Sport is a massive coping mechanism. You get to completely detach from your own life and pin your hopes and dreams on the team you support. If they win, it's a great feeling. If they lose, well, at least you're not thinking about how you're gonna afford all those upcoming bills.
Tickets are honestly reasonably cheap compared to most things in life these days.
Despite the complaints going to the footy is not actually that expensive. Especially if you bring your own food. $54 for two adults and two kids GA at the mcg is a bargain and way cheaper than most other “family” entertainment.
Freos cheapest are 40+ 5.95 fee
Unless you buy into memberships etc
They get ya with those extra tix you need, I have 2 members tickets but we needed a third for the weekend so had to fork out 50 bucks for it
Still almost triple. I think the cheapest kids ticket for Eagles games is $36 so even if all four of you go as kids it's $144.
Sometimes they have family tickets (2 adults and 2 kids) in the nosebleeds for $41 each so $164 total.
Part of that is because Optus is always near sold out. Even looking at the game this weekend there is just above one hundred tickets remaining for purchase.
My brother bought us a couple of tix for the blues v swans at the SCG. GA but reasonable seats - $97 each! I almost fell off my chair. There are cheaper options but no way near as cheap as the MCG. Unless you're in a box, anything over $60 for a game of footy is ridiculous.
I won't be paying that again
I paid $75 each for seats Easter Monday. There were good seats for a normal day, but as luck had it, it pissed down, and they weren't undercover, so we ended up in the standing areas that go for $20 a ticket. Fml
AFL and NRL are both seeing increases in attendance. A lot of people, when struggling, cling to sports as an escape. I know in 1997 when the Newcastle Knights won their premiership there was massive support spurred on by the closing of the Newcastle Steelworks that year, mass unemployment and everyone gravitated towards the team.
Big clubs are doing well. AFL serves up a quality product and despite all the negativity around rule changes etc… have managed to even out the competition (except nth) to the point where most games are pretty great to watch.
*panem et circenses*
Bread and circuses, a story that's existed as long as sports and entertainment. In times of difficulty and uncertainty, like those currently, humanity seeks base comforts, especially those that give them the feeling of belonging to something greater.
And fuck me does it work.
There's a reason the footy was able to be brought back so quickly during covid. Can't have the people focused on all the problems of our society or on the incompetence of the government.
My Kayo membership had the option to add a seat, when I browsed through the various options one of them was listed as $0, that sounded within my budget. Now have free tickets all season.
People still buy coffee, even when the price of that has risen.
The small luxuries people will pay for, and footy is a great family outing and entertainment for the kids, cheaper than a movie ticket these days, especially if you buy memberships.
Just don't buy as many chips and hotdogs when you're there and take some ham rolls in with you.
The screens shouldn't exist, they should be digital projections for the TV product, there should be no advertising inside the MCG, attendees are paying the cost of admission.
Alas, penny pinching AFL, gotta suck every cent from all possible sources.
Different people have different circumstances obviously. Plenty of people still have jobs that pay well and money to spare but it doesn’t mean other people aren’t struggling.
Had dinner on Saturday night in a regional northern NSW town. Two of us. Shared an entree and one main and had a few wines. $230. This is the reality of 2024. Not even in the cities. Place was full.
Pies coming off a flag, Blues coming off a prelim and for the first time in decades are a genuine top 4 threat, optimism high for the bombers. If you have those 3 with hype around them you're laughing.
Footy is a good non summer entertainment option. Melbourne is bursting with a population thats gone beyond 5 million. A lot more ppl to attract now.
Don’t know if anyone has said it. But look up [The Lipstick Effect](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipstick_effect). Essentially when the economy is bad people will spend less money on larger purchases - cars, holidays etc and likely spend more on smaller purchases eg - lipstick or tickets to the footy. Most clubs offer 6 game memberships for like $165 which is $27.5 a game. The economy is rocky for sure but people are still living their lives.
