meeting on Monday, followed by the best-and-fairest player Brownlow Medal event on Monday night. And then there’s a week of events before the grand final parade and Victorian public holiday on Friday, expected to draw an influx of interstate visitors.

Pridham admits the battle for tickets has been intense, after a number of Sydney Cricket Ground members missed out on tickets for the preliminary final win against Port Adelaide on Friday.

“If you can help people, you do, you certainly give preference to members. But if they haven’t been to a game all year then, well, bad luck,” he says.

Flights, accommodation a battle too

“We had 500,000 people attend our games at the SCG this year, which is a record, averaging about 38,000. And at the prelim final we probably could have had 80,000.

” Wellington says the interest in the game up north is also growing strongly. “We had nine sell-outs at the Gabba this year and seven last year, so the interest is really healthy,” he says.

Qantas flights from Sydney and Brisbane to Melbourne were going for more than $700 on Sunday. The competition watchdog said there was nothing it could do.

“Some businesses increase their prices during periods of high demand,” the ACCC said in a statement. “This practice is not illegal, but businesses must provide clear and upfront information about the price consumers will pay.”

Hotel occupancy in Melbourne over last year’s grand final weekend peaked at 85 per cent when one interstate club, the Brisbane Lions, played and lost to Collingwood, according to Smith Travel Research.

Despite Pridham’s wish the grand final be played somewhere other than at the MCG, the current contract between the AFL and Victorian government provides that it remains there until at least 2059.

“Melbourne will always be the home of the grand final,” Victorian Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos said. He said major events injected $3.3 billion into the state’s economy each year.

“Last year more than 225,000 people attended the events over the Grand Final week, and this year we’ll be expecting even more with two interstate teams in the Grand Final.”

 

[Dalions]

I know of P3s who got in this year so not sure what these new BF members are on about

They are probably Sydney fans using fake Lions accounts

 

[PattyKwasagun]

I know of P3s who got in this year so not sure what these new BF members are on about

There are definitely plenty of P2s who missed out, and plenty of P3s who got tickets. Not sure how that works - maybe the P3s requested a smaller number of tickets?

At any rate, plenty more have missed out this year than did last year. So the bandwagon is growing!

 

[M Malice]

There are definitely plenty of P2s who missed out, and plenty of P3s who got tickets. Not sure how that works - maybe the P3s requested a smaller number of tickets?

At any rate, plenty more have missed out this year than did last year. So the bandwagon is growing!

Not sure whether to give a sad or happy reaction to that.

 

[Section 5]

The reason some P2 may have missed out is because they did not choose the clubs recommended option.
That being "includes standing room"

Of course, they may prefer to miss out rather than getting standing room tickets.

 

[Jubair]

Just wanna find out some information on standing room sections from people who have been at the MCG:

• How early do you recommend getting there to ensure you're not standing behind so many people?
• Is every standing bay open to everyone to go into or only the people ticketed to be there? If only ticketed people, how many generally per standing room section?
• Do you have to save space for friends etc when they leave to get food/drinks or toilet breaks or are people generally respectful of where people are standing and won't take their spots etc?

Just bumping this post up again if anyone had any information?

 

[Gadzorks]

Just bumping this post up again if anyone had any information?

All I can offer is that the standing room people behind or section seemed to change over the game. So maybe as you get a drink, go to the bathroom etc the standing crowd moves around.

If you are a family or friends group you can probably get and keep your territory.

 

[GOTHELIONS16]

I’ve no idea how many SM’s they offer, but taking it to the full available capacity would make some SM’s unhappy. Our club allocation includes standing room and restricted view seats. I would be disappointed to get a standing ticket as a “guaranteed ticket”. So at most, they could extend and cap at the number of “regular seats” for SM.

Not all SMs go to the grand final. So this is not an issue. What is more, successful P2s are in the same ballot as SMs. So some SMs in the ballot, as they did this week, will still end up with standing room, while some P2s end up with premium seats. That is what we saw happen this week. For example, hypothetically If we capped SMs to 100, they are combined with all the successful P2s and allocated random seats anyway. So what you’re suggesting does not work. SMs must be at the 17500 cap.

 

[braddsey]

There are definitely plenty of P2s who missed out, and plenty of P3s who got tickets. Not sure how that works - maybe the P3s requested a smaller number of tickets?

Potentially P2’s not selecting standing room?
Alternative could be P2’s looking for a group of 4, but P3’s getting singles, and no block of 4 available (for example).

 

[braddsey]

Not all SMs go to the grand final. So this is not an issue. What is more, successful P2s are in the same ballot as SMs. So some SMs in the ballot, as they did this week, will still end up with standing room, while some P2s end up with premium seats. So what you’re suggesting does not work. SMs must be at the 17500 cap.

