Basketball fans in Melbourne were left fuming after paying hundreds of dollars for seats that offered shockingly poor views of Australia’s clash with the US at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night.
Many disgruntled fans among the 51,000-strong crowd at the Docklands arena have complained to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The game was played on a temporary court with a raised floor in the middle of the AFL-owned stadium that usually stages football matches.
Fans seated on plastic chairs courtside were unimpressed, venting their rage on social media after paying hundreds of dollars for the seats.
Some compared the event to the Bahamas’ fraudulent luxury music festival Fyre.
The Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe was scathing after paying $1,500 for his ticket.
“Joke’s on me,” he tweeted.
The ACCC has confirmed it has received a couple of hundred complaints concerning misleading advertising of super star players and is expecting more about seating.
Its chairman, Rod Sims, said his team has been investigating the matter for more than a week and event promoter Teg [Live] had issued some refunds.
“We’re now going to extend the investigation to see if people were misled about the seating,” he told Guardian Australia.
“We need to look at what people were told, when they were told it in relation to the players, how long those ads were running, how many people bought tickets while those ads were running … what were they told in relation to the seating.”
Sims could not say how long an investigation could take but said collecting evidence for potential court action could take several months.
Teg [Live] could face hefty fines if it is convicted of breaching Australian consumer law.
Last year federal parliament passed laws which lifted penalties from $1.1m to $10m, or three times the profit made or 10% of turnover.
Comment has been sought from the Teg [Live], Basketball Australia and Marvel stadium.
A basketball fan who paid $500 for a ticket said he wanted his money back and described the marketing as a “rort”.
“When everyone was seated you could only see the players’ heads,” another fan posted on Twitter.
Australia have not beaten the US in 55 years and that record rarely looked likely to change on Thursday as they fell 102-86 in the first of two matches against the US, despite the visitors missing a host of NBA stars.
LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry were all missing and other big names, such as Anthony Davis and James Harden, were featured in advertising but did not play.
Australia’s biggest star, Ben Simmons, also pulled out after he signed a multimillion-dollar deal to stay with his NBA team, the Philadelphia 76ers.
The evening was a disgrace, one spectator, Lee Turner, said.
“Not only did the stars all pull out, not only did TEG not reply to emails asking for a refund or answer the phone, the seats were pitiful and you couldn’t even see the court. I spent the night watching it on the screen,” he posted on Twitter.
People seated in raised, cheaper seats were generally much happier, but those in the very back rows said they needed binoculars and complained television screens were blurry.
Despite the issues in the stands, Patty Mills, an Australian NBA player, said it was a thrill to play in front of such a huge crowd on home soil.
“It was awesome. Obviously there was a big build-up for a year. To be able to get to this point was an awesome opportunity,” he said. “Basketball in Australia has been waiting for something like this.
“It’s an opportunity for us to play against a powerhouse team to help us grow and build for the world championships, but you can see how much support is there for basketball and our national team so hopefully we can keep the momentum.”
The teams are set to face off again at the same venue on Saturday.