Essendon fan reveals stark cost of bringing family to the footy as membership prices sharply increase

Essendon fans have expressed their disappointment with the club on SEN over the last few days regarding price increases to their memberships.

Sarah, who called into SEN Breakfast on Friday morning claims the Bombers are raising the cost of her memberships by $270 per person, with a home and away reserved seat now costing $1,613 each.

“I’ve got a family of six, so I’ve been going to the football since they were two and three years old. I’ve got four kids. It’s now going to cost me $8500 to pay for them next year,” she told SEN Breakfast.

“Divide that by 18 games, it’s going to cost me $500 (per game) to take my kids to the footy next year.”

The cost is proving difficult to swallow, particularly given the club hasn’t won a final in 20 years.

Kane Cornes agreed with Sarah this morning, saying it’s far too expensive to get to the footy.

“That’s crazy, and that’s without even paying to buy something to eat,” Cornes said.

“Gee that’s expensive. That’s really tough.

“When you look at what the broadcast experience is like at home and it’s never been better, there needs to be an incentive and it needs to be affordable to go to the football.”

Club CEO Craig Vozzo reached out to their over 80,000 members by email to explain the club’s call to raise prices.

“Following our membership price freezes ahead of both the 2021 and 2023 AFL seasons, the club is in the final year of our two-year price revision which was designed to ensure we can both continue to invest in our football programs at a comparable level to other high performing AFL clubs, as well as seek to allow us to provide our members with the best entertainment product and member experience we can,” Vozzo said.

“Like everyone in this difficult economic climate, over the past 12 months we have encountered significant cost pressures across many aspects of our business. For the 2025 season, while our premium membership categories will increase at approximately the same rate as in 2024, we are pleased to announce a price freeze on our junior entry-level membership categories and increases in line with inflation only for our adult members in this category.”

The frustration from fans is also in line with the growing cost of living crisis in Australia, with sport being one of the few releases from it.