How to buy 2021 AFL grand final tickets online in Australia
You only have a very small number of opportunities left to snap up a ticket to one of the biggest games of the year. Here's how.
For the second year in a row, the AFL grand final is being held away from its traditional home of the MCG in Melbourne.
Due the pandemic, a match that was held in Brisbane last year is now being held at Perth's plush new Optus Stadium in 2021 in a game that will feature the Melbourne Demons and Western Bulldogs.
A vast number of tickets to the 61,266-seat stadium have already been allocated, but you have your best chance on Thursday morning to snap up some of the last prized tickets remaining.
When is the 2021 AFL grand final?
This year's decider is at Perth's Optus Stadium, with the opening bounce at 5:15pm local time (7:15pm AEST) on Saturday 25 September. We have a full viewing guide to watching the 2021 AFL season.
How to buy tickets to the AFL grand final
We'll get to the tough news first – you are going to have to be extremely lucky to get tickets to this year's game. There have already been 12,000 tickets apiece allocated to members of the 2 competing teams. They went to Demons members and Bulldogs members on Monday and Tuesday this week respectively. A vast number of corporate packages are also sold out.
Today, Thursday 16 September, there are exactly 10,250 tickets being released to the public. This is how you can get them.
- Sign up for a My Ticketmaster account. If you have not registered your details on the official ticket website, you can't even begin the process of trying to snap up tickets.
- Log in to ticketmaster.com.au by 9:50am AWST this morning and at the top of the homepage you will see an AFL splash and a blue button that says "Find tickets". Follow the prompts to buy tickets to the game. Here you need to register your intent to buy tickets and you will join what's called a Pre-queue waiting room.
- From 10am Perth time, tickets will become available to purchase. You can only purchase a maximum of 4 tickets at once and you need to know the full name and a mobile number for every person you are buying tickets for.
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What to know about buying tickets in 2021
The tickets are entirely digital. There will be no hard copy tickets released at all. This is a good thing as it makes it much harder for counterfeit tickets to enter the market.
Plan your budget ahead of trying to get tickets. The cheapest tickets left to this year's game are called Category 6 tickets and they cost $185 (or $157 for concession holders). They are very likely to sell out first. But there are also tickets ranging from Category 5-1 and they cost between $275 and $450. Yes they are expensive, but if you decide you can afford to target 4 tickets in a higher price range, you might have a better chance of getting through and securing your seats.
If you manage to get through into the portal, do not refresh your browser at any time! As tempting as it is to hit that refresh button if you think you are sitting idly and nothing is happening, this is rule number 1 of buying tickets online, do not hit refresh. It will return you to the very back of the queue and it's effectively like starting the process all over again.
There will be a time limit. It is likely to be 10 minutes, which is plenty of time if you are lucky enough to get through and if you are organised. Stay calm, enter all the details correctly and you are in for a shot at the tickets. As difficult as it can be, especially Dogs or Dees fans, patience is the key.
You can't miss the section to buy AFL grand final tickets from Ticketmaster. Image: Finder
Can I buy grand final tickets any other way?
There are a couple of other options. The first is to go down the path of corporate packages. The majority of these have already sold out. But there are a very small amount of corporate suite packages left at the time of writing. You will need to have deep pockets as they start from $2,100 each.
Sites like Gumtree also have people looking to buy and sell tickets right now. While there can be an element of risk associated with these types of sites, Gumtree does follow relevant state laws including the Western Australia Ticket Scalping legislation. They also urge users to enquire about legitimacy and terms and conditions before making any purchase. Where possible they also flag and remove any unlawful listings.
CHECK OUT: Finder discussed AFL grand final tickets on ABC Drive Radio. Follow this ABC Radio link and jump to 1:18:11 on the program.
Plan early so you know which section and your budget for tickets. Image: Finder
How to watch the 2021 AFL grand final
The grand final is live and exclusive to Channel 7 right across Australia. The game will not be streamed on 7plus. Right after the fulltime siren, you can watch a full replay on Foxtel iQ, Foxtel Now and Kayo Sports.
If you are a Foxtel customer, you are all set. If not, we recommend Kayo Sports, which has a range of unique special features and access to more than 50 sports in total. It also has a 14-day free trial for new customers. You can also access a 10-day free trial for Foxtel Now.
Main image: Austadiums.com
Keen to learn about sports streaming? Check out our full guide here. If you're still not sure who to stream with, we've got a Foxtel vs Kayo comparison so you can decide which one suits you best.
