Autopsy AFL Game Day experience is getting worse every year.

[adammania9]

I don't think food at the football is outrageously priced

 

[Bald]

Does it take long to get inside Marvel these days?

Don't think I have been there since pre covid but want to take my son to a game this year

Honestly I’ve never had any issues, I’ve been to plenty of sell outs. I always park underneath and enter from there so I can’t comment on public transport/entering from the outside but I don’t imagine it’s too difficult.

 

[Toump Ass]

I don't think food at the football is outrageously priced

I'm a fat campaigner and I eat a lot.
Chocolate bars, hot chips, big bag of Dorito, coke-a-cola, chocolate milk, bit of pastry/bread, don't mind a pie or two either.
All adds up I reckon.

 

[HBFlanker]

You'll struggle to find a stadium in the world that has more trees and parklands surrounding it than the MCG.

Adelaide Oval the only stadium worldwide that would come close.

Strange statement in the initial post.

Marvel is also the most harshly criticised stadium ive come across. Its been a complete game changer for the AFL. Not sure what the expectation is here regarding Stadia. We are absolutely blessed for it here.

 

[Elmer_Hauser]

I enjoy the experience at Marvel

Its a real pain in the clacker to enter and exit the ground, esp with all the concrete monstrosities around it

Not a patch on Waverly/VFL Park.

 

[Toump Ass]

I love going to Marvel, It's really nice to look at pictures of Thor, Spider Man, Iron Man, Ant Man, Doctor Strange Man etc. in-between sport.
I also really love how there's no roof. You walk out of the game and like "whoa! It's daytime! Magic!"

 

[Dazb86]

Marvel is the best football stadium in Melbourne

 

[madmug]

When it's 8 degrees and sleeting I'm sure the thing on everyone's mind is "Gee a grass bank and some trees is what this place really needs"

Ha! Reminded me of the first VFL game I ever went to. Some mates & flew over in 1977 to watch Collingwood v Richmond at Victoria Park. We stood on the grass at the bottom end of the ground ( the Falls end ). A big fat guy was stuffing cans in his face at a rate of knots. Late in the game he fell over & rolled downhill, taking a few patrons with him. It was so funny, we never forgot that!!!

 

[Jim Prideaux]

I'm not sure , someone selling food that is not only selling junk food ,capped prices and a small guaranteed profit and put it out to tender or start a boutique company with a customer centric view .

A small boutique operation doesn’t have the capability required, hence small and boutique

 

[Aristotle Pickett]

A small boutique operation doesn’t have the capability required, hence small and boutique

The point is to have control over pricing and food choices by not selling catering rights for large amounts of money.
It reminds me of Woodstock 99. They sold catering rights to the highest bidders and they charged whatever they wanted including $8 for a bottle of water and when the water ran low , they charged $12 a bottle in 42°C weather.
That's why a riot erupted.
Thats another point. There should be free water taps around the ground. It's a basic human right to have access to free water and bottled water is a plastic pollution problem, not to mention the carbon miles of transporting thousands of bottles of water.
It's the people's game not the corporate profiteerers game.

 

[footyfan1978]

I am amused about the idea of trees at the MCG within the seating area. I am sure that went well over 100 years ago and nobody expects any when you need to fit so many in. I do love smaller venues that still have them, but to hold well over 100,000 well reality is a bitch mate... the people long gone are the reason trees are only outside now. You needed your tree complaint taken up with them in the early 1900's....

 

[Jim Prideaux]

The point is to have control over pricing and food choices by not selling catering rights for large amounts of money.
It reminds me of Woodstock 99. They sold catering rights to the highest bidders and they charged whatever they wanted including $8 for a bottle of water and when the water ran low , they charged $12 a bottle in 42°C weather.
That's why a riot erupted.
Thats another point. There should be free water taps around the ground. It's a basic human right to have access to free water and bottled water is a plastic pollution problem, not to mention the carbon miles of transporting thousands of bottles of water.
It's the people's game not the corporate profiteerers game.

The problem is, you need a company large enough to deal with hundreds of outlets, thousands of staff, millions of dollars worth of stock.

