Ticket price hikes not the way forward for sports

The Roar asked the head of viagogo in the Asia Pacific region for comment on reports that a huge number of tickets for the State of Origin series were going to go unsold.

With ticket prices to the State of Origin series climbing more than 120 per cent since 2011, it’s no surprise there are tens of thousands of tickets for all three games gathering dust at the box office, as DJ Cooper pointed out in The Roar on Monday.

We can all agree that marquee events like the State of Origin should be open to all fans regardless of income bracket – and these recent price hikes have done just the opposite.

The organisers have defended these price hikes by claiming that the Origin series has been undervalued for years. Really what’s happened is they’ve seen prices on sites like viagogo over the last few years – where ticket costs are determined by supply and demand- and thought they could squeeze more revenue out of the punters.

The NRL, in particular, is the worst offender in this area – if you look at their grand final prices the same trend has occurred.

The codes’ strategy of stinging fans for more money is misguided and short-sided. The percentage of people actually buying tickets at an inflated value on sites like viagogo is minute.

The majority of our customers buy tickets below or within 10 per cent of cost price. In fact, for State of Origin last year over 1/4 of tickets bought on viagogo were below face value.

Instead of pricing league fans out of the stadium, a more equitable system would be to keep prices low and affordable so that we can all attend. This will help keep the excitement high for codes like rugby league and translate into continued interest in the game for years to come.

For the small percentage that want the added convenience of choosing exactly where they want to sit, or to wait until the last minute, give them the option of paying more and doing so with the complete confidence of safety, security and a guarantee.

What’s interesting is that just like sporting codes such as the NRL are taking advantage of punters at the box office, they are also throwing their lobbying weight around trying to limit the rights of consumers through legislation in different jurisdictions across the country.

In NSW for example, a proposed Bill being debated before Parliament this week would make it easier for rights owners and sporting codes to cancel tickets to events without any recourse options for consumers, while doing nothing to pursue or penalise scalpers or fraudsters – all under the guise of ‘helping fans’.

It’s surprising that the NSW government feels the need to interfere in an area that the Federal Government has twice decided doesn’t need regulatory intervention, including as recently as March of this year. The power of sporting codes’ lobbying efforts shows through in politicians doing away with common sense in NSW and ignoring consumers’ interests despite evidence to the contrary. In a Galaxy Research poll this year, the results found that nine out of 10 people think laws like the one being proposed in NSW ignore the interests of consumers.

Sporting codes like the NRL tend to be the ones lobbying governments at all levels for greater restrictions over ticket selling and re-selling – they want more powers to write and enforce whatever terms and conditions they want, just like the State of Origin organisers are doing by increasing their prices 120 per cent. They can push for new laws but that same Galaxy Research showed that only two in five people are going to bother following the restrictions because two thirds of us think the new requirements are too complicated and difficult to understand.

So while codes like the NRL loudly bemoan the impact of ticket resellers on their bottom line, they’re squeezing every last cent out of their fans. Rather than recognising free market ticket reselling systems as the greatest equaliser for consumers, they’re restricting access at the box office.

Sporting codes and governments should take heed of the punters and industry experience or they’ll find themselves with even fewer seats filled at matches.

Alexander Levenson is the head of viagogo Asia Pacific