Cricket Membership or General Admission in Australia

A cricket membership in Australia is not a ticket. It is an annual subscription to the body that controls a ground, and it buys you entry to that ground's members reserve for everything staged there across the year. The five that matter for cricket are the Melbourne Cricket Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the South Australian Cricket Association at Adelaide Oval, the Gabba's own membership scheme in Brisbane and WA Cricket in Perth. Each sells a different product at a different price with a different queue in front of it.

The short answer to the question this page exists to settle is arithmetic. Entry-level general admission for a men's international has started near 30 dollars a day for several summers running. A Full Melbourne Cricket Club subscription has sat near 938 dollars a year, an adult Gabba membership near 636 dollars after a joining fee above 1200 dollars, SACA Full membership near 455 dollars plus a once-off entrance fee near 320 dollars, and WA Cricket near 620 dollars for a new member. Divide the subscription by the day rate and you get the number of attendances at which membership stops being an expensive way to watch two Tests. In most cases that number lands somewhere between fifteen and twenty days a year, which almost nobody reaches on cricket alone.

That is why the honest framing is not cricket membership against general admission at all. It is a year-round membership of a stadium against a handful of cricket tickets. The people for whom a membership works are the ones who also go to the football at the same ground in winter, who take the seat for granted on a wet Tuesday of a Sheffield Shield match, and who value the enclosure, the bar and the reserved seat as much as the cricket. This page sets out what each association actually charges, what each membership covers, how long the queues are, and where general admission still wins.

What you are actually buying

A membership admits you to a defined enclosure. It does not usually guarantee a specific seat unless you have paid for a reserved-seat category, and it does not guarantee entry on the busiest day unless your category is high enough.

Four things come bundled with almost every Australian ground membership: entry to the members reserve for all cricket the ground stages, entry to the football that ground hosts in its other season, access to members bars and dining rooms that the general public cannot enter, and a limited entitlement to bring guests. Reciprocal access to other grounds is a common fifth, though it is more restricted than the marketing suggests.

What is not bundled matters just as much. Finals are frequently carved out. High-demand days are graded. Guest entitlements evaporate when a day sells out. And in cities with more than one stadium, a membership of one ground covers nothing at the other.

The five bodies that sell a cricket membership

They are not the same kind of organisation, which explains why they behave so differently.

The Melbourne Cricket Club is a private club that has managed the MCG since the ground existed, and it runs an intake and a waiting list on club terms. The Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust is a New South Wales statutory body, which is why its membership has a formal application process and a published waitlist fee. The South Australian Cricket Association is the state cricket governing body, and its membership doubles as a stake in the sport in South Australia. The Gabba membership is run around the stadium and its two main tenants. WA Cricket sells a product that deliberately spans two grounds, the WACA Ground and Perth Stadium, because Perth's international cricket moved and its state cricket did not.

For a broader picture of which ground hosts what, the Australian cricket grounds guide covers the venue map that these memberships sit on top of.

Melbourne: the longest queue in Australian sport

The Melbourne Cricket Club is the largest sporting club in the country, with more than 155000 members and roughly 181000 people waiting to join. The club advises anyone nominating today that they should expect to wait at least 41 years.

That is not a rhetorical figure. Recent intakes have elected to Full membership candidates who were nominated on the waiting list during 1994, and have offered Provisional membership to candidates who nominated between May 2009 and March 2010. The queue moves in year-long slices of history.

Joining the list costs a nomination fee of about 150 dollars and requires nomination by two Full members, which is its own barrier. The entrance fee payable across the life of a membership has been about 1210 dollars, paid in instalments as a candidate moves from Provisional to Restricted to Full.

MCC categories, and why the category is everything

Melbourne grades both its members and its match days, and the two grids interact.

Provisional members get the Members Reserve for Category 2 and 3 match days and have limited or no access to the highest-demand fixtures. Restricted members get all AFL home, away and finals matches except the Grand Final, and all international and domestic cricket. Full members get everything, including the Grand Final and every day of the Boxing Day Test, plus better visitor entitlements and access to the Long Room. Long-service categories exist for 50-year members at a reduced subscription.

The practical consequence is blunt. A Provisional membership is not a Boxing Day membership. If the reason you are joining is to walk into the MCG on 26 December, the category that delivers that is decades further down the queue than the one you will first be offered.

• Annual subscription
• Once-off joining fee

Melbourne Cricket Club Full9381210

Gabba adult6361272

WA Cricket new member6200

SACA Full455320

Amounts published for a recent season in Australian dollars, rounded. The first series is the recurring annual subscription for the standard adult category; the second is the once-off entrance or joining fee where one applies. These are list prices, not quotes, and every association resets them annually.

