Gillon McLachlan, the chief executive of the AFL, has spoken out in defence of the grand final ticket allocation.
He has ensured supporters that every effort is being made to help fans of the two competing clubs.
The Herald Sun reported that while nearly 34,000 tickets went to Richmond and Adelaide fans, more than 16,000 were taken by corporates and other AFL commitments.
“We are pretty transparent about it,” McLachlan said of the grand final allocations. “There are always going to be views and challenges with that and we’d love on grand final day to be able to get a quarter of million people in here – we can’t. Hopefully people understand that demand always outstrips supply and that has challenges.”
McLachlan said the mix of grand final tickets remained a work in progress and that allocations had “increased year-on-year so we’re up to 34,000”.
“We want to get as many tickets as we can in the competing club members’ hands but it takes time to change allocations,” he added. “Every angle has been looked at (with) this.”
Earlier this week, the Melbourne Cricket Club announced that it is looking to reassess its ticketing system, which could mean non-members have access to members’ empty reserved seats.
The move comes after last Friday’s sold out final between AFL’s Collingwood and Richmond saw a few thousand empty seats.
McLachlan welcomed the review for big events such as the grand final and preliminary finals.
“Like me, they want this ground full,” McLachlan said.” Obviously they’re managing their membership but I think they feel there can be a better process. We’re having good chats with them.”
Image: Tom Reynolds