Which game are you referring to exactly?

I may have exaggerated a little, nonetheless...

Hawthorn v Sydney - 59,615 - Claimed membership: 98,642.
Collingwood v Port Adelaide - 51,722 - Claimed membership: 119,269
Geelong v Port Adelaide - 52,744 - Claimed membership: 83,910

When you factor in the AFL members, MCG members, fans who aren't members etc taking up seats that's a pretty poor effort.

For every 100,000 members you've got there, you've got maybe another 100,000 fans who aren't members? That's a pretty poor return rate. Especially, as I said, for what is the most important game of the season for these clubs.

I was just checking the price of the public tickets, they're not cheap.
For the MCG game:
Adult:
Category 1: $170
Category 2: $155
Category 3: $140
Category 4: $120
Category 5: $105
Category 6: $85
Category 7: $68

So reading between the lines here: What you're saying is the AFL setting ticket prices too high makes the low attendances completely OK.

Finals tickets are definitely priced for the purpose of generating revenue rather than for the purpose of filling stadiums.

As another poster already pointed out, all of your examples involve the one Melbourne team playing an interstate team.

Lots of factors can be at play, for example, a Geelong fan might forego the Port game, knowing a victory is likely, to watch the prelim the following week against Hawthorn, which, is likely to have an attendance over 80k, even with that exorbitant ticket pricing. That one finals game will generate $10+ million.

Edited by Mister Football: 17/9/2013 09:08:33 PM

And that's OK according to you. Pricing fans out of going to games is completely ok. Having two clubs with 100,000 members between them and less than 50,000 of them can afford to go is embarrassing. A joke.

A sulking Beta, why am I not surprised?

Where, in any of this did he say it was ok? You asked for the reason why Finals attendances didn't match Membership numbers, and you were given the reason. Now you're just trying to pick fights that arent even there.

I'm neutral about it. It would be nice if more fans went, but there are commercial imperatives as well. That's professional sport.

Interestingly, the AFL's nearest competitor, the NRL, attracts around half the finals crowds which the AFL attracts AND charges around half the price for finals tickets (approximately). You could argue that on strict economic rationalist grounds, the AFL may have the balance near perfect between attendances and revenue generation.

On top of all that, AFL fans are well looked after with TV coverage.

So comparing it to a competitor which you've already derided and looking better means that it's as good as it can be. What?

It's a good pointer to the economic rationalist argument.

Despite charging half the price, the NRL attracts half the attendance (for finals), so an economic rationalist might argue that the AFL has the balance between revenue generation and attendance about right.

One might also point out that the NRL crowds have been on the wane for the better part of the last decade so that point doesn't hold much water.

One might also point out that the finals are AFL's show piece and they're trying to pitch it to international audiences with half empty stadiums.

The AFL only allocates a certain number of tickets to club members for a final. I can't speak for those finals above but the week before Richmond (which has 60,000 members) were allocated 20,000 tickets to their Elimination Final against Carlton. So only one third of its membership got tickets via that allocation.

With non-Victorian clubs you also have a logistics problem. According to Vlad (Demetriou), they've had 18,000 enquiries from Freo members in Perth about Grand Final tickets. There's no way of getting that many people across the country by planes inside a week even though that number is about 40% of Freo's total membership. I've been to 3 A-League Grand Finals and it was impressive that Adelaide Utd (twice) and Sydney FC fans filled their allocated area (roughly 5000? from memory). From a logistics point of view, I would reckon the AFL would be limited to not much more for travelling fans from any one state to Victoria.


Edited by Jeff W: 18/9/2013 02:38:31 AM

Have they been on the wane for the past decade? I'm not sure about that, I would say they have been relatively stable.

Either way, the NRL represents the AFL's closest competitor and therefore its a valid point of comparison.

NRL finals tickes are approximately half the price and they get half the attendances as the AFL gets, which suggests that the AFL might have the balance near perfect in terms of generating revenue versus attendances.

I think you've made a bit a leap there... despise?

Just not a fan of this guy whos been trolling here and on bigfooty for years

I'm trolling both here and on big footy?

That's quite a repertoire you credit me with.

You give me far too much credit.

so bruce reid gets exonerated by the afl and theres no reason why ? Do the 17 club presidents ask the afl for clarity on why ?

Current ladder of AFL likes on facebook:

Current ladder

Essendon 239,585
Collingwood 239,295
Carlton 142,490
West Coast Eagles 142,050
Sydney Swans 119,747
Richmond 114,845
Adelaide 107,749
Hawthorn 99,950

St Kilda 91,549
Fremantle 75,948
Brisbane Lions 60,283
Geelong 59,685
Western Bulldogs 56,877
North Melbourne 51,752
Port Adelaide 51,266
Gold Coast Suns 45,759
Melbourne 33,834
GWS Giants 31,669

Interesting the group of four clubs in the 50,000s: Geelong, Bulldogs, North and Port, all below the Lions; the suns not too far away from Port; and how about how low the demons are, nearly getting caught by the Giants, Australia's oldest club almost on par with the newest.

A good first quarter in the prelim tonight before what looks like a decent crowd.

Hawthorn's uncontested possession vs Geelong's contested possession.

Hawthorn's passing around the ground spot on, but they are missing easy set shots on goal.

Buddy injured himself before the end of the quarter, not sure how seriously.

Going down to the wire.

Geelong really did fuck up at the end, they kept just bombing it. Can't believe they missed that last kick on goal, could have been a draw.

Would have gone into extra time.

Looking like a Hawthorn vs Freo grand final.

Justice served. Geelong should never have been awarded that goal in the 1st qtr

Official crowd tonight: 85,569

I think it is fair to say Hawthorn are absolute scum, lower than Collingwood on their worst day. A pox on Waverley Park.

Surely the Swans are the last team in Australian sport you would write off

True - but they're battered, bruised and on their last legs.

Freo only need to stay with them until the last quarter, and that will be enough.

RT Tom Steinfort ‏@tomsteinfort 2h
Interesting: arguably the greatest AFL prelim final of all time on Ch7 still beaten in the ratings by NRL semi-final on Ch9 last night

Fri TV ratings #AFLFinals HawthornFC GeelongCats Seven 840k (Mel 668k Ade 172k) 7mate 292k (Syd 60k Bri 48k Per 183k)

Fri STV ratings #AFLFinals HawthornFC GeelongCats FoxFooty 443k

Total ratings (Fox plus FTA 5 city metro): 1.575 mill

I would be very surprised if the NRL game got anywhere near that.