AFL boss Gillon McLachlan on ticket fiasco: ‘There's got to be consequences’

FRUSTRATED AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan has warned there will be consequences for Ticketek should they suffer another ticketing meltdown at a critical time.

Richmond, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney and GWS fans were left fuming on Tuesday after logging on to the Ticketek website to buy finals tickets only to be met with delays and misinformation.

While some fans were able to purchase tickets, thousands more were stuck on hold, watching non-refreshing websites throughout the day due to the failure of Ticketek's online systems.

The catastrophic failure, caused by an operator error, forced the shutdown of ticket sales for 24 hours.

An "unbelievably agitated" McLachlan said the league historically had little say in such ticketing issues given Ticketek's contract is with the Melbourne Cricket Club, the venue operators of the MCG.

However, McLachlan is working to ensure that changes.

"There's got to be consequences... there has to be," McLachlan told 3AW on Friday.

"... The sales have been unbelievable but there's all this frustration and angst for our supporters along the way and we've got no recourse.

"I want recourse and I want accountability and that's what we're going to get.

"... I'm pleased to say that in the last 24 hours I've had a breakthrough with the CEO of Ticketek and the MCC ... hopefully we will negotiate in the coming weeks a service level agreement direct with Ticketek.

"So there will be accountability back to us."

The AFL will work with Ticketek to establish minimum standards of service and personnel dedicated to the sale of tickets to finals and big games during the season.

The farce came just weeks after the MCG renewed its contract with Ticketek despite a history of bumbling high-demand events.

Club member tickets for the Richmond-Hawthorn qualifying final, the Melbourne-Geelong elimination final and the Sydney-GWS elimination final were back on sale on Wednesday.

Ticketek adopted a staggered release that largely countered the issues they encountered during the initial sale.