A-League should heed Dynamic Ticketing issues

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Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Dynamic Ticketing is seen as a new revenue builder by struggling clubs in Europe needing to inject more funds into their clubs. However, the backlash reported by supporters worldwide should make clubs think twice about this divisive option.

Dynamic Ticketing is a system that gives tickets adaptable prices based on demand. The most recent upheaval on this system has come from the Oasis reunion tickets, where fans have queued up for hours expecting tickets to be $292.39 only in a few hours, skyrocketing to $699.38.

This has caused outrage and even opened an investigation by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.

The footballing world has recently been riddled with ticket price controversy. Aston Villa fans raised concern at the prices of their Champions League tickets for their first return to competition since its earlier iteration, the European Cup, which they competed and won in 1982, 42 year ago.

A Champions League home ticket for Aston Villa has been increased form the cheapest non-season home tickets at $167.37 AUD rising up to $191, with a discounted price for season ticket holders ranging from $137.83 to $163.43. This comes at a 55% increase for non-season holders and 21% increase for season ticket holders from the clubs official cheapest ticket bracket of $108.

This decision has been defended by Aston Villa’s president of business operations Chris Heck saying that the financial problems facing the club and fears of Financial Fair Play (FFP) stepping in have made the ticket increase a viable option.

Other clubs such as 2023/24 Premier League champions Manchester City prices range from $74 to $123. Liverpool, 6 time champions league winners charge $59 to $120.

Valencia and Celta Vigo have taken it a step further by already imposing dynamic pricing onto its game tickets explaining prices will rise closer to the date of the game based on demand.

From a business point of view, clubs losing revenue see Dynamic Ticketing as an easy cash stream back into the club.

It is no lie that the A-league is under a strain financially, with little respite in sight. The league’s attractiveness as a business venture is vastly diminishing.

Ticketing for the A-leagues has much more financial importance than other more lucrative leagues in Europe. Also, it is worth mentioning that dynamic ticket price range would be substantially smaller than the larger supported and wealthier European clubs and leagues.

A more financially stable league would presumably result in more quality signings and revenue injected into youth development and infrastructure.

The negative effects for the fanbases, however, are glaring.

Supporters are not blind to the recent worldwide football news and know that fan’s frustrations at rising prices and where this profit goes, often falls on deaf ears. These same people could be the first to be hit hard.

The clubs in Spain that have imposed Dynamic Ticketing have caused uproar by their respective fans and other fan bases around the country. It has also soured an already fraught relationship between supporters and club owners.

Many view it as blatant greed, that they treat fans as customers and not as supporters important for the dynamic of the club.

The stage of development that Australian football is currently at means the fans have an important impact on the club’s activity. The popularity of leagues such as the Premier league or even La Liga club management see the benefits outweighing the negatives. This room for decision does not correlate with the popularity of the sport in Australia.

Football clubs should be finding angles to increase attendance and not increasing prices that could minimise interest in matches, with the cost-of-living crisis taking a hit to the public, individuals are thinking twice on where to spend their money.

Big games such as derbies draws in the largest attendance, with last season’s Sydney derby drawing in 28,152 and 27,998 for respective home and away games. Wellington Phoenix’s top of the table clash against Melbourne Victory back in May had the largest attendance at 33,297.

These type of games would be the key moments for Dynamic Ticketing and an increases in prices. The argument is that increased prices could cause less attendance for the casual viewer and an increase of season tickets pricing.

The not as important games could also be effected if they seem to increase in price. This has been mentioned by many fan groups as an increasing occurrence from worldwide clubs struggling with ticket prices.

The A-league clubs must still be realistic with their push to gain more support for football in Australia’s saturated sporting environment.

Australia is no stranger to successful rises in domestic league viewership and stadium-goers.

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is recorded to have helped garner a big increase in casual viewers to regular supporters for domestic leagues.

It’s possible this profit-building option in Australia could backfire tremendously and impact the league’s development and fan numbers. Something it cannot afford, quite literally.

The league needs more investment there is no denying that, but this volatile option could do more harm than good for Australian football.

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Tasmania’s State Budget Commits $350,000 to Football Facility Planning as $80 million Home of Football Moves Closer to Reality

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Image Credit: Football Tasmania

The Tasmanian State Government has committed $350,000 in seed funding for the next stage of planning for Football Tasmania‘s proposed Home of Football, moving the state’s most significant football infrastructure project closer to construction and signalling political recognition that demand for rectangular facilities in Tasmania has outgrown what currently exists.

The funding, confirmed in the 2026-27 State Budget handed down last week, sits within an almost $200 million investment in sport and recreation across the budget and forward estimates: a package the government describes as designed to improve access and participation for Tasmanians of all ages. The football allocation is listed alongside a $25 million community sporting infrastructure commitment at Kingborough, $12.5 million for new multipurpose indoor sporting courts at New Town Bay, and $8 million for the Domain Tennis Centre redevelopment.

Football Tasmania CEO Tony Pignata OAM welcomed the commitment as an acknowledgement of the structural gap between participation numbers and available infrastructure, particularly in the state’s south.

