TICKETING: 2023 Finals Week 01

[ElDiablo14 4,999]

44 minutes ago, FearTheBeard said:

Im not a neutral fan but I can't attend with my AFL membership? Rubbish point.

You'd be included in the Melbourne Members reserve.

[ElDiablo14 4,999]

39 minutes ago, YearOfTheDees said:

Great point. All AFL Members should have to nominate a Club and only get tickets if those clubs compete. 

You explained better than I tried.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,833]

1 hour ago, ElDiablo14 said:

There shouldn't be any AFL reserve for finals I think.

Why sell tickets potentially to neutral fans?

The whole entire point of the AFL reserve/membership is for the neutral supporter to go and watch all AFL home and away and finals games at MCG and Marvel, not just their own.

And the point of difference between AFL membership and club membership is that AFL membership enables you to attend all finals, including the grand final. 

Cannot agree with your point.

Edited September 1, 2023 by Bring-Back-Powell

[YearOfTheDees 3,266]

47 minutes ago, FearTheBeard said:

Completely defeats the purpose of AFL membership. If you want priority on-sales be a club member and not AFL member.

No it doesn't it would just become a condition of AFL membership.

[ElDiablo14 4,999]

6 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

The whole entire point of the AFL reserve/membership is for the neutral supporter to go and watch all AFL home and away and finals games at MCG and Marvel, not just their own.

And the point of difference between AFL membership and club membership is that AFL membership enables you to attend all finals, including the grand final. 

Cannot agree with your point.

Does that mean AFL members have a reserved seat even for GF day? Or only access to buy a ticket?

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,833]

50 minutes ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Does that mean AFL members have a reserved seat even for GF day? Or only access to buy a ticket?

Each AFL member nominates a club of choice at the start of the year, and a few bucks goes to the club.

For the GF, AFL (full gold) members of the competing clubs get priority access to reserve a seat over the other club gold members.

If it's Collingwood V Carlton, only AFL members for those 2 clubs would likely be catered for.

If it's a Melbourne V Brisbane GF, there will be plenty of GF tickets available for non competing full AFL members

I think in the 90's it used to be walk up and first in best dressed in the AFL reserve.

Edited September 1, 2023 by Bring-Back-Powell

[Dr. Gonzo 24,219]

I have an AFL membership and have used it to attend a few non-Melbourne finals over the years, mainly Geelong as that's my wife's team.

I chucked it and joined a premium MFC membership about 15 years ago as I wanted to support the club and not the AFL. But after a few years where we didn't make finals I attended the 2013 EF with my cousin who supports the Tigers and realised how expensive finals tickets were! As an AFL member I paid $22 a ticket for next Thursday, club members are paying up to 5 times that much! A prelim ticket will set you back around $200 for the best seats but AFL members pay $22. If Melbourne makes the GF I'm guaranteed a ticket at half price, around $200.

I don't like it but clubs can't compete with that, it's like the MCC. I signed my kids up to AFL membership at birth, the first 7 years are free after the joining fee and they go up the waitlist for full membership. Hopefully they'll be full members around the time they're 18, when I joined it took 4 years for full membership but the waitlist has blown out mainly following Collingwood back to back GFs in 2010/11 and many Pies supporters signing on to AFL Membership when they realised it was one of the only ways they could secure GF tickets.

I did put my name down for the MFC Legends membership waitlist but it was impossible to get 2 or 3 seats together let alone the 7 or 8 seats my family needed so gave up on that. Those are the best seats in the house though, level 2 on the wing in the northern stand.

I've signed my kids up for MCC as well about 3 years ago (when they were 7 and 5) and signed myself up at the time but that's likely to be a donation from me as that waitlist is ridiculous, if I'm lucky I'll get a provisional membership when I retire 😵‍💫

[FearTheBeard 1,223]

18 hours ago, YearOfTheDees said:

No it doesn't it would just become a condition of AFL membership.

95% of afl members already do nominate their club of choice and under no circumstances are they going to give priority in any game other than the grand final to competing club members.

do you want to do away with the Mcc as well? 

[ElDiablo14 4,999]

27 minutes ago, FearTheBeard said:

95% of afl members already do nominate their club of choice and under no circumstances are they going to give priority in any game other than the grand final to competing club members.

do you want to do away with the Mcc as well? 

Well the MCC is a different kettle of fish, they own the place so the AFL is just a guest.

