Some fans hate entering the stadium and just want to enjoy the action in peace. Others will not sit anywhere but at the end of a row, and are willing to pay a premium for the privilege.
The extra cost of an aisle seat has risen to $25 at the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Melbourne, part of a trend seen at sporting events such as MotoGP at Phillip Island and the Australian Open tennis, as well as some music concerts, to price tickets at the edge of bays higher than those in the middle.
A Tennis Australia spokesperson confirmed that aisle seat prices were first introduced at the 2022 Melbourne Park Major, with a “modest premium” of $5, “in response to fan preferences for extra legroom and easier access”.
The Australian Open will have a premium of between $5 and $15 on aisle seats for the 2026 tournament, although not all courts in all sessions will incur the extra cost.
Academic research, including a study published last year in the journal Sport Business and Management, has found that aisle seats at sporting events are more valuable than others on the secondary market.
Dr. Alex Belli, a senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Melbourne, said people are willing to pay more for easier access to toilets and food vendors, and to be able to get in and out without disturbing other customers.
“Consumers don’t mind paying extra for convenience, a phenomenon commonly called ‘convenience premium,’” he said.
In one of the sideline bays on the lower bowl of Rod Laver Arena for the first Open evening session of 2026, a regular seat costs $319, while the two seats on either side of the steps cost $334. A similar aisle seat on the same night at Margaret Court Arena costs $139, in a bay where seats otherwise cost $129.
“Data shows that aisle seats are consistently sold first, confirming strong demand,” the Tennis Australia spokesperson said. “Today, aisle seats remain as popular as off-aisle options, with a small premium applied based on demand.”
The premium for the Melbourne Grand Prix has been increased to $25 per aisle seat for the 2026 race, up from $20 this year and $15 in 2023. A ticket at the Webber Stand on Friday costs $135, but for one of four seats at either end of a row the cost is $160. At the MotoGP at Phillip Island this weekend, aisle seats cost an extra $15.
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Professor Nitika Garg, a consumer behavior researcher at UNSW, said aisle premiums were likely to continue rising if seats continued to sell, but sport and promoters risked a backlash. “[Increases to aisle seat prices] It would be a function of demand, but whether that’s the right thing to do is unclear,” she said.
Dynamic pricing is widely used across a number of sectors, although some forms have attracted criticism, including from government.
Garg said the idea of dynamic pricing was to “take as much marginal profit as possible from each customer based on their willingness to pay, but that’s usually not the best approach because people want to feel like they’re not really being exploited. People want to feel like, ‘Yes, you’re a business and you want to make a profit,’ but they don’t want to be wrung out of every cent.”
The sport could consider “bundling” costs – or avoiding splitting individual costs – to avoid consumer resentment, Garg said, or look to the example of airlines and use loyalty programs to offer the choice of aisle seats as a reward.
The practice of applying aisle premiums has also been evident at music concerts, and it was first widely reported by Billboard magazine in 2019.
Not all sports are subject to the aisle premium. Those who have watched a day of Test cricket will be familiar with the increasing pace of customers’ toilet breaks in the afternoon session and the challenge for some of navigating out of a queue.
But ticketing officials in Cricket Australia have not received enough feedback to justify pursuing aisle pricing. And the practice has yet to take place among other summer athletes in the NBL and A-Leagues.
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