Talking Footy

Sluggish ticket sales for Anzac Day AFL match
SAM WORTHINGTON
Last updated 05:00 17/04/2014

There are no alarm bells ringing at St Kilda HQ despite sluggish ticket sales for the Anzac Day AFL game against Brisbane Lions in Wellington.

A Westpac Stadium crowd of 22,546 watched last year's historic game between St Kilda and Sydney Swans – the first time an AFL match had been played for premiership points outside Australia.

Ben Davies, St Kilda's general manager of commercial projects, said AFL policy prevented him from revealing how ticket sales were tracking.

But Davies admitted sales were "a couple of thousand" below what they were at the same stage last year.

He said there was no specific target for a crowd figure but was "very comfortable" that there would be a healthy turnout now that the marketing campaign was in full swing.

Davies conceded that the timing of the game was not ideal, during school holidays, with many Wellingtonians out of town.

Hospitality New Zealand's Wellington branch president Jeremy Smith said Australian interest in the game was lower this year.

Last year about 5000 Australians travelled for the match.

"This year, based on the hotel bookings, I'd say we are going to be lucky to get 1000 coming out from Australia," Smith said.

Smith said you couldn't just market the game well in the first year and then "sit back on your laurels."

St Kilda has a deal to play an annual Anzac Day game at Westpac Stadium through to 2018 – although it includes a review period after 2015 which enables all parties to determine if further matches go ahead.

Last year's game generated about $9 million for Wellington.

The St Kilda touring party arrives on Tuesday and will go on a city walk on Wednesday.

The Saints then have an open training session at the Basin Reserve on Thursday and a "come and try" day at the Basin on Saturday.

Brisbane arrive next Thursday and Lions chief executive Malcolm Holmes, a former Hurricanes boss, said there was decent interest in Queensland.

"Our players and supporters are looking forward to it," Holmes said.

"There's a lot of excitment. Once the fixture was announced, back in October, there was a lot of bookings made by Brisbane Lions supporters.

"What they're predominantly doing is spending a number of days in New Zealand. Not only going for the game but they're spending a few extra days looking around the greater Wellington area and parts of the North Island. It's a great opportunity to be involved in an historic game."

- © Fairfax NZ News

Cracker wrote:

It's an example of a time in the sun and not following up on it. I will be interested to see if St Kilda's advertised effort will improve the sales.

ParraEelsNRL wrote:

It's my thread and I'll call it what I like.

ParraEelsNRL wrote:

Why would he, he'll agree with me 100%