I guess it is just a niche thing here in Australia. I don't recall any similar arrangements for seat allocation in other professional sports (e.g. NFL, La Liga, EPL).

[YearOfTheDees 3,266]

1 hour ago, FearTheBeard said:

95% of afl members already do nominate their club of choice and under no circumstances are they going to give priority in any game other than the grand final to competing club members.

do you want to do away with the Mcc as well? 

Would love the final series to go to club member only and both MCC and AFL member drop to Cat 2 or 3. And of course the only one against the idea would be MCC and AFL members. 

[leave it to deever 17,511]

21 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

The whole entire point of the AFL reserve/membership is for the neutral supporter to go and watch all AFL home and away and finals games at MCG and Marvel, not just their own.

And the point of difference between AFL membership and club membership is that AFL membership enables you to attend all finals, including the grand final. 

Cannot agree with your point.

It annoys me that neutral supporters go to finals. Especially when they take seats from die hard fans in the Granny. Just venting. I reckon there's a few of them too. Media hangers-on and past players from other clubs, people with connections, etcetera.

[Stiff Arm 4,419]

2 hours ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Well the MCC is a different kettle of fish, they own the place so the AFL is just a guest.

I guess it is just a niche thing here in Australia. I don't recall any similar arrangements for seat allocation in other professional sports (e.g. NFL, La Liga, EPL).

Actually, the Vic Govt owns the MCG, through the MCG trust. The MCC has the rights to manage it under contract, I believe

[praha 11,240]

22 hours ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Does that mean AFL members have a reserved seat even for GF day? Or only access to buy a ticket?

Priority goes:

1. Gold nembers with competing club support

2. Gold members of non-competing support

3. Silver members of competing clubs

4. All other members. 

It never gets passed No.2. Unless you're a Gold members, AFL Membership rarely grants you GF access.

[Kozzie4PM 765]

I've always thought they should open up large standing areas at the back of level 1 and increase the capacity by 10-20k. Gives more diehards a chance on GF day.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,219]

51 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

It annoys me that neutral supporters go to finals. Especially when they take seats from die hard fans in the Granny. Just venting. I reckon there's a few of them too. Media hangers-on and past players from other clubs, people with connections, etcetera.

My brother in law wouldn't know much about footy, he's a diehard NBA person but got a corporate ticket to the 2016 GF.

3 hours ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Well the MCC is a different kettle of fish, they own the place so the AFL is just a guest.

I guess it is just a niche thing here in Australia. I don't recall any similar arrangements for seat allocation in other professional sports (e.g. NFL, La Liga, EPL).

It's a hangover from when the AFL owned their own ground, VFL Park (Waverley). VFL Membership was effectively a VFL Park membership which I think also had access to finals. The VFL's aim was to one day have all finals including the GF at VFL Park. Much fewer people were members back then obviously.

When the Southern Stand was built in 1991 and it was clear the MCG would be the home of football moving forward the AFL agreed to help fund it as long as they got the AFL members reserve for their members. Considering the MCG now makes the overwhelming majority of its money from football it is unlikely this will change anytime soon especially with the southern stand due for a renovation in a few years.

Full AFL membership is around $640 a year x 30k members plus an additional 25k silver members who pay around $470 a year give or take. Around $150 from each membership goes to the nominated club of support making an AFL member a GA member of their club. Then you have guest passes, reserve seat fees etc and you can see the AFL make a mint off the AFL memberships.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,219]

3 minutes ago, Kozzie4PM said:

I've always thought they should open up large standing areas at the back of level 1 and increase the capacity by 10-20k. Gives more diehards a chance on GF day.

No way that would happen these days with OH&S restrictions.

[Kozzie4PM 765]

2 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

No way that would happen these days with OH&S restrictions.

Lots of British soccer grounds have reintroduced standing and there's standing in the new stand at Geelong. It's definitely possible. Unlikely to happen though.

[Lucifers Hero 39,811]

The latest is a 'test email' from the club re non-receipt of barcode email last Monday, by bigpond customers.  I believe it was sent just to those that asked a question of the club.

In a phone call from the club it seems the problem affected MFC and Carlton and was related to how the AFL classified the emails.  No other info available.  Club is doing everything to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Thank you for your patience as we work through the issues with Bigpond email accounts.   We have been advised by the AFL of a way for you to receive our finals ticketing emails.   This is a test email to ensure that this method works.   Please reply to this email if you receive it.   We really appreciate your assistance with this process.   Kind regards, Membership Services

[bobby1554 1,244]

I have a ticket for Thursday night which I am willing to sell for face value, $78. M4 row D. DM me if interested.

