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The two clubs who make the grand final will distribute their allocation of 17,500 tickets to members by a ballot – an automated electronic draw conducted by Ticketek at the weekend once the combatants for the game have been determined.
It costs $6 per membership to enter the ballot, so registering is a bit like buying a ticket in a raffle. The only difference is that instead of winning the meat tray at your local pub, in this raffle the prize is the opportunity to buy a grand final ticket. But the ballot is not quite as random as a raffle, and not all memberships are created equal.
Who enters the ballot?
The days of members sleeping in a queue outside their local BASS outlet for the chance to buy a grand final ticket are long gone. For logistical reasons, Ticketek (formerly BASS) invites the eligible members of all four clubs who make the preliminary final to register for the ballot. But only those whose clubs make the grand final will go in the two ballots to get tickets for the grand final – members of the losing clubs will have blown their money.
The four clubs competing in this year’s preliminary finals each recorded their all-time membership record in 2025. Between them, they have a combined membership base of almost 370,000, a large number of whom were eligible to enter the ballot.
Collingwood and Geelong members registered for the ballot last week after their teams’ qualifying final wins booked them a preliminary final berth, while fans of the Lions and Hawks get their chance on Wednesday.
Does everyone have equal chance in the ballot?
No. While most club members have access to the ballot, each club has thousands of members who’ve paid extra to guarantee themselves the chance to buy a grand final ticket if their team makes the grand final.
Those members who have paid extra still have to enter the ballot – and pay to do so – and their tickets come from their club’s allocation of 17,500.
Most clubs call this guarantee “priority one” access to a grand final ticket in their membership propaganda. Each club has their own suite of membership products with varying methods of providing access to grand final tickets.
Lachie Neale and Dayne Zorko celebrate the 2024 grand final win.Credit: Eddie Jim
Priority one access is typically attached to the more expensive membership offerings, such as social club memberships, but clubs also make it possible for standard members to purchase an add-on during the season.
As an example, Collingwood members could pay an additional $150 for a “social club add-on” this year, while Geelong members had to fork out $240 for the “premiership membership add-on”.
If their teams lose this weekend, those members will have to write that money off as a donation to their club, just like the Adelaide members who snapped up their club’s $150 “grand final guarantee” when the Crows were storming towards the minor premiership, only to be knocked out of the finals in straight sets.
So how many tickets are distributed randomly in the ballot?
We’d like to tell you. But the clubs and the AFL keep the numbers a closely guarded secret. We approached all four preliminary final clubs, and those who responded told this masthead that they put a cap on priority one memberships. But none would say what that cap is, and the AFL was also careful not to release numbers, past or present, on ballot registrations.
Hawthorn told us they had sold out of memberships with a guarantee in the ballot and had a strong waiting list of members keen to purchase the same privilege in the future.
The Brisbane Lions noted some of their members with priority one access would be unable to travel interstate for the grand final, and said their allocation was well below capacity, meaning members with lesser access will have a chance of getting tickets in the ballot if the Lions topple the Pies.
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How do members find out if they’ve been successful in the ballot?
The first thing they’ll notice is Ticketek withdrawing money from their nominated bank account. This typically will happen sometime on Sunday. How much money they pay for their tickets is largely out of their control – that’s determined by what seats get randomly allocated to in the ballot.
The price of hope is big business
As the AFL itself has noted, it “could sell out the MCG four times over” on grand final day.
That huge demand means diehard footy fans fork out huge sums for the chance to be there in person when their team plays in the decider. And in most cases, they happily do so if it means they might get to see their team lift the premiership cup in person.
An entry-level seat might cost $195 – comparable to a major concert ticket – but the true cost of purchasing that ticket is worth at least double that, for those who’ve paid for the guaranteed right to purchase it. And those who haven’t paid to secure a ticket are up against more and more members, who’ve all paid for the hope of their number coming up in the ballot.
Even the seemingly modest $6 admin fee paid by every member who enters the ballot adds up. Consider this: if just 45 per cent of Collingwood, Geelong, Brisbane Lions and Hawthorn members register for this year’s ballot, they will be forking out $1 million in administration fees.
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