Marvel Stadium scraps ticket booking fees
The AFL has announced it’ll remove the unpopular transaction fee when booking tickets for all sporting events at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium.
The AFL, who owns Marvel Stadium, announced a new pricing strategy to make games more accessible for fans, which also includes a three-year price freeze on AFL premiership season matches.
The agreement between the Australian Football League and Ticketmaster, the stadium’s official ticketing partner, will not only see ticket transaction fees dumped for AFL matches, but also for A-League and BBL games at the Docklands venue.
The decision removes a $3.10 charge per transaction for tickets to Marvel Stadium games, similar to Tennis Australia’s agreement with Ticketmaster that saw the $5.90 transaction fee removed for Australian Open tickets for the first time in 2020.
Tickets for the 2020 AFL Premiership Season will go on sale on 24th February to AFL club members and the zero transaction fees will take effect immediately. It’s expected the move will see more fans pre-purchased their tickets and avoid queues at the stadium.
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Ticketmaster is also waiving all transaction fees for the AFL State of Origin Bushfire Relief match at Marvel Stadium on February 28.
AFL Chief Executive Gillon McLachlan said the move with Ticketmaster is a huge win for fans.
"Marvel Stadium hosts nearly a quarter of the AFL season's matches (and) our new pricing strategy with Ticketmaster removes a barrier and provides an immediate saving for fans.” McLachlan said.
Marvel Stadium will host 43 home and away AFL matches across the 2020 season, with St Kilda (14), Western Bulldogs (12), and Carlton (10) accounting for the most games at the 56,000-capacity venue. That number may rise by one, with St Kilda’s home game against Port Adelaide in China unlikely to proceed and forced to be relocated due to the Coronavirus.
McLachlan added “our commitment continues to make AFL games as accessible and affordable as possible. Over 7.5 million fans attended the footy in 2019, our clubs do a great job in providing fun and engaging match days and we will continue to give fans the best opportunity to enjoy a game of AFL footy.”
More than 1.3 million fans attended footy matches at Marvel Stadium last year. You can view the stadium’s recent and record crowd attendance figures here on Austadiums.
Coinciding with the booking fee announcement, the AFL has also announced a three-year price freeze of general admission tickets to matches at Marvel Stadium and free entry for kids on Sunday’s.
Adults will continue to be charged $27, concessions $18 and children $5. A family ticket for two adults and two children is priced at $54.
It remains to be seen if other AFL venues will follow in Marvel Stadium’s footsteps by removing ticket transaction fees. The MCG, whose official ticketing partner is Ticketek, has stated it has no immediate plans to remove their $3.10 fee when pre-purchasing tickets.
Other Ticketmaster venues include Optus Stadium, Metricon Stadium, GMHBA Stadium, UTAS Stadium and Giants Stadium.
