Hoops

Refunds issued for Boomers debacle

I wonder how much the atmosphere was deadened by the thousands of people at ground level who didn't know what was happening and were busy worrying about how much money they wasted?

In that case, you'd want atmosphere and it doesn't sound like there was much unfortunately.

NFL venues are far more suited to this kind of thing. Smaller area than AFL ground, plus the front row of standard seating is already raised. Allows you to also tier on field seating.

I would have assumed, for the prices being charged, that they would have come up with a solution. They didn't.

Marvel isn't a world class indoor stadium, check out some with bigger capacities that the NFL uses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_National_Football_League_stadiums

People who paid $300 for a seat on the ground level were throwing their money away. The view was bound to be mediocre at best, completely obstructed at worst. Many of us made that comment 12 months ago.

Unfortunately, it looks like for many, it's ended up the "worst"- completely obstructed.

On the other hand, the promoter has done the wrong thing and done basketball a disservice.

What could have been done differently?

My suggestion is:

- Raise the court even higher

- Push the front row seats back by 10m so they could see to the other side of the court.

I have no idea if that would've worked though.

Perhaps it was just a bad idea all round, and they should've had 2 games at RLA- less people attend, but the overall impact on basketball is better. The people who attend are actually happy and create a buzz, instead of getting angry on twitter and creating a media storm of negativity.

"What exactly do you expect the ticket seller to do? Say "please don't don't buy these tickets"?"

Price them accordingly. Mark them as obstructed view. Don't sell tickets that have no view of the game. Ensure all tickets have a view of the game.

There's a few ways they should have gone. Simply saying "well, you should have known better" while charging a premium price doesn't pass the test as being reasonable.

Getting 50k to a BBall game IS fantastic, but I said from the outset that Docklands isn't suited.

If you can't figure out that sitting on a flat surface will give you a limited view, the further back you are, then there is simply no help for you. What exactly do you expect the ticket seller to do? Say "please don't don't buy these tickets"?

Similarly, yes, whilst the fixed seating will give you a clear view, you are a long way back so its not the same view you normally get at a BBball game.
It's the same reason I don't go to big name concerts at Optus, where sitting in the upper tier watching the big screen, I might as well be at home watching on my computer.

"what did people expect?"

To be able to see the game. Simple.

"Hahaha you used a rendering of the seating layout as a way of proving that the promoters gave enough information regarding the shitty view? Ok then..."

I looked at buying tickets but didn't because looking into it for 5min you could see and read how bad it would be. You don't need to be a genius to realise the viewing would be shit.

In all seriousness, what did people expect? A lot of people have asked this question but no one has answered it. I'd be interested to see what someone who is really upset by the view they had expected.

"Did the website state that the court would be raised a metre above the oval seating? If not then no, nobody knew what they were getting into."

It had been mentioned the court would be raised. The whole raised court isn't the issue anyway, i dont know why people are complaining about it, it would have been a worse view if it wasn't raised. The venue as a whole just isn't suited to basketball.

"The layout of Marvel was not known or advertised when tickets were first released, and a lot of the 'premium' seats were snapped up at that point."

https://www.usab.com/news-events/news/2018/08/usa-aust-exh-tickets.aspx

There's an arists impression provided by BA here of what the stadium would look like. Pretty much looks like you'd expect really

As the NFL says no such thing as bad publicity, nearly 52000 is amazing.

^ actually its on the promoter who sold a premium ticket.

I saw someone commenting on r/NBA saying they were right behind the USA bench in seats very close to the court, but couldn't see much. The bench would stand up and applaud after highlight plays and block the view more. Shame that this overwhelms the news of getting 50k to basketball. Wonder if they thought that would outweigh the criticism? Or did realise it would be so problematic?

I would say Marvel is still not that great, even for Soccer and Rugby. Even with the seats brought in (which doesn't actually happen often). Still too sparse. Footy grounds are just too big.