Show the numbers

Published annual subscriptions and joining costs by association

Item	Annual subscription	Once-off joining fee
Melbourne Cricket Club Full	938	1210
Gabba adult	636	1272
WA Cricket new member	620	0
SACA Full	455	320

Sydney: the Trust, the waitlist and the newer products

The SCG membership is administered by the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust, and unlike Melbourne it has a published, low-cost way onto the list.

Applying to the waitlist has cost about 50 dollars, with an annual fee near 30 dollars to remain listed, renewed each December. Waitlist candidates are given a small entitlement of complimentary tickets to one event a year, which is more than most queues offer. The wait has been described as running to roughly 14 years from the year of application, far shorter than Melbourne's.

When an offer arrives there is a one-off entrance fee and then an ongoing annual subscription, historically in the hundreds of dollars. The Trust has also released a set of newer Sporting Club of Sydney products across several tiers, which is the modern pattern across Australian stadium membership: a traditional queue for the historic membership, and a set of paid products alongside it for people who would rather not wait.

Sydney's members enclosure is the one where the heritage matters most. The Members Stand and the Ladies Stand are both listed, which is part of what the subscription is buying and part of why the dress regulations are enforced the way they are.

Adelaide: SACA and the entrance fee

South Australia's membership is the most transparently priced of the five, and the cheapest recurring subscription among the major cricket memberships.

Recent published figures put Full membership near 455 dollars a year, country membership near 400 dollars, junior membership near 240 dollars, an adult reserved-seat membership near 615 dollars and a junior reserved seat near 400 dollars. A separate Big Bash-only membership has been sold near 240 dollars for adults and 55 dollars for juniors. A transferable associate card, which lets someone else use the entitlement, has been offered near 535 dollars.

The once-off entrance fee of about 320 dollars is payable when membership is offered and is waived for junior members, which makes signing up a child materially cheaper than signing up yourself later.

SACA membership admits you to the ground and the members enclosure in the Western and Riverbank stands for Cricket Australia international and domestic cricket at Adelaide Oval, including the Test, one-day internationals, the Big Bash and Sheffield Shield matches. Children and grandchildren of members aged nine or under have entered free when accompanied by the member.

Joining the SACA waitlist has cost a once-off 40 dollars with no ongoing waitlist fee. The board sets the size of each year's intake in August, which means the association itself does not publish a wait estimate.

Brisbane: the Gabba, and a separate private club

Brisbane's membership is priced as a joining fee plus an annual fee, and it is the clearest example of a membership sold on a two-code year.

Recent published pricing was 1272 dollars to join and 636 dollars a year for an adult, 636 and 318 for a junior aged 12 to 17, and 318 and 159 for a child aged 4 to 11. Categories have been sold out with a waitlist rather than open for immediate purchase.

Coverage has included all Cricket Australia fixtures at the Gabba, Queensland Bulls Sheffield Shield home matches, Brisbane Heat Big Bash home games and Brisbane Lions AFL home-and-away matches, plus the Members Reserve, reserved seating you select yourself, three air-conditioned bars and the Members Dining Room. Members have been able to buy up to three guest cards plus daily guest tickets subject to availability.

Separately, the Queensland Cricketers' Club is a private social club founded in 1959 on the third level of the Gabba's northern stand. It is a different organisation with its own memberships, dining and ticket entitlements, and it is not the same thing as the ground membership.

Perth: one membership, two grounds

Western Australia's cricket split its home across two venues when international cricket moved to Perth Stadium while state cricket stayed at the WACA Ground, and the membership was rebuilt to span both.

The All Access product has covered men's Tests and one-day internationals at Perth Stadium, all Perth Scorchers Big Bash matches, and all Western Australian state cricket including Sheffield Shield, the one-day cup and Women's National Cricket League fixtures. It has included an air-conditioned members lounge at the stadium and access to the members lounge, Boundary Room and bar at the WACA Ground, along with discounts on food, beverage, merchandise and facility hire, and complimentary ground tours.

Pricing announced for 2026-27 was near 620 dollars for new members and near 520 dollars for renewals. Perth's memberships have also been sold in a window rather than continuously, closing during the season and reopening in July, which is a scheduling trap for anyone who decides in November that they want one.

Hobart, Canberra and everywhere else

The five associations above are not the whole country. Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory both host international cricket in some summers and both host domestic cricket every year, and their state and territory bodies sell their own membership products on a smaller scale.