Also, it’s nothing like Woodstock 99, festivals are a good example of a place where smaller traders can be utilised.

I’m not trying to be rude here, but you clearly don’t even have the most rudimentary understanding of how large hospitality events work

 

[Aristotle Pickett]

The problem is, you need a company large enough to deal with hundreds of outlets, thousands of staff, millions of dollars worth of stock.

Also, it’s nothing like Woodstock 99, festivals are a good example of a place where smaller traders can be utilised.

I’m not trying to be rude here, but you clearly don’t even have the most rudimentary understanding of how large hospitality events work

I think you're overstating how big the catering company has to be. You don't need thousands of staff, hundreds of outlets and millions of dollars worth of food to feed an MCG crowd.
A festival like Meredith Music Festival sells a spot for about $10,000 ,vets the pricing and over the 3 days the punters get cheap food and the van holders make about 5 to 10 grand profit minus wages.
I don't need to know the catering business to know the current system is an exploitative rort. I mean $8 or $9 for a tap beer or $8 for a handful of chips is a rort.

 

[hilly]

Yeah and at least the station is on the city loop.

Don't really get the complaining about Docklands being hard to get to.

Mandatory for anyone who lives east of Swanston St.

 

[Jim Prideaux]

I think you're overstating how big the catering company has to be. You don't need thousands of staff, hundreds of outlets and millions of dollars worth of food to feed an MCG crowd.
A festival like Meredith Music Festival sells a spot for about $10,000 ,vets the pricing and over the 3 days the punters get cheap food and the van holders make about 5 to 10 grand profit minus wages.
I don't need to know the catering business to know the current system is an exploitative rort. I mean $8 or $9 for a tap beer or $8 for a handful of chips is a rort.

Yes you do, because if you did you’d realise how daft what you just wrote is. Meredith music festival is a one off event for about 10,000s people that is a mixture of self catering and food sold by vendors. The MCG is a major event space that almost exclusively caters for up to 100,000 people with a huge variety of requirements, including multiple high volume bars, restaurants. Chucking a few food trucks in would be a disaster.

 

[Rob]

You never look around the ground when the game is not on? You like looking at concrete and digital advertising for an hour before the game?

Of course, but it never bothered me. I used to be able to see the city from my seat at Subiaco, but I'd much rather the view from my Optus seat, which is the stadium itself.

 

[Franc de Borges]

The Docklands is a very uninviting stadium.
The MCG is all concrete with no historical stands left.
Both these stadiums have no grass, no trees, wall to wall advertising, digital video adds on the fences, expensive junk food, expensive beer.
The upper deck at the G is unwatchable.
The security and bag checks are over the top.

Let's face it, it's all designed for corporate sponsor exposure on TV now.

If I were to make changes I would:
1/ Stop selling the catering and alcohol rights and provide normal priced food and some healthy food.
2/ Get rid of digital advertising
3/ Bring back white apparel for all umpires. Take advertising off umpires and off the ball and off goal posts.
4/ Provide a grassed area and trees .
5/ Cut the price of upper deck tickets in half.

If beer at the MCG was 1/4 of the current price, would it be regarded as the greatest beer of all-time?

 

[Aristotle Pickett]

Yes you do, because if you did you’d realise how daft what you just wrote is. Meredith music festival is a one off event for about 10,000s people that is a mixture of self catering and food sold by vendors. The MCG is a major event space that almost exclusively caters for up to 100,000 people with a huge variety of requirements, including multiple high volume bars, restaurants. Chucking a few food trucks in would be a disaster.

You're missing the basic point which is that the AFL sell catering rights for an amount of money that requires higher pricing and narrower choices of food and beveridges.
It's the selling of the catering rights which raises prices.
If I buy 4 beers for $36, and it's an extremely high turn over rate of sales over 6 hours, that's about $2 wages max, $6 worth of beer max and $1 for cups plus $1 for electricity and $1 for set up costs ,licencing costs aprox , add $5 for misc
That's a $20 straight profit and they might sell 30,000 beers so that's about $150,000 profit on beer alone.
How much of that do the AFL get ,through selling rights, and how much do the caterers get?
There's a rort going on. The AFL and the caterers are rorting. I'm not sure which one gets what but there's unreasonable profit there.

