Roast 2019 Finals Ticket Price 'Freeze' a Scam

[blue harvest]

We heard in late August that weeks 1-3 finals prices were frozen.

AFL freezes ticket prices for first three weeks of finals

Grand Final to cost more this year but earlier finals prices to stay the same

www.afl.com.au

If you check the price chart this appears to be true. All categories of seating are the same price as last year.

However the AFL have sneakily moved seats between categories at the MCG, for example your seat in M13 open that was category 3 is now magically category 1. So that same seat has gone from $76 to $93, a rise of over 20%, not exactly a price freeze!

Many other M level sections have also been bumped into a higher category. All of N level is now category 1 instead of a mix of 1 and 2. All of P level is now category 2 instead of a mix of 3 and 4. They have tweaked Q level moving some Olympic Stand seats down a category and some Southern Stand seats up a category. The only clear win appears to be the undercover level 1 Ponsford seats up the back which have gone down a category. Overall there has been a clear price rise, yet we were told they are frozen?
Compare the 2 seating charts below.
Have footy fans been deliberately misled?








Week 2 Note: For the Cats/Eagles semi they haven't even released level 4 for sale yet (Tuesday lunch time), forcing members to buy the more expensive seats during the member sale period on Monday and then the public after that. Presumably they will open level 4 up at some point, maybe as a General Admission area on the night at the cheapest price, but why aren't they publicising this properly? Are they trying to trick fans into paying more than they need to? They have however thrown supporters a bone by releasing an extra bay of cheap category 7 seats each side of the cheersquads for this game, you can see this on the Ticketek website.

 

[kickazz]

Good work on calling this out. The AFL certainly are dodgy campaigners.

Surely for Friday the best bet is buying a ticket at the gate.

 

[Pessimistic]

"The Peoples Ground"

 

[The 747]

Well I for one am really surprised the AFL would do something like this.

 

[Pessimistic]

better off a telstra plus member than a club member

 

[romeohwho]

We waited and waited for release of good seats -gave up waiting in the end but had great seats for $50 Friday night against the pies. Apart from that the ticketing at the G has been a laughable set up for last couple of years-home and away and finals.

 

[MightyHawks]

Well the media never call out the sporting organisations for this sort of stuff

You may have heard that Tennis Australia have proudly announced there won't be any booking fees for this year

So get excited about saving $5 off your booking

And they'll probably have another announcement highlighting how some category of seats haven't gone up as well

Don't expect them to be as upfront and honest about all the increases in price and decreases of availability of which there are many

Can you imagine fine journalists like Peter Rolfe actually providing the public with an honest analysis of price increases and availability? If he did that he might find his press pass access to these events didn't provide as much access

 

[kickazz]

Well the media never call out the sporting organisations for this sort of stuff

Yeah well I suppose when you never have to pay for a ticket and always get a spot on level 2 on the wing......

 

[blue harvest]

I remember they did the same thing a few years back, but to a lesser extent, announced a price freeze but moved seats between categories. I never got around to documenting that one because they were even more sneaky than this time.

Up on level 4 there are 3 categories which cover the front, middle and back areas. That year they tweaked those 3 areas so there were more rows in the front and middle sections and fewer in the back section. This in effect was a price rise, but you couldn't easily tell from looking at the seating map because they hadn't changed whole sections like this year. But if you looked closely you could see the back area had reduced in size, and I was able to confirm this on the ticket website trying to buy seats in those areas and comparing to similar seats from the previous year.

 

[Neale4brownlow]

Good spot.

Technically they didn't lie. Ticket prices didn't increase. They just swung the zoning towards the more expensive end.

Deceptive, yes. But you can still technically buy a ticket at the same price just with lesser seat options.

Similar to a store saying up to 90% off and there's one box of tic tacs at the checkout that's expired and marked down by 90%, while the rest of the store is full retail price with fancy stickers on them.

But it's good to see confirmation every now and then that every decision or announcement AFL makes comes down to $$$$.