The rule of thumb outside the big five is that memberships are cheaper, queues are shorter or non-existent, and the entitlement is narrower because there is less cricket to admit you to. If your home ground is Bellerive or Manuka, the membership question is much less financially consequential than it is in Melbourne, because a general admission ticket is easier to get and the number of days on offer is smaller.

What general admission actually costs

The comparison only works if the other side of it is priced honestly.

Entry-level adult general admission for men's internationals has started near 30 dollars for several consecutive summers, with children from about 10 dollars. Women's internationals have started lower again. Big Bash entry has typically sat in the mid-twenties for adults with heavily discounted child tickets and early-bird pricing before the season. And Sheffield Shield and most domestic one-day cricket at the major grounds is free to attend with no ticket at all.

That last point deserves emphasis, because it removes the strongest single argument for a membership. If what you want is to watch first-class cricket in Australia in a mostly empty ground, you can already do that for nothing.

The break-even sum

The useful calculation is not clever, but almost nobody does it before joining.

Take the annual subscription. Divide it by what you would otherwise pay per day. Then count honestly how many days you attended last year, not how many you intended to.

Membership	Recent annual subscription	Once-off joining or entrance fee	Break-even at about 30 dollars a day	Typical honest attendance
Melbourne Cricket Club Full	About 938 dollars	About 1210 dollars over time	About 31 days	Reached only by counting AFL
Gabba adult	About 636 dollars	About 1272 dollars	About 21 days	Reached only by counting AFL
WA Cricket new member	About 620 dollars	None published	About 21 days	Cricket plus Big Bash plus Shield
SACA Full	About 455 dollars	About 320 dollars	About 15 days	Cricket plus Big Bash plus AFL
SACA junior	About 240 dollars	Waived	About 8 days	Achievable on cricket alone

The junior row is the one worth staring at. Junior and child memberships are priced at a fraction of the adult rate, frequently have the entrance fee waived, and put a person in the queue decades early. Whatever the merits of buying one for yourself, buying one for a child is the version of this decision that is most likely to pay.

Reserved seats, and why members keep upgrading

The standard members entitlement in most Australian grounds is access to an enclosure, not a specific seat. On a quiet day that is generous. On day one of an Ashes Test it means arriving hours early or standing.

Every association therefore sells a reserved-seat upgrade, and it is the most common thing members add after their first busy summer. SACA's adult reserved seat has been priced near 615 dollars against 455 dollars for standard Full membership. Gabba membership has included seat selection. Perth's All Access has offered a reserved-seat upgrade as an option.

If your reason for wanting a membership is comfort on the big days rather than access on the quiet ones, budget for the upgrade from the start rather than treating it as an extra.

Guest passes and taking someone with you

Guest entitlements are where membership categories differ most and where members most often get caught out.

The common structures are a fixed number of transferable guest cards issued for the season, daily guest tickets purchasable subject to availability, and in some cases a transferable associate card that lets another named person use the membership when you do not. SACA has sold a transferable associate card as an add-on. The Gabba has allowed up to three guest cards. Melbourne grades visitor entitlements by category, with Full members getting the widest rights.

The consistent limitation across all five: guest access is the first thing suspended when a match day is expected to fill. Do not promise anyone a seat on Boxing Day or a New Year's Test on the strength of a guest entitlement.

Reciprocal rights between grounds

Reciprocal access is real, and it is smaller than it looks in a brochure.

Gabba membership has carried reciprocal rights to interstate Test venues plus Accor Stadium and Marvel Stadium, and internationally to Lord's, The Oval, Eden Park and Sky Stadium. WA Cricket publishes a reciprocal rights document each season. SACA maintains its own list.

In practice reciprocal rights are capped in number, usually require you to write ahead and be approved, and are typically excluded for the fixtures anybody would actually plan a trip around. Treat them as a pleasant way to see a Shield match in another state, not as a substitute for a ticket to a Test.

Dress regulations in the members

The enclosures have rules and the gates enforce them.

The general standard across Australian members reserves is neat casual: no singlets, no torn clothing, no thongs, and closed footwear in the more formal rooms. Dining rooms and the older pavilions apply stricter standards again, and the Melbourne and Sydney pavilions are the strictest in the country. Sporting apparel that would be unremarkable in the public bowl is regularly refused in a members dining room.

Each ground publishes its own regulations, room by room, and they are not identical. If you are travelling on reciprocal rights to an unfamiliar ground, read that ground's regulations rather than assuming your home ground's rules travel with you.

Where the Big Bash sits

Big Bash coverage is the most inconsistent part of Australian cricket membership and the one most worth checking before you pay.

