{"id":592572,"date":"2026-04-08T03:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T03:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/592572\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T03:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T03:09:15","slug":"fans-complain-of-wild-prices-ticketmaster-issues-for-australian-nfl-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/592572\/","title":{"rendered":"Fans complain of wild prices, Ticketmaster issues for Australian NFL game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hannah<\/p>\n

April 8, 2026 \u2014 11:52am<\/p>\n

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Tickets to the highly anticipated first NFL game in Australia<\/a> have nearly sold out, but frustrated fans say they experienced long waits and have complained of sky-high pricing for seats at the MCG with restricted views.<\/p>\n

The cheapest tickets at $95 per person for standing room, and $140 for the bottom row, sold out almost immediately on Ticketmaster on Wednesday for the September 11 game, with many punters complaining they had next to no chance of securing them.<\/p>\n

\"ReadyReady for battle: The San Francisco 49ers and LA Rams will open their 2026 NFL season in Melbourne.Digital Image: Stephen Kiprillis. Photos: Kellie Tubb, Getty Images<\/p>\n

With the general sale starting at 10am, an Australian NFL fan told this masthead that within 26 minutes the only seats left were ones with restricted views priced as high as $560 to $630.<\/p>\n

Pre-sale tickets for MCC members and American Express card users<\/a> for the game went on sale last week and also sold out quickly.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, many fans said they experienced lengthy queues and trouble navigating Ticketmaster\u2019s system.<\/p>\n

According to NFL Australia, more than 151,000 people registered their interest for the September game at the MCG, with thousands of travellers from interstate and regional areas expected to travel to Melbourne.<\/p>\n

\"TicketsTickets with restricted views were priced as high as $630 for the September NFL game.<\/p>\n

A statement from a Victorian government spokesperson said Melbourne will soon become the first city in the world to host a tennis grand slam, a Formula 1 grand prix and an NFL regular-season game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NFL reaches an enormous audience, almost 19 million people tuning in every week \u2013 that\u2019s a huge opportunity to showcase Victoria,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will also be a huge boost for local businesses, keeping restaurants, cafes and hotels pumping. \u201d<\/p>\n

However, not everyone is a fan of the event.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the recent annual NFL owners meeting in Phoenix, San Francisco 49ers<\/a> coach Kyle Shanahan, when questioned about the trip, replied sarcastically: \u201cOh, so fired up. That\u2019s our goal \u2013 to go 19 hours away to play a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

An NFL Australia spokeswoman did not respond to questions about Shanahan\u2019s comments, but said sales had been strong for the week one clash.<\/p>\n

\u201cTicket pre-sales for Amex and MCC went extremely well last week, with high demand across both,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"49ers<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to seeing the high level of interest continue into today when general access tickets go on sale.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s AFL finals begin with a wildcard round<\/a> on the last weekend of August, meaning the Rams and 49ers\u2019 regular-season game will fall on semi-final weekend. Kick-off is scheduled for 10.35am (AEST) which will be prime-time in the United States.<\/p>\n

The MCG has hosted exhibition soccer matches, NRL State of Origin matches, and rugby union Bledisloe Cup games during the AFL season in the past, as well as concerts in December 2022 before that year\u2019s Boxing Day Test.<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"HannahHannah Kennelly<\/a> is an award-winning sports reporter and Formula 1 writer at The Age.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 8, 2026 \u2014 11:52am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-592572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}