 

[Commando]

Couldn’t believe last week cats v pies game
We were on level 4 next to scoreboard
Q56 and our tickets were $60
A few rows ahead of us were two rows of empty seats and the first row was occupied
These seats had the black bars infront with stairs beneath
As such were deemed ‘restricted view’ and $35 each

So essentially we’ve paid $25 more pp to sit 4-5 rows behind restricted view seats that aren’t restricted at all they are better than what we recieved

And when searching for a higher category we only got Q50 Wing but back four rows from back when seats in M on ground level at half forward were still available

Whole thing is a shambles

 

[SloppyJoe]

They were nobly transparent about the 3% rise to the cheapest GF ticket ($155).

But of course do not mention that these are unobtainable for Joe Bloggs.

 

[SloppyJoe]

Good spot.

Technically they didn't lie. Ticket prices didn't increase. They just swung the zoning towards the more expensive end.

Deceptive, yes. But you can still technically buy a ticket at the same price just with lesser seat options.

Similar to a store saying up to 90% off and there's one box of tic tacs at the checkout that's expired and marked down by 90%, while the rest of the store is full retail price with fancy stickers on them.

But it's good to see confirmation every now and then that every decision or announcement AFL makes comes down to $$$$.

While such statements may be technically correct, an organisation can quickly find ASIC breathing down its neck depending on the level of deception.

 

[BallaratBulldog]

Give the feedback to your clubs.

 

[kickazz]

I remember they did the same thing a few years back, but to a lesser extent, announced a price freeze but moved seats between categories. I never got around to documenting that one because they were even more sneaky than this time.

Up on level 4 there are 3 categories which cover the front, middle and back areas. That year they tweaked those 3 areas so there were more rows in the front and middle sections and fewer in the back section. This in effect was a price rise, but you couldn't easily tell from looking at the seating map because they hadn't changed whole sections like this year. But if you looked closely you could see the back area had reduced in size, and I was able to confirm this on the ticket website trying to buy seats in those areas and comparing to similar seats from the previous year.

Yeah it's comical when you go to a lower drawing final and see all these folks crammed up the back of the GSS, with empty seats down in front of them.

 

[kickazz]

Couldn’t believe last week cats v pies game
We were on level 4 next to scoreboard
Q56 and our tickets were $60
A few rows ahead of us were two rows of empty seats and the first row was occupied
These seats had the black bars infront with stairs beneath
As such were deemed ‘restricted view’ and $35 each

So essentially we’ve paid $25 more pp to sit 4-5 rows behind restricted view seats that aren’t restricted at all they are better than what we recieved

And when searching for a higher category we only got Q50 Wing but back four rows from back when seats in M on ground level at half forward were still available

Whole thing is a shambles

Restricted view is interesting, I wish they told you "how" restricted they are.

I remember back in the old Ponsford stand, some seats in the corner had half of the ground blocked out by the new Southern stand.

These days I hear that front row on level 1 can be classed as restricted of you are likely to have a photographer in front of you somewhere on the day. The bar things, while annoying, are not that bad.

I wonder what other seats are classed as restricted view and why?

 

[blue harvest]

While such statements may be technically correct, an organisation can quickly find ASIC breathing down its neck depending on the level of deception.

ACCC

 

[JohnZ]

Another joke. Because the MCG is predicting 50k to friday night, they have removed Cat 3, 5+6, increased the number of Cat 4 + 7 bays, as well as GA.



If you remove the MCC and AFL members neutrals, the game would have less than 35k. Should be at GMHBA. But * the Geelong members who can't make Friday night finals right?

OG for comparison:

 

[blue harvest]

Restricted view is interesting, I wish they told you "how" restricted they are.

I remember back in the old Ponsford stand, some seats in the corner had half of the ground blocked out by the new Southern stand.

These days I hear that front row on level 1 can be classed as restricted of you are likely to have a photographer in front of you somewhere on the day. The bar things, while annoying, are not that bad.

I wonder what other seats are classed as restricted view and why?

Restricted view seats are a bargain.
They are near hand rails next to the entry areas and close to TV cameras and any other broadcast equipment.
They really should be called 'minor inconvenience' seats.
They don't release them for sale until all other seats are sold.

