Geelong CEO Steve Hocking has explained why the club charged a $10 entry fee for last weekend’s practice match against Richmond.
It came just days after Carlton, now led by former Cats chief Brian Cook, charged a $15 entry fee to non-members over the age of 18 for last their pre-season match against St Kilda at Ikon Park.
Cats members entered for free while the general public, including Tigers members, copped the $10 fee.
Hocking did make it clear that his club charged less than Cook’s, while taking a cheeky swipe at the travelling Tigers, who are not often forced to head down the highway for a Geelong home game.
“We were a little bit less than that, we come in under Carlton, it was only $10 here,” Hocking said on Sportsday.
“Certainly Richmond supporters coming down the road, we need to charge them I would have thought.
“It’s enemy territory here, so (it’s) pretty important to make sure that they’re paying.”
Of course, the Tigers have been afforded the luxury of playing recent big ‘away’ games at their home of the MCG against the Cats which is a constant source of discussion.
Away from the rivalry, Sam McClure suggested it’s been a “pretty brutal two years” for footy fans and described charging people an entry fee for a glorified practice match as “weird”, especially considering the AFL is so keen to have crowds back at games.
Hocking responded to that: “I understand your point on that.
“But I’d also point you to the fact that to open up stadiums and run them, there’s costs associated with that.
“I know from our point of view that you don’t recover too many costs associated with that.”
The stadium was selling food and beverage on the day, but Hocking insisted that money coming in would not cover the costs to throw open the gates.
“No, that goes back through your partners in that particular area,” he added.
“There’s certainly a little clip there, but for a practice match you’re not opening up to what you normally would.”
The pain for footy fans was evident this week with barcodes to buy tickets for matches across rounds one to five creating havoc.
An issue with the Ticketmaster system meant sales were delayed by two hours, while some fans saw their Ticketmaster accounts disappear and others were unable to enter their membership barcodes into the system.
The AAMI Community Series matches take place across this coming weekend before the 2022 AFL season kicks off with the Grand Final rematch between premiers Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on March 16.