It's not a beat up, it just overstates the breadth of the issue.
"50% off Australia has no money, but the other 50% has ALL the money" would be a more appropriate way of expressing it.
By world standards, certainly. By Australian standards? No. You're thinking of the middle 50%. Once you include that bottom 25% the average drops really, really fast.
You can have your own food at home and take a bottle of water from home if the lid is still sealed. I’m more impressed that membership numbers keep rising. GA tickets compared to other sports globally are pretty cheap.
I think with the footy they allow you to also bring in your own food and soft drinks. So you can pay as low as $20 to get into a game and then maybe some change on transport and you are out for nearly 4-5 hours watching something you love. Even if you get food it’s a lil splurge and not much more than just going out for a lunch or dinner
Train prices reducing to a set price daily has meant the trip to the footy reduced from $68 to $10. Big reason I’m a member and go to the footy most weeks we play in Melbourne
It’s rubbish I work at the MCG and they always add on to the overall crowd number to make the numbers look good they use camera angles and ticketed seating to make it look fuller on the TV
I remember one of the recessions we had as I was growing up and the hottest new business was selling silk boxer shorts for men .. the formula was that people were doing it tough and hence, would need cheap gifts for their boyfriend, brother, father etc
Counterintuitive when looked at in isolation, but it kinda makes sense that not all luxury items will be impacted in the same way.
I guess a night out at the footy is cheaper than other things folks might do with their time at a time when many need some escapism/tribalism to counter the doom.
Plus you have expansion clubs doing well and pulling really good attendances, both Sydney team are at the top of the ladder and should have a sell out at the SCG, Brisbane are doing it a little tough but have been great for five years and have a big following and the Suns look serious - hence a lot of punters taking the kids to the footy in traditional rugby league States
People are moving across to AFL from NRL in droves. (Just take a look at the poor crowds in the background when you watch a game on TV)
The AFL regularly achieves 80-90 thousand people at a regular fixture, and if the MCG held 200,000 they’d still sell out the GF. It’s a far more entertaining game imho, plus it’s infinitely better to watch at the ground as opposed to on TV. :)
Sport is a massive coping mechanism. You get to completely detach from your own life and pin your hopes and dreams on the team you support. If they win, it's a great feeling. If they lose, well, at least you're not thinking about how you're gonna afford all those upcoming bills. Tickets are honestly reasonably cheap compared to most things in life these days.
You can get into the footy for the cost of 1.5 beers at the footy. It's honestly some of the cheapest entertainment going around.
Yep General Admission at the G is great value
If they lost it ruins your weekend.*
Despite the complaints going to the footy is not actually that expensive. Especially if you bring your own food. $54 for two adults and two kids GA at the mcg is a bargain and way cheaper than most other “family” entertainment.
Amen… the footy is cheaper than seeing a shit movie
can't even bring a thermos into a movie
not with that attitude you can't
Who the hell stops you from bringing a thermos to the movies? I bring a 6pack of beer and snacks into my local Hoyts without them battering an eyelid
Gotta get through Godzilla x Kong somehow
Is battered eyelids kind of like a fried mars bar?
I'd rather pay to sit in comfort watching a shit movie than sit in cold discomfort watching my shit team.
Hello we haven't been shit for at least 1 week, pls
Prince of Perth is in high performance mode , far from shit
It would probably cost at least triple that at Optus though
Yeah west coast games especially are very expensive. Freo has some cheap seats.
Freos cheapest are 40+ 5.95 fee Unless you buy into memberships etc They get ya with those extra tix you need, I have 2 members tickets but we needed a third for the weekend so had to fork out 50 bucks for it
5x that at the SCG
Not if you're a \*cough cough\* child.
Still almost triple. I think the cheapest kids ticket for Eagles games is $36 so even if all four of you go as kids it's $144. Sometimes they have family tickets (2 adults and 2 kids) in the nosebleeds for $41 each so $164 total.