“The State Government’s delivery on this commitment shows us that they understand that demand outstrips supply for rectangular facilities in the state,” Pignata said. “If we are to continue to grow and develop future Matildas and Socceroos, we need to invest in the infrastructure our game so desperately needs.”

The proposed $80 million facility would include six full-sized pitches, three synthetic and three turf, alongside four five-a-side pitches, modern changerooms for both men and women, and dedicated training facilities. The design is intended to serve every level of the game simultaneously, from grassroots junior competitions through to national-level tournaments.

From grassroots to A-League ambitions

Football Tasmania has framed the facility’s purpose across a deliberately wide range of uses. At the community end, it would provide a permanent home for junior games and regional tournaments that currently compete for limited rectangular ground availability across the state. At the elite end, it would create the capacity to host national competitions including the Emerging Matildas and Emerging Socceroos Championships, flagship state competitions such as the Statewide Cup finals, and potentially, in time, an A-League team.

That last ambition is the most significant and the most distant. Pignata was measured but direct in raising it, situating a Tasmanian A-League club alongside the NBL’s Jackjumpers, the WNBL’s Jewels and the AFL’s Devils as part of the state’s emerging identity as a home for national sporting competition.

“One day down the track, we anticipate this would become home to our very own A-League team, so that we take our rightful place in the nation’s elite competition,” he said.

The pathway from planning funding to A-League admission is long and would require sustained political and commercial support well beyond the current commitment. But the logic is consistent with how football infrastructure investment has worked elsewhere in Australia. The facility comes first, and the competitive pathway follows. Without a purpose-built ground that meets the standards required for elite competition, the conversation about an A-League team cannot begin in earnest.

The equity dimension

The inclusion of modern women’s and men’s changerooms in the facility’s design carries more weight than it might appear. Community and semi-professional football facilities across Australia have historically been built to male standards, with women’s changerooms added as afterthoughts or not included at all. That inadequacy has been consistently identified as a barrier to female participation and to the hosting of women’s competitions at venues that cannot accommodate them properly.

A purpose-built facility that treats women’s infrastructure as a design requirement rather than a retrofit positions the Home of Football to serve the growth of women’s football in Tasmania in a way that existing facilities cannot. The state recorded 41,395 registered football participants in 2025, a number that has been growing and that the current rectangular facility stock was not built to support at this scale.

Additionally, the government’s Ticket to Play program, which provides eligible children with two vouchers worth up to $100 each for sporting participation, and the Ticket to Wellbeing program offering $100 vouchers to eligible seniors, represent indirect but meaningful support for football participation across the state’s communities.

Pignata also acknowledged outgoing Football Tasmania President Bob Gordon, who he said had dedicated almost a decade to the organisation and had been instrumental in lobbying for this and other facilities across the state.

The $350,000 planning commitment is a beginning. The $80 million facility it is intended to progress remains subject to further government investment and development approval.

FA partners with Coca-Cola ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026

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Image credit: Football Australia

The two-year partnership will place the global soft-drink giants as the Official Supplier for Australia’s Men’s and Women’s senior national teams.

 

Global partner, global stage

As the Socceroos look to deliver performances on the pitch at this summer’s tournament, it is a move off the pitch which will capture the imagination of fans across the country.

Football Australia announced an exciting deal with Coca-Cola, designed to align the global reach of football – and of the brand itself – to unite and engage fans this summer as well as during the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027.

Thus, through national campaigns featuring prize draws and the chance to access various rewards, Coca-Cola will help to drive passion and interest in upcoming major tournaments.

“This partnership brings together the global scale of Coca-Cola with the passion and reach of football in Australia, creating new opportunities to connect with fans across the country,” explained FA CEO, Martin Kugeler, via press release.

“The upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 represents a key moment for the CommBank Socceroos, and the Coca-Cola campaigns will help bring supporters closer to the team through unique and engaging experiences.”

Furthermore, with the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 also set to enjoy similar campaigns by Coca-Cola, the partnership’s impact and reach will extend across both the men’s and women’s game.

 

Marketing power

As football continues to grow – both in financial power and population reach – collaborations with global brands are now an expected aspect of tournament build-ups.

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) also struck a deal with fashion brand Loewe, set in place for the next four years. In a similar vein, England’s off-pitch teamwear will feature the marks of both Nike and Palace Skateboards, while France will receieve their prematch jersey from Nike and Jacquemus.

This is the state of the landscape. Aligning global brands and household names with a sport capable of reaching billions at once.

Values, reach and connecting with fans. Three key ingredients to a successful collaboration.

Such alignment is key to the partnership between FA and Coca-Cola, as recognised by Managing Director, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Orlando Rodriguez.

“For nearly 90 years, Coca-Cola has been a part of the fabric of Australian life – bring people together through shared moments,” said Rodriguez.

“Partnering with Football Australia reflects our continued commitment to connecting communities through experiences that unite the nation, with the CommBank Socceroos and Matildas at the heart of that.”

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