Manly fans revolt as ticket prices released

Manly have one of the smallest membership bases of any Sydney club – but Sea Eagles fans are revolting at the club's ticket prices for the coming season.

The club, like many in the NRL, is struggling financially due to the ongoing effects of COVID but has nearly doubled ticket prices in an attempt to make ends meet.

Many fans who pledged their memberships to the club last year as a show of support are now fuming.

Prices to sit in the Ken Arthurson Stand at Lottoland have gone from $37 last season to $70 for the Round Two clash with Souths.

To add to the fans' anger, first preference for tickets will be given to those who sign up to a new group – the 75 Member Club – which costs $75 to join.

"It's verging on blackmail," one angry fan told Wide World of Sports. "You get a cap and access to no games for that $75 – then they smash you with price-gouged tickets.

"The new costings mean that our pensioner members can't afford to attend a single game.… it's disgraceful.

"I know many fans who won't be renewing their memberships because of the way the club has treated them."

The club's biggest Facebook forum – The Manly Sea Eagles Supporters Group – has nearly 30,000 members and many are venting.

"It's crazy that it's almost doubled when capacity is unlikely to be half when the season kicks off," Ella Kasmar posted. "I'm embarrassed by the club's actions."

Lisa Slater chimed in: "If this is the case then I won't be attending any games this year sadly, I can't afford it."

Another fan, Chris Goffett, added: "The people's game… hmmm doesn't seem so. Making the games unaffordable means we will have even less people attending which will drive revenue down, not up. Incremental increases not hikes is reasonable… as a staunch supporter I simply cannot justify that price."

Manly fan Ian Dhu compared the price at Brookvale to that at Suncorp Stadium for the Magic Round.

"It's extortion (by Manly) he said. "I just paid $150 for a premium seat for the Magic Round commencing on the Friday evening with Manly playing the Broncos and every game over both Saturday and Sunday of the weekend."

Scores of other angry fans vented on the page, including Neil Hoare.

"You can't charge a premium and give nothing back," Hoare said. "Yes we all love our team but we want value for money, if the club tries to cheapen the brand by giving nothing back to supporters then they will lose members. Be sure of one thing Manly need to lift their game in this department or risk having fans watching from home."

Sea Eagles boss Steve Humphreys expressed sympathy for the fans but explained his club's position.

https://twitter.com/SeaEagles/status/1362240908574400512?s=20

"I understand disappointment from some members regarding the changes we felt compelled to make for the 2021 season," he said.

"We have moved to an alternative membership and ticketing model specifically for the 2021 season only, in response to significant capacity reductions at Lottoland this year.

"The capacity reduction is caused by the construction of the new Grandstand and Centre of Excellence at the northern end of the stadium as well as the COVID Safe protocols that must be observed across the venue and especially in all of the unstructured seating areas.

"Given these facts, we simply had to implement changes to our 2021 model so as to somewhat mitigate the massive financial impact on the club.

"We introduced one simple base Sea Eagles 75 Membership to mark the 75th year of the Sea Eagles. Priced at just $75 for adults, this membership allows our fans to really show their support of the Sea Eagles whilst receiving a range of benefits including priority access to tickets for home matches at Lottoland at discounted prices with all ticketing fees also waived.

"Whilst acknowledging there will be an additional financial burden for some members and the very real unease that creates, some of the figures and comparisons quoted are quite inaccurate.

"I've been buoyed by the tremendous response of the Sea Eagles army to the temporary but necessary changes. Over 90 per cent of last year's reserved seat members have already renewed with still some four weeks to go before our first home match of 2021.

"In addition we have welcomed more new members at this stage of the season than we have for several seasons. We are very grateful for the support of our fantastic renewing and new members."