 

[Corn Cobbers]

If beer at the MCG was 1/4 of the current price, would it be regarded as the greatest beer of all-time?

 

[Demon13304]

The roar of the crowd is an ephemeral part of the game, people enjoy it for the short time it happens. Quarter time is for talking with friends, not 6 minutes of constant aural assaults.

...and I wouldn't look to the other sports for any leadership in this regard, particularly American sports.


Yeah of course with kids headphones are a winner. Would be nice to talk to them at quarter time too though.

Am I following the same league as you? I went to about 20 games between Melbourne games and Geelong games (missus goes for them) and I can't even remember the music being played and if it was , it was pretty minimal. I could still have conversations with everyone around me at quarter time.
It didn't feel like an aural assault to me anyway

And the HT/QT "entertainment"? Just flipping ignore it mate, it's really not that hard

Everyone here need to lighten up a bit lol

 

[Toump Ass]

I do wish afl was a bit more like meredith tho. last time i took mushrooms at the g it wasn’t great. Queens birthday game, was too high to even piss in a straight line. Was a nightmare actually lol. Waaaaayyy too many people around.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

The point is to have control over pricing and food choices by not selling catering rights for large amounts of money.
It reminds me of Woodstock 99. They sold catering rights to the highest bidders and they charged whatever they wanted including $8 for a bottle of water and when the water ran low , they charged $12 a bottle in 42°C weather.
That's why a riot erupted.
Thats another point. There should be free water taps around the ground. It's a basic human right to have access to free water and bottled water is a plastic pollution problem, not to mention the carbon miles of transporting thousands of bottles of water.
It's the people's game not the corporate profiteerers game.

You should check out the local footy.

The beers are cheap and straight from a can.

The food is straight off the BBQ and well priced.

Go to a decent level and the footy is surprisingly good.

There’s no electronic advertising and there are trees ****ing everywhere.

I’m serious, you would really like it. It’s actually a brilliant way to spend an afternoon.

 

[Purple Suit]

You're missing the basic point which is that the AFL sell catering rights for an amount of money that requires higher pricing and narrower choices of food and beveridges.
It's the selling of the catering rights which raises prices.
If I buy 4 beers for $36, and it's an extremely high turn over rate of sales over 6 hours, that's about $2 wages max, $6 worth of beer max and $1 for cups plus $1 for electricity and $1 for set up costs ,licencing costs aprox , add $5 for misc
That's a $20 straight profit and they might sell 30,000 beers so that's about $150,000 profit on beer alone.
How much of that do the AFL get ,through selling rights, and how much do the caterers get?
There's a rort going on. The AFL and the caterers are rorting. I'm not sure which one gets what but there's unreasonable profit there.

All stadiums have different deals but they cost around 1-2 Billion to build and are open for 5-6 hours around 50-100 times a year. That is a lot of money to recoup and keeping a 1-2 Billion facility maintained isn't going to be free. The rent to access this captive audience reflects this and it's passed back onto the user who pays.

Your whole list of gripes are all 1st world problems but the tree one takes the cake. I love how people complain about concrete when it's the only building material that is cheap and strong enough to hold up a stand with 30,000 people in it. If we clad all of it to hide it in fire ******ant stuff, it'll probably add a dollar to the Beer price which will get more whinging.

 

[Tiger2709]

The old days were great take your own eski full of beer to a game that cost very little to get in, leaving plenty of money for pies and chips

 

[Purple Suit]

Of course, but it never bothered me. I used to be able to see the city from my seat at Subiaco, but I'd much rather the view from my Optus seat, which is the stadium itself.

You can still see the city from Optus from the viewing platforms / bars on the top deck.

Maybe the MCG needs an outwards extension on level 2 or 3 just like this and the tree huggers can go stare at nature during the breaks to get their fill as it would have been at least 30 minutes since they saw a tree outside the stadium. Maybe it already has this as I haven't been there for awhile and didn't spend my time looking for options of seeing what was outside the stadium while i was in it.