Neither of us know the answers (unless you happen to work at the club / ticketek), however if the club is doing the right thing by it’s members, then they shouldn’t sell more guaranteed tickets than tickets available. They could do like the airlines and overbook in the knowledge that some won’t show, but they run the risk of making members unhappy if they miss out. Why bother with that stress… nothing to gain (other than a very small amount of additional revenue).
P1’s and P2’s are not in the same ballot. P1’s are allocated, then P2’s are allocated, otherwise they cannot guarantee P1’s get a ticket. There are obviously anomalies that result in some P2’s getting better seats than some P1’s. This could be the way the seats are allocated for P1’s (ie leaving 1 or 2 seats between groups), but on the whole P1’s are getting the higher category seats.

Anyway, you seem to be set on you opinion, so as with FFB1, i’ll bow out of this discussion point too.

Go lions!

 

[GOTHELIONS16]

Neither of us know the answers (unless you happen to work at the club / ticketek), however if the club is doing the right thing by it’s members, then they shouldn’t sell more guaranteed tickets than tickets available. They could do like the airlines and overbook in the knowledge that some won’t show, but they run the risk of making members unhappy if they miss out. Why bother with that stress… nothing to gain (other than a very small amount of additional revenue).
P1’s and P2’s are not in the same ballot. P1’s are allocated, then P2’s are allocated, otherwise they cannot guarantee P1’s get a ticket. There are obviously anomalies that result in some P2’s getting better seats than some P1’s. This could be the way the seats are allocated for P1’s (ie leaving 1 or 2 seats between groups), but on the whole P1’s are getting the higher category seats.

Anyway, you seem to be set on you opinion, so as with FFB1, i’ll bow out of this discussion point too.

Go lions!

There are groups of P2s who got cat 1 seats. And there are P1s who got restricted/standing room. Those are the facts.

 

[BRAB]

McIvor did you get tickets in the end?

 

[McIvor]

McIvor did you get tickets in the end?

Fortunately we did x 4 sometime around lunchtime on Monday. Overall, pretty disappointed with the seats being a P1, not sure how row O is classified as “front” and being behind the goals when reports of P2’s getting wing in rows A - F or on level 2 on FB.

At least we’re going and not on level 1 so I’m told I should be grateful but being at the end where the sun will be in our faces I’m overall pretty dirty at the shitshow this whole system is.

You read about people wanting to be here or there, so why doesn’t the system allow people to at least nominate a preference.

I’m actually annoyed with myself that when the AFL sent out the GF packages, I sat on it for 4-5 days and when I went to buy tickets knowing I’d be able to sell if the Lions didn’t qualify, the only packages left were the most expensive being ~$6K. There were also ~ $1.5K, ~$3K and ~$4.5K and when I went back to buy the cheapest two were sold out. All sounded amazing packages particularly the two most expensive but the cheaper ones were also very good with pre and post match dos.

The wait though for 24hrs is just shit when family and friends are getting theirs.

As a side note, anyone know or able to do a thread or post on all options available of the various Lions functions both in days leading up to and on day of the game or is it futile because they re all sold. We got tickets to the official post match function but keen to know if there are other things a available?

 

[Paul Mac]

Not sure if anyone else this has happened to. Our money for tickets came out of our bank when checking on phone Sunday night therefore us knowing we had got tickets. The same amount has just been taken out of our account again tonight. When i got online to check our account, the Sunday payment is pending and the payment has just been taken out tonight on the actual balance amounts of our statement. Our balance is showing an amount but our available amount is alot less and it is the same amount of our tickets so they have taken one payment out and are holding ( pending ) the same amount again. Thats crap. Hope everyone understands what i am saying. Have to ring in morning so not sure if our bank problem or ticketek.

 

[Section 5]

The AFL Event Office has cancelled the barcodes of a range of corporate hospitality tickets just days out from the grand final after its portal was hacked.

The event office handles corporate tickets – the smallest allocation for the grand final at the MCG on Saturday. Those involving Before the Bounce, Crown Grand Final Breakfast, Grand Final Plus Pass, Hassett Room, Ultimate Nobu, and Ultimate Suite packages have been impacted.

Buyer beware: AFL Event Office hacked; Scalpers feast on grand final tickets

As the countdown to the AFL grand final reaches its last days, the AFL’s integrity unit and Victoria Police are looking into the unauthorised access of some tickets.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Redandblackflyup]

Sorry to intrude.

Have Standing Room tickets - would love to swap for Seats (for the old man) and happy to pay the cash difference.

Feel free to send a direct message.

All the best for Saturday