Ground memberships have generally covered the home club's matches at that ground. Gabba membership has covered Brisbane Heat home games, WA Cricket has covered the Perth Scorchers, SACA has covered Big Bash at Adelaide Oval. What they do not cover is the same competition played somewhere else, which matters enormously in Melbourne and Sydney where two clubs share a city and the fixtures are split across grounds.

Finals are the second gap. A membership that covers a home-and-away season does not automatically cover a final, and several associations sell finals separately. And because associations also sell cheap Big Bash-only memberships, a supporter whose interest is entirely the short format is usually better served by that product than by a full membership. The Big Bash League club pages and the Women's Big Bash League guide are the place to work out which club plays where before you buy.

• 155000MCC members
• 181000MCC waiting list
• 41Minimum MCC wait in years
• 14Approximate SCG wait in years

Figures published by the associations for recent seasons. The waiting-list counts are club-reported totals and the wait length at Melbourne is the club's own published guidance, not a guarantee.

Women's cricket, Shield cricket and the free days

One argument for membership that survives the arithmetic is access to the cricket that nobody queues for.

Sheffield Shield, most men's and women's domestic one-day cricket and Women's National Cricket League fixtures are free to attend at the major grounds. A membership does not get you in cheaper, because you were already getting in for nothing. What it gets you is the enclosure: a bar, shade, a toilet queue of four people rather than forty, and somewhere to leave a bag during a five-hour session.

For anyone who genuinely watches domestic cricket, that comfort is the honest justification for the subscription, and it is a better one than the Test match days that everyone cites and few members actually attend in full.

What happens to a membership you stop using

Australian ground memberships are annual subscriptions, and the consequence of not paying one is not always what people expect.

Lapsing usually means losing the membership itself, not just the season. At clubs with a long queue that is a serious loss, because the entrance fee has already been paid and the decades already served. Most associations therefore run a leave-of-absence or non-financial category that lets a member pause for a season for a reduced fee while retaining their place and their years of service. It is designed for people who move interstate, go overseas or have a year where they simply will not attend.

Long service is rewarded rather than merely recorded. Melbourne's 50-year categories carry a materially reduced subscription along with priority entry, a dedicated seating area and enhanced visitor entitlements, and a 50-year social category exists for members who want a smaller commitment while keeping the connection. Several other associations have their own life or long-service tiers.

Memberships are also generally personal rather than property. They are not freely sold or bequeathed, which is why transferable associate cards exist as a paid add-on rather than as a right. If you are joining a queue on behalf of a family, put the family member's name on it from the beginning rather than assuming it can be handed over later.

Which one should you buy

Buy general admission if you attend one to four days a summer, if you want to choose between grounds, if you go with people who are not members, or if you are unsure. Nothing is lost by waiting, and the entry-level day ticket is genuinely cheap by international standards.

Join a waitlist now if you live in the city and think you might want the membership in a decade. Waitlist fees are small, the clock only runs once you are on the list, and at Melbourne the clock runs for four decades. Put a child on a junior membership if the association offers one with the entrance fee waived.

Buy the membership outright if you already attend the football at the same ground, if you would use the enclosure on domestic days, and if you have run the break-even sum and it clears. If the sum does not clear and you want the membership anyway, that is a legitimate decision about belonging rather than value, and it is worth naming it as such rather than pretending the numbers work.

Mistakes people make

Assuming the first membership offered covers the biggest day. It usually does not, especially in Melbourne where match-day categories exclude junior member categories from the fixtures with the most demand.

Assuming a membership covers the whole competition. It covers one ground.

Assuming guest entitlements will be available when you want them. They are withdrawn precisely when demand is high.

Missing the sales window. Perth's memberships close during the season and reopen mid-year, which catches people who decide in December.

Forgetting the entrance fee. SACA's is about 320 dollars, Melbourne's about 1210 dollars, the Gabba's joining fee about 1272 dollars. Those are real costs that the annual subscription figure hides.

And letting the waitlist fee lapse. Sydney's waitlist carries an annual renewal, and dropping off after eight years means starting again.

Where to go next

If the answer here was general admission, the practical follow-ups are the ground guides and the viewing options. If it was membership, the next question is usually which state's cricket you are actually buying into, which is a different subject from which stadium you sit in.

For the structure of the game those memberships fund, see cricket in Australia. For the summer's fixtures and how to follow them, see how to watch cricket in Australia. For the wider Australian sport picture, start at Australia. And if the reason you are considering a membership is the women's game, the two pages worth reading first are the women's cricket pathway in Australia and the Women's National Cricket League, because the competition your membership admits you to for free is the one most people have never watched.