Fancy a one in 10 chance? Then set your alarm for 2pm on Monday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That's when tickets for the Canberra Raiders' return home will go on sale with the club offering 1500 tickets to members for a Canberra Stadium comeback.
The Raiders will host the St George Illawarra Dragons on Friday, July 3, in front of 1500 ticketed spectators and 230 corporates who will be limited to two people in an open box, and six in an indoor suite - provided two people sit outside in front of the suite with four inside.
Club members will use their membership details to gain access to Ticketek in a bid to secure their seat, with an asking price of $15 per ticket. Those who miss out will likely get first crack at tickets for Canberra's clash with Melbourne the next week.
Raiders marketing manager Jason Mathie says the club is prepared to "crawl before we walk" as they welcome crowds back under a raft of strict biosecurity measures.
MORE RAIDERS NEWS
About 270 "participants" - including players, coaching staff, security, catering staff and event staff will bring the capacity to the 2000 mark as the NRL recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We're blessed, we've got 20,000 members. Not all of them are ticketed. In our business we have about 11,500 ticketed members," Mathie said.
"The way we're going to do the ticket allocation, is share the rules and regulations in place about the event.
"Some people will quickly realise it's not the same, going to the football, as it otherwise has been. You can't sit in close proximity with your mates and family so that might not be an attractive proposition.
"We've set it up with Ticketek so members can put in their membership details as their password and get first access to the tickets. They'll be going on sale on Monday at 2pm."
Those in corporate boxes and suites will likely be given the chance to network in a stadium lounge prior to the match, but they must take their seats prior to kick-off.
Members will be charged for tickets after the club finalised its membership compensation programs on June 22, with 90 per cent opting to roll over the credit in their account to a 2021 membership. Seven per cent of club members donated to the Raiders' recovery fund, two per cent converted their remaining funds to a merchandise voucher, and one per cent asked for a cash refund.
"The reason we're charging for the tickets is because we can't guarantee as a member you will be in your same seat, so we're not really offering the membership entitlement as we sold it," Mathie said.
"We've flattened the price down to $15 per ticket, so it's actually cheaper than what you would buy as a casual ticket purchaser anyway.
"The fact we've gone with the password provision means if a member is fortunate to get a ticket for the Dragons game, our view is for the following week against the Storm, we'd like the opportunity to go to a member who hasn't already used their code to get the next shot at tickets.
"There will be a time you can re-enter the buying cycle. We tried to do it as fair and as reasonably as we could, and we're really confident the 1500 tickets are going to be snapped up very quickly by members of the club."
NRL ROUND SEVEN
Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Parramatta Eels at Western Sydney Stadium, 7.35pm.
Raiders squad: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Jordan Rapana, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Curtis Scott, 5. Nick Cotric, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. George Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson (c), 10. Sia Soliola, 11. Joe Tapine, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Corey Horsburgh. Interchange: 14. Siliva Havili, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Ryan Sutton, 17. Hudson Young. Reserves: 18. Bailey Simonsson, 19. Dunamis Lui, 20. Matt Frawley, 21. Tom Starling.
Eels squad: 1. Clinton Gutherson, 2. Maika Sivo, 3. Michael Jennings, 4. Waqa Blake, 5. Blake Ferguson, 6. Dylan Brown, 7. Mitchell Moses, 8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard, 9. Reed Mahoney, 10. Junior Paulo, 11. Shaun Lane, 12. Ryan Matterson, 13. Nathan Brown. Interchange: 14. Ray Stone, 15. Marata Niukore, 16. Oregon Kaufusi, 17. Brad Takairangi. Reserves: 18. David Gower, 19. Daniel Alvaro, 20. George Jennings, 21. Jai Field.