THE AFL has today announced that fans will now be able to purchase up to 10 tickets per transaction for matches in Victoria to encourage larger families and friendship groups to safely attend and sit together at Victorian venues.
As the AFL continues to work with Victorian Government and ticketing agents on getting Reserve Seat Members back into their reserved seats, the AFL match day protocols have been updated to increase the number of tickets per transaction from six to ten.
AFL Executive General Manager Commercial and Customer Kylie Rogers, welcomed the announcement and said it was great news for fans this upcoming weekend.
"We empathise that fans have had to change the way they ordinarily purchase tickets and attend matches as COVID continues to be a challenge in the community," Ms Rogers said.
"Our focus continues on delivering the safest matchdays possible and getting Club and AFL reserved seat members back in their reserved seats in the coming weeks.
"From this weekend we have been able to adjust our match day configurations and increase the number of tickets that can be purchased in one transaction to encourage larger families and friendship groups to attend and sit together for the matches."
Members will need to continue to register for tickets online as the AFL finalises arrangements in the coming weeks to have Club and AFL reserved seat members return to their designated reserved seats.
Fans who purchase tickets online will continue to be required to enter the name and contact phone number of each person attending the match.
The aim being to support the Victorian Government in obtaining the contact details of all fans attending the matches to best assist with contact tracing. Fans can be contacted faster and more efficiently in the event of a COVID-related outbreak.
This process will be required for all matches in Victoria continuing this week.
Should members or fans have dependants they are purchasing for (or someone that doesn't have a mobile phone number) they will be able to enter their own contact details on their behalf. Example being a family attending and parent enters their mobile number for the child attending with them.
The increase in tickets comes after the traditional Anzac Day match between Collingwood and Essendon became the largest attended sporting event in the world since COVID, as 78,113 fans attended the match at the MCG.
Crowds across the 2021 Toyota AFL Premiership Season now have the top five sporting crowds in the Southern Hemisphere in the post-COVID era.
Rd 6: Collingwood vs Essendon, MCG, 78,113
Rd 6: Melbourne vs Richmond, MCG, 56,418
Rd 5: West Coast Eagles vs Collingwood, OS, 54,159
Rd 2: Collingwood vs Carlton, MCG, 51,723
Rd 3: Geelong vs Hawthorn, MCG, 50,030
After six rounds of the 2021 Toyota AFL Premiership Season, 1,518,629 fans have attended matches nationally with the average attendance of 28,653 for matches with crowds permissible.