Updated ,first published
Tickets to the highly anticipated first NFL game in Australia have nearly sold out, but frustrated fans say they experienced long waits and have complained of sky-high pricing for seats at the MCG with restricted views.
The cheapest tickets at $95 per person for standing room, and $140 for the bottom row, sold out almost immediately on Ticketmaster on Wednesday for the September 11 game, with many punters complaining they had next to no chance of securing them.
With the general sale starting at 10am, an Australian NFL fan told this masthead that within 26 minutes the only seats left were ones with restricted views priced as high as $560 to $630.
Pre-sale tickets for MCC members and American Express card users for the game went on sale last week and also sold out quickly.
On Wednesday, many fans said they experienced lengthy queues and trouble navigating Ticketmaster’s system.
One fan told this masthead the process was reasonably smooth and they got in after 20 minutes of waiting in the queue but were “thrown out after 30 seconds to a minute” when trying to make their purchase.
“I switched apps to message a friend and confirm the options that were available and in that time the app refreshed, and I lost my place in the buying zone,” the fan said.
“Extremely frustrating as the tickets were there and there was nothing I did to refresh or exit the page. Feels a waste of time and just bad user experience overall. Especially poor considering the base cost of pre-sale tickets was like $450.”
According to NFL Australia, more than 151,000 people registered their interest for the September game at the MCG, with thousands of travellers from interstate and regional areas expected to travel to Melbourne.
A statement from a Victorian government spokesperson said Melbourne will soon become the first city in the world to host a tennis grand slam, a Formula 1 grand prix and an NFL regular-season game.
“The NFL reaches an enormous audience, almost 19 million people tuning in every week – that’s a huge opportunity to showcase Victoria,” the spokesperson said.
“It will also be a huge boost for local businesses, keeping restaurants, cafes and hotels pumping. ”
However, not everyone is a fan of the event.
Speaking at the recent annual NFL owners meeting in Phoenix, San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, when questioned about the trip, replied sarcastically: “Oh, so fired up. That’s our goal – to go 19 hours away to play a game.”
An NFL Australia spokeswoman did not respond to questions about Shanahan’s comments, but said sales had been strong for the week one clash.
“Ticket pre-sales for Amex and MCC went extremely well last week, with high demand across both,” she said.
“We’re looking forward to seeing the high level of interest continue into today when general access tickets go on sale.”
This year’s AFL finals begin with a wildcard round on the last weekend of August, meaning the Rams and 49ers’ regular-season game will fall on semi-final weekend. Kick-off is scheduled for 10.35am (AEST) which will be prime-time in the United States.
The MCG has hosted exhibition soccer matches, NRL State of Origin matches, and rugby union Bledisloe Cup games during the AFL season in the past, as well as concerts in December 2022 before that year’s Boxing Day Test.
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Hannah Kennelly is an award-winning sports reporter and Formula 1 writer at The Age.Connect via email.
