AFL to stagger Finals ticket sales after website crash

The AFL has announced that it will stagger ticket sales for the remaining games of this year’s finals series in an attempt to avoid the problems that arose when the Ticketek system crashed.

Earlier this week, the AFL said it would evaluate its ticketing policy after a system failure hit Ticketek for its sale of AFL Finals Week 1 tickets for matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

Ticketek’s system froze after ticket sales opened for club members ahead of next week’s Richmond v Hawthorn and Melbourne v Geelong finals, which are both expected to come close to selling out the MCG.

The Sydney Swans v GWS Giants final, to be played at the SCG, was also affected.

Ticketek’s website was later shut down, with sales suspended.

An AFL spokesman today confirmed to Melbourne newspaper The Age “today, we made the decision to stagger for the rest of the finals.”

The AFL had already opted to sell tickets in separate stages for the three games during the day yesterday (Wednesday).

Tickets for the qualifying final between West Coast Eagles and Collingwood sold out on Ticketmaster yesterday.

The AFL described the ticketing problems, which emerged on Tuesday, as “unacceptable”.

Image: AFL action at the MCG.