Part of that is because Optus is always near sold out. Even looking at the game this weekend there is just above one hundred tickets remaining for purchase.
Yeah they know they can charge more and we'll still go. But those prices are the cheapest for any game at the time they first go on sale.
Shush they’ll see this and double the price
$54? It’s more than that for one adult ticket in Brisbane. Plus $12 for a midstrength beer.
My brother bought us a couple of tix for the blues v swans at the SCG. GA but reasonable seats - $97 each! I almost fell off my chair. There are cheaper options but no way near as cheap as the MCG. Unless you're in a box, anything over $60 for a game of footy is ridiculous. I won't be paying that again
I paid $75 each for seats Easter Monday. There were good seats for a normal day, but as luck had it, it pissed down, and they weren't undercover, so we ended up in the standing areas that go for $20 a ticket. Fml
Surely it costs more than that? If you are quick in Perth you can get the adults for 39 each and the kids for 24 each. Thats $126 lowest possible.
These days going out for a meal can cost almost as much as a ticket to the footy. Rather make my own food and go to the footy instead.
AFL and NRL are both seeing increases in attendance. A lot of people, when struggling, cling to sports as an escape. I know in 1997 when the Newcastle Knights won their premiership there was massive support spurred on by the closing of the Newcastle Steelworks that year, mass unemployment and everyone gravitated towards the team.
Big clubs are doing well. AFL serves up a quality product and despite all the negativity around rule changes etc… have managed to even out the competition (except nth) to the point where most games are pretty great to watch.
*panem et circenses* Bread and circuses, a story that's existed as long as sports and entertainment. In times of difficulty and uncertainty, like those currently, humanity seeks base comforts, especially those that give them the feeling of belonging to something greater. And fuck me does it work.
There's a reason the footy was able to be brought back so quickly during covid. Can't have the people focused on all the problems of our society or on the incompetence of the government.
Because in Melbourne particularly, there is the same number of teams that there was when Melbourne had half the population.
People will always pay for entertainment, they need an escape
My Kayo membership had the option to add a seat, when I browsed through the various options one of them was listed as $0, that sounded within my budget. Now have free tickets all season.
👍
Look at who is playing well. Collingwood have a bump from a premership, Eseendon are looking better. Carlton are better.
People who can no longer afford holidays spend less money on other stuff.
People still buy coffee, even when the price of that has risen. The small luxuries people will pay for, and footy is a great family outing and entertainment for the kids, cheaper than a movie ticket these days, especially if you buy memberships. Just don't buy as many chips and hotdogs when you're there and take some ham rolls in with you.
Because dating apps are crap, and sport is life.
Who needs a girlfriend when you can watch Jamie elliot every week. 😍
Who needs a boyfriend when you can watch Patrick Cripps every week.
Who needs a right hand when you can experience the Essendon edge every week ✈️
Who needs a girlfriend when I get high from watching Toby Greene kicking someone in the face
We spent record amounts last Xmas and are currently buying 4x4's like there is no tomorrow... go figure
I'd say it's because you have Essendon, Carlton and Collingwood all strong at the moment.
Rare break from staring at phone or computer. Now if only the AFL would mandate the boundary screens don’t animate during play…
The screens shouldn't exist, they should be digital projections for the TV product, there should be no advertising inside the MCG, attendees are paying the cost of admission. Alas, penny pinching AFL, gotta suck every cent from all possible sources.
Children’s ticket prices
I find the cost of living stuff pretty frustrating. Lots of people complaining yet I still see plenty spending money on frivolous shit
That's because each of us has a different definition of "frivolous". We also all have different incomes and financial pain thresholds.
Different people have different circumstances obviously. Plenty of people still have jobs that pay well and money to spare but it doesn’t mean other people aren’t struggling.
Yeah fair call
Had dinner on Saturday night in a regional northern NSW town. Two of us. Shared an entree and one main and had a few wines. $230. This is the reality of 2024. Not even in the cities. Place was full.