 

[blue harvest]

Good spot.

Technically they didn't lie. Ticket prices didn't increase. They just swung the zoning towards the more expensive end.

Deceptive, yes. But you can still technically buy a ticket at the same price just with lesser seat options.

Similar to a store saying up to 90% off and there's one box of tic tacs at the checkout that's expired and marked down by 90%, while the rest of the store is full retail price with fancy stickers on them.

But it's good to see confirmation every now and then that every decision or announcement AFL makes comes down to $$$$.

Found the following on the ACCC website. Looks like claiming a price freeze would be illegal.

Misleading advertising
It is illegal for a business to make claims to customers about its goods or services — including claims about price — that are incorrect or likely to create a false impression. This includes advertisements or statements in any media (e.g. print, radio, television or online) and any claim made by a person representing your business.
Intention is irrelevant. You may breach the law even if you thought the statement was correct when you made it.

 

[SloppyJoe]

Surely one of the sports journos who trawl BF could put together an article on this.

Or maybe it falls into the class of things they shy away from due to an unwritten agreement with the League.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Surely one of the sports journos who trawl BF could put together an article on this.

Or maybe it falls into the class of things they shy away from due to an unwritten agreement with the League.

Write it up and said journo will be covering the grand final from the comfort of their own couch?

 

[BoxMatrix]

Found the following on the ACCC website. Looks like claiming a price freeze would be illegal.

Misleading advertising
It is illegal for a business to make claims to customers about its goods or services — including claims about price — that are incorrect or likely to create a false impression. This includes advertisements or statements in any media (e.g. print, radio, television or online) and any claim made by a person representing your business.
Intention is irrelevant. You may breach the law even if you thought the statement was correct when you made it.

Nah that wouldn't fly. If the AFL advertised those categories, but didn't provide them at all, then that would "create a false impression."

This is the best example on the ACCC website:

a mobile phone provider signs you up to a contract without telling you that there is no coverage in your region

False or misleading claims

A business must be able to prove any claim they advertise. Claims should be true, accurate and based on reasonable grounds.

www.accc.gov.au

 

[Bunk Moreland]

We heard in late August that weeks 1-3 finals prices were frozen.

AFL freezes ticket prices for first three weeks of finals

Grand Final to cost more this year but earlier finals prices to stay the same

www.afl.com.au

If you check the price chart this appears to be true. All categories of seating are the same price as last year.

However the AFL have sneakily moved seats between categories at the MCG, for example your seat in M13 open that was category 3 is now magically category 1. So that same seat has gone from $76 to $93, a rise of over 20%, not exactly a price freeze!

Many other M level sections have also been bumped into a higher category. All of N level is now category 1 instead of a mix of 1 and 2. All of P level is now category 2 instead of a mix of 3 and 4. They have tweaked Q level moving some Olympic Stand seats down a category and some Southern Stand seats up a category. The only clear win appears to be the undercover level 1 Ponsford seats up the back which have gone down a category. Overall there has been a clear price rise, yet we were told they are frozen?
Compare the 2 seating charts below.
Have footy fans been deliberately misled?


View attachment 743467

View attachment 743468



Week 2 Note: For the Cats/Eagles semi they haven't even released level 4 for sale yet (Tuesday lunch time), forcing members to buy the more expensive seats during the member sale period on Monday and then the public after that. Presumably they will open level 4 up at some point, maybe as a General Admission area on the night at the cheapest price, but why aren't they publicising this properly? Are they trying to trick fans into paying more than they need to? They have however thrown supporters a bone by releasing an extra bay of cheap category 7 seats each side of the cheersquads for this game, you can see this on the Ticketek website.

Great pick up, dodgy *ers

 

[smasha]

Surely one of the sports journos who trawl BF could put together an article on this.

Or maybe it falls into the class of things they shy away from due to an unwritten agreement with the League.

“we hate gambling,here’s an add” sportsbet comes on

No wonder the World has depression.