[JTR 2,846]

On 9/2/2023 at 11:20 AM, leave it to deever said:

It annoys me that neutral supporters go to finals. Especially when they take seats from die hard fans in the Granny. Just venting. I reckon there's a few of them too. Media hangers-on and past players from other clubs, people with connections, etcetera.

I recently changed my membership from club to AFL and will be going to all three finals at the G this week.

Reason I changed is that I attend a lot of Carlton & Essendon games with friends/family who support those teams (I have to heavily disinfect afterwards), and it was just much more cost effective for me to get an AFL membership with access to 40 games per season, than having MFC membership and then paying separately to attend the other games.

To me, and AFL membership is for people who support the AFL.  For the die hards who don't want to miss seeing their team play, then a club membership + something like a grand final guarantee would be a better option.

[george_on_the_outer 7,591]

1 hour ago, Lucifers Hero said:

The latest is a 'test email' from the club re non-receipt of barcode email last Monday, by bigpond customers.  I believe it was sent just to those that asked a question of the club.

In a phone call from the club it seems the problem affected MFC and Carlton and was related to how the AFL classified the emails.  No other info available.  Club is doing everything to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Thank you for your patience as we work through the issues with Bigpond email accounts.   We have been advised by the AFL of a way for you to receive our finals ticketing emails.   This is a test email to ensure that this method works.   Please reply to this email if you receive it.   We really appreciate your assistance with this process.   Kind regards, Membership Services

....and if you don't receive the email, how will they know?  If you do receive the email but don't notice it, how will they know?

[Lucifers Hero 39,811]

1 minute ago, george_on_the_outer said:

....and if you don't receive the email, how will they know?  If you do receive the email but don't notice it, how will they know?

Damned if I know...!

[ElDiablo14 4,999]

13 minutes ago, JTR said:

I recently changed my membership from club to AFL and will be going to all three finals at the G this week.

Reason I changed is that I attend a lot of Carlton & Essendon games with friends/family who support those teams (I have to heavily disinfect afterwards), and it was just much more cost effective for me to get an AFL membership with access to 40 games per season, than having MFC membership and then paying separately to attend the other games.

To me, and AFL membership is for people who support the AFL.  For the die hards who don't want to miss seeing their team play, then a club membership + something like a grand final guarantee would be a better option.

I believe what JTR is ranting about has to do with AFL members that nominated teams other than the two playing the finals game.

I am of the same sentiment that club members and supporters should have first access to tickets, regardless if it is a club or AFL membership.

[JTR 2,846]

15 minutes ago, ElDiablo14 said:

I believe what JTR is ranting about has to do with AFL members that nominated teams other than the two playing the finals game.

I am of the same sentiment that club members and supporters should have first access to tickets, regardless if it is a club or AFL membership.

I wouldn't have called that a rant, but ok....  🤷‍♂️

On the bolded bit, I have MFC nominated on my AFL membership, but I don't pay any extra for that. That's just a kickback the club gets from the AFL, which then means I'm counted amongst MFC member numbers and get the MFC membership pack. 

Thats it.

Nominating a club of support doesn't give me more of a chance of getting a ticket to MFC finals game vs other AFL members who support a non competing club. And nor should it IMO. That's what club membership and things like GF guarantee are for.

If anything it puts me at a disadvantage of getting a ticket vs club members. Week 1 & week 2 I should be fine, but prelim will be difficult and GF impossible.

[leave it to deever 17,511]

44 minutes ago, JTR said:

I wouldn't have called that a rant, but ok....  🤷‍♂️

On the bolded bit, I have MFC nominated on my AFL membership, but I don't pay any extra for that. That's just a kickback the club gets from the AFL, which then means I'm counted amongst MFC member numbers and get the MFC membership pack. 

Thats it.

Nominating a club of support doesn't give me more of a chance of getting a ticket to MFC finals game vs other AFL members who support a non competing club. And nor should it IMO. That's what club membership and things like GF guarantee are for.

If anything it puts me at a disadvantage of getting a ticket vs club members. Week 1 & week 2 I should be fine, but prelim will be difficult and GF impossible.

Hope you get into all our games Jvr. The excitement is really starting to build for me. Feels a tad 21 again.