The SUNdeck Specific Information

Overview

The SUNdeck is a brand-new membership product in 2026. It has been designed to provide a flexible option for SUNS members and fans who would like the ability to sit with friends and family who visit the Gold Coast. 
This requirement was highlighted in the choice modelling research and survey the Club invested in, to assist in developing an updated membership product suite that supports long term growth and sustainability. 

The SUNdeck is not a like for like membership option to the former Level 2 Silver membership, it is a suggested package only, as it is now the only Level 2 membership options with seating attached in the South Western stand at People First Stadium. 

The former Level 2 Silver membership has been discontinued. 
 

Why was this decision made?

• The average member show rates in this membership category were poor. 
  Across 4259 available seats, the Club sold 1326 memberships in this area.
  Of the 1326 memberships sold, the average show rate across the 2025 season was 55.7%. 
  This means on average, 739 members were attending home games across 4259 seats. 
  The 3520 empty seats within this section were then moved to daily ticket sales and sold, more often than not, to opposition supporters. This meant opposition supporters outnumbered home members in our own member bays. 

The highest member show rate ever recorded in this membership area was 77% at the Gold Coast SUNS v Collingwood, Round 16 match in 2024.

In the research piece and survey respondent data – existing members, lapsed members and SUNS ticket purchasers provided the overwhelming feedback that they did not like opposition supporters sitting in Gold Coast SUNS member bays. 

Why are you taking the dedicated reserved seating away and replacing it with seating bays?

• This change is also attributed to member show rates.
• We simply didn’t have enough reserved seat members attend games throughout the season, leaving many seats empty. 
  We often see matches deemed ‘SOLD OUT’ only then to see the crowd number shown on the big screen in the fourth quarter 4000 people short of a sell out – this is due to reserved seat members not showing up.
  Reserved Seat bays allows us to include the benefit of guest passes to the members in these membership categories, in hope that some of those empty seats can be filled with your friends and family and you can sit beside them as opposed to selling the empty seats off to opposition supporters. 

• Across the available SUNdeck sections of 225, 226, 227 and 228 there are approximately 2035 seats. There are currently 1442 members who hold a SUNdeck membership ready for renewal in 2026. Even if there was a 100% member show rate – which has never happened before at ANY AFL Club – there would still be 593 empty seats across the four sections available. 

   

Why are we paying more in 2026?

This is a really fair and valid question. The SUNdeck Membership is seeing the most significant increase in costs across all the membership changes.
The reason for this is based on the research piece the Club invested in, earlier this year. This research included;

1. A review of all AFL Clubs reserved seat and reserved bay pricing.
2. A review of our Club’s Daily Ticket Pricing ie: what the general public pay for seating per game for all seating areas across our stadium
3. And the feedback we received from members regarding what areas of People First Stadium, they deemed as ‘more premium’ seating.
    

• The research across other AFL Clubs showed us that our pricing, as a whole across all reserved seat packages but especially our premium locations was low comparative to market.
• The research into Daily Ticket Pricing showed If you were not a member of the Club and instead chose to purchase tickets into a level 2 premium seat behind the goals for every home game, the average cost last season was $72 per adult ticket sold.
  For quiet and low drawing games this may have been $40 but for a match against Collingwood or Brisbane, these seats were sold for as much as $130 per ticket. 
  At $72 per average ticket across 9 games – the value of the seats alone in Level 2 behind the goals are $648 for 9 home games. In 2025, we were charging $325 for an adult membership in this location. 
  For $450 (adult price) in 2026, we are still providing a significant discount on the value of these seats plus including additional benefits and events including Grand Final Guarantee, an exclusive event for SUNdeck members and other surprise and delight benefits throughout the season.
• Finally, according to the survey result, seats located in the shade and closer to the Western side of the stadium where majority of our SUNS reserved seat bays are located were deemed as the best and most preferred seats in the house.
   

What will section 217 – 224, formerly Silver Level 2 be used for now?

• Section 217 – 223 will be used for Daily Ticket Sales.
• Part of Section 222 will be used for the opposition team’s player enclosure
• Part of Section 223 will be used for Gold Coast SUNS player enclosure
• Section 224 will be used for the Gold Coast SUNS player family reserved bay 

Please note: Daily Ticket Sales are not the same as General Admission. General Admission members and General Admission ticket purchasers will have access to seating on Level 1 only at People First Stadium, subject to availability. 
General Admission members can pay to upgrade their membership and sit in more premium seating if they wish. This comes at an additional cost. 
No general admission member can scan in their membership on game day and sit within sections 217-224.

If you are a former Silver Level 2 member and the SUNdeck is not a suitable membership package for you, you can view all of our other membership options here or you can contact our membership team and we will be happy to provide you with all the available options.