Australian Football League CEO Andrew Demetriou has admitted that the league "must go back to the drawing board in a bid to rebrand and simplify its complex and wildly unpopular variable ticketing system," according to Caroline Wilson of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Conceding the league "had failed to adequately explain the new three-tiered system," Demetriou said Tuesday’s head office review of round-five had resulted in AFL bosses "admitting they had some work to do in redefining variable ticketing." Demetriou "listened to angry fans" block the lines on 3AW during Easter Monday’s pregame program. He said that "he had become increasingly aware that attempts to explain the new system to football supporters had not worked." Demetriou: ''Maybe we’re better off not calling it variable ticketing. I think we should just go back to what we had previously termed it, which was reserved seat ticketing. I’m not saying we are reviewing the entire system -- we just need to make it simpler and better explain it.'' Demetriou’s vow to simplify the selling of variable ticketing -- which in essence "has meant the AFL has lifted prices significantly for big games" -- along with Monday’s fan outrage, "could stall" AFL Commercial Operations GM Darren Birch’s plans "to further trial the American sports-style dynamic ticketing" (SMH, 4/22).
