What is the value of women’s sport?
A ticket to Fremantle’s AFLW clash with Collingwood in 2018 will set you back $2. All other regular games will be free. Does this send the message that women’s sport is not worth paying for?
I totally understand what the AFLW is going for here. They’re hoping to break an attendance record for women’s Aussie Rules that has stood since 1929. Throw in a new stadium and the fact that punters were locked out of game 1 in 2017 and they just might do it.
But only $2 a ticket? Well, that just blows. To me, it says they don’t think people are willing to pay for the product. They think a record is more important than sending a message that the AFLW is not worth paying for. I reckon they’d have released free tickets if they could but, as anyone who has ever organised an event knows, people are less likely to show up if something is free and they haven’t committed money. It also enables them to track numbers.
What would I have done? Just charge a little more. Not so much that it’s prohibitive but more than just a token. Even $10 for adults, $5 for children would have been better. Or, a tiered price depending on the quality of seats and kids under 12 get in for free.
The players are still being paid below the Australian minimum wage so the AFLW should be looking at ways to increase the pool of cash for that.
I can forgive this game for going so cheaply and applaud it as a clever marketing ploy if only there was an entry fee to regular season games. But there isn’t, these are free.
Being a cashed-up code that can afford to host free games week in, week out but then not pay your players a living wage (and provide insurance cover) is just plain disrespectful to all women in sport.
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Do you think women’s sport is worth more?
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