I'd love a dedicated rectangle soccer/union/league stadium in Melb that held 40k+. If it had a roof it would be perfect for gigs and events like this. Won't happen, but a man can dream

The ground level seats should have been the cheapest (except the first few rows), with the bonus of being close to such a big event but the downside of having a less than ideal view. People who were in the permanent seating seem to be saying their viewing experience was good.

^Anon, Australia doesn't host regular NBA games. This was a reference to special events and perceived poor seating options.

Now that Lend Lease has pulled out of construction of the 'new' stadium in Sydney next to the SCG (made for soccer and Rugby League) I think they should consider making it a genuinely good indoor stadium in line with some of the better custom made NFL stadiums in the USA.

A 45K seater custom made indoor stadium is something Australia doesn't have.

At least it will have a point of difference. Sadly I think Marvel was made for AFL first, second and third.

Anonymous
A couple of hours ago

"The owners of Marvel don't give a crap they just want the money
No good being up in arms of you didn’t factor this in"

These two sentences contradict each other.


the owners dont care if you have bad seating, they charge what they like, any one going should have realised that if your on the floor and the seating isnt raised your going to get your view blocked by some big ass head in front of you......not hard to understand...or is it?

"The people who paid $300+ for the seats on the ground and virtually no view of the game deserve refunds without question."

FWIW, Russell Crowe probably agrees with you, based on his tweet.

"It would suck spending that for a shit view, but what did people really expect though?

It's one of those things where yeah people would want to see, but did they really expect to see much sitting so far back with no seat elevation? "

Nah you're right. People spent $1000+ to take their family to sit and watch the big screen.

There's an expectation, when you pay for a ticket - especially one billed as premium, that you will be able to watch the thing you've bought a ticket to. Saying "what did you expect" is not an ok defence.

"The people who paid $300+ for the seats on the ground and virtually no view of the game deserve refunds without question."

It would suck spending that for a shit view, but what did people really expect though?

It's one of those things where yeah people would want to see, but did they really expect to see much sitting so far back with no seat elevation?

The layout at the stadium has been known since the game was announced (that the court would be raised and there would be temporary floor seats).

I strongly considered a year ago organising to fly to Melbourne for the weekend and go to both games, but at the end of the day thought it would just be shit viewing and teams would lack some big names and not worth it.

The UFC at Marvel and WWE at the MCG had pretty similar layouts and both looked just as shit for viewing.

The people who paid $300+ for the seats on the ground and virtually no view of the game deserve refunds without question.

I paid $100 for a level 3 seat and, while it had limitations, I had a good night.

Paying for "premium" seats and not being able to see the game should not be tolerated.

What did people expect at “marvel” stadium lol
It’s designed for footy, it’s like throwing an A4 sheet of paper in the middle of Hisense and telling those in the top seats to read what it has on it

Any floor seating that wasn’t the first row was going to be problematic unless tiered
The owners of Marvel don’t give a crap they just want the money
No good being up in arms of you didn’t factor this in
As for the minister of sport being unhappy, why did they not go and check what they had planned, doesn’t take a genius to know it was going to be a rip off for the vast majority
Now USA basketball have cancelled their press interview afraid of the backlash .... money is hard to earn , people don’t want to be ripped off but they should also use some common sense too

Hroz - article on abc.net.au quoting ACCC saying some refunds have been issued by the promoter.

Thanks for giving us an outlet for it.

50,000ish isn't packed. It's called not sold out. Perhaps 30,000 short of sold out in fact.

The place is packed it’s only a few wingers on here that are complaining. Great for Australian basketball.

Did people complaining about advertising buy their tickets before or after the withdrawals though? Most bought tickets like a year ago, all the withdrawals happened over the last couple of months, the advertising a year ago wasnt exactly false advertising.

The only ones who should be able to complain about it imo are the ones who saw an ad 3 weeks ago with AD/Harden/Lillard etc and just bought tickets recently, but i dont think there are many of those people

Link?

What a load of crap, enjoy the game and maybe read the fine print. All advertising is misleading.