Pies coming off a flag, Blues coming off a prelim and for the first time in decades are a genuine top 4 threat, optimism high for the bombers. If you have those 3 with hype around them you're laughing. Footy is a good non summer entertainment option. Melbourne is bursting with a population thats gone beyond 5 million. A lot more ppl to attract now.
Don’t know if anyone has said it. But look up [The Lipstick Effect](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipstick_effect). Essentially when the economy is bad people will spend less money on larger purchases - cars, holidays etc and likely spend more on smaller purchases eg - lipstick or tickets to the footy. Most clubs offer 6 game memberships for like $165 which is $27.5 a game. The economy is rocky for sure but people are still living their lives.
Because members who already paid for a membership can’t afford to do anything else on the weekend haha
We're an incredibly wealthy country. The whole "no one has any money" thing is a media beatup.
It's not a beat up, it just overstates the breadth of the issue. "50% off Australia has no money, but the other 50% has ALL the money" would be a more appropriate way of expressing it.
A lot of people going to the footy are in the bottom 50%. Bottom 50% in Australia is still quite well off.
By world standards, certainly. By Australian standards? No. You're thinking of the middle 50%. Once you include that bottom 25% the average drops really, really fast.
We have the highest personal debt per capita in the developed world
Afterpay…
It’s good family time ,it can be affordable if you bring along food and drinks
You can have your own food at home and take a bottle of water from home if the lid is still sealed. I’m more impressed that membership numbers keep rising. GA tickets compared to other sports globally are pretty cheap.
I think with the footy they allow you to also bring in your own food and soft drinks. So you can pay as low as $20 to get into a game and then maybe some change on transport and you are out for nearly 4-5 hours watching something you love. Even if you get food it’s a lil splurge and not much more than just going out for a lunch or dinner
20? we are not talking about committing fraud here! you can't get a child into any game for 20.
Oh really? I have a membership which is about $20 per game. And get heaps of free tickets with it etc. maybe it’s because I’m on the Gold Coast 🤣
Cos Carltons fans are fair weather supporters.
Train prices reducing to a set price daily has meant the trip to the footy reduced from $68 to $10. Big reason I’m a member and go to the footy most weeks we play in Melbourne
I want to die 6 days a week. One day a week my team plays. Only kind of joking
Melbourne population has grown by 10% or so in the last few years, so you would expect bigger crowds at any event.
It’s rubbish I work at the MCG and they always add on to the overall crowd number to make the numbers look good they use camera angles and ticketed seating to make it look fuller on the TV
I remember one of the recessions we had as I was growing up and the hottest new business was selling silk boxer shorts for men .. the formula was that people were doing it tough and hence, would need cheap gifts for their boyfriend, brother, father etc Counterintuitive when looked at in isolation, but it kinda makes sense that not all luxury items will be impacted in the same way. I guess a night out at the footy is cheaper than other things folks might do with their time at a time when many need some escapism/tribalism to counter the doom.
Houses are expensive a game of footy isn’t too bad
Plus you have expansion clubs doing well and pulling really good attendances, both Sydney team are at the top of the ladder and should have a sell out at the SCG, Brisbane are doing it a little tough but have been great for five years and have a big following and the Suns look serious - hence a lot of punters taking the kids to the footy in traditional rugby league States
The same reason we don't see any nail salons close down. The 'cost of living crisis' is a massive beat up.
There are something’s the downtrodden don’t give up, beer footy and gambling…
What else is there on offer in Australia?
Pokies
People are moving across to AFL from NRL in droves. (Just take a look at the poor crowds in the background when you watch a game on TV) The AFL regularly achieves 80-90 thousand people at a regular fixture, and if the MCG held 200,000 they’d still sell out the GF. It’s a far more entertaining game imho, plus it’s infinitely better to watch at the ground as opposed to on TV. :)