Demons outline plan to lure MCC members

[doowaa]

Good news for the Dees

Nice to see a Vic club taking a proactive approach instead of relying on handouts, though Melbourne are lucky they have this resource right on their doorstep.

Most Melbourne clubs already have an agreement with the MCC. Hawthorn costs $160 - absolute rip off (I effectively am paying $80 each time we are at telstra dome) and paying 4 times what demons are, while tigers is $120 = 3 x demons price.
You have to wonder about the point of the membership tally????

 

[demon koala]

we've always had the option to take out a premium MCC/MFC membership that was around $160.00 I think. Or any other of the MFC membership packages. This year MCC members have the option of the premium membership or the $40 one. Both count towards out official membership tally. My dad hasn't renewed his membership yet and got a letter during the week encouraging him to do so and stating that at the end of march the club is going to do a mass mailout to all MCC members who have inticated that they are dees supporters that don't have memberships detailing the 2 membership options.

I know alot of MCC members who aren't melbourne members and I'll be getting on to them about signing up for this

 

[DeeHughMan]

Well duh, you don't reckon that's because your opponent brings along a few supporters with them? That's why I said interstate teams, because obviously they don't bring along the same numbers of fans with them.

That's why I don't get this concept that there are tens of thousands of MCC members that are Melbourne supporters - if that were true, while that wouldn't reflect in the Melbourne membership, it would most certainly reflect in higher crowds to MCG matches. It doesn't. Melbourne's crowds against interstate teams are right down there in the bottom echelon of the league, because MCC members simply do not rock up to support Melbourne. This proves 1 of 2 things - either there is already a huge chunk of Melbourne members that are MCG members (i.e they can't show up on both their MFC and MCC membership), or it's a complete myth that there are big numbers of serious MFC supporters that are MCC but not MFC members.

melbourne get pretty decent crowds to west coast, sydney, crows. not great ones to port or freo but they have virtually no supporters in melbourne. we still get over 30,000. to those games in the last couple of years. melbourne allways get good crowds at the G.

how many games have you been to at the G. the ground can often look quite empty when there is 35,000 people there. that is a bigger crowd than games at the dome.

it is no myth there is a big chunk of mcc supporters prob 15,000 who will sit in the mcc rain hale or shine for melbourne games.

 

[MarkT]

I wonder if the MCC problem is the main reason why Essendon moved to Toilet Dome. That way you can sell your members a high-end club membership instead of having them sit on the northern wing of the MCG and get nothing.

I can almost understand why clubs don't play more games at the MCG when I think about that. If only TD was cheaper to run.

Collingwood sell a lot of high end memberships. Social Club, Captains and Legends memberships and the like. Social club doesn’t include a reserved seat but you can add on. Captains and Legends include a seat. Essendon would have been in the same boat as Collingwood I would imagine. They got a good financial deal to go to TD and I am told also a guarantee that their deal can’t be bettered for anyone else. If TD had to offer more to get anyone else they would have to up the anti for Essendon. Whether the MCC would have offered better I don’t know but they don’t really have to. They have the lion’s share of Collingwood games and they get the big Essendon games anyway.

$40 for MFC from MCC members is $40 more in many cases than they presently get but it seems an exercise in bloating numbers more than anything to me. If many of the 3,000 current full MCC/MFC members reduce to the $40 package it could even cost MFC money.

 

[DeeHughMan]

Collingwood sell a lot of high end memberships. Social Club, Captains and Legends memberships and the like. Social club doesn’t include a reserved seat but you can add on. Captains and Legends include a seat. Essendon would have been in the same boat as Collingwood I would imagine. They got a good financial deal to go to TD and I am told also a guarantee that their deal can’t be bettered for anyone else. If TD had to offer more to get anyone else they would have to up the anti for Essendon. Whether the MCC would have offered better I don’t know but they don’t really have to. They have the lion’s share of Collingwood games and they get the big Essendon games anyway.

$40 for MFC from MCC members is $40 more in many cases than they presently get but it seems an exercise in bloating numbers more than anything to me. If many of the 3,000 current full MCC/MFC members reduce to the $40 package it could even cost MFC money.

why does everyone else keep saying that. it would just more accurately reflect the the support melbourne has. it would just make the mcc members who go to the games every week feel like they are as an important part of the club as they are.

the mfc is unique in half of there supporters who go to the games each week have no real recognition as supporters. so therefore it would unite the two parts of the supporter base. the mfc half and the mcc half. yes the $40 is nominal.

 

[plough]

MCC have taken advantage of this for years. If the membership only included cricket games then the demand for membership would be much lower, and they would not get away with the increases to membership.

It would nice to see them offer a membership package that allowed nomination of a particular club with that club receiving a small proportion of the fee. Put the fee up $50 and the club gets $100.

Would not like to see any preferential finals ticketing however.

Essendon also has a very large MCC membership and would benefit from the arrangement.

 

[MarkT]

why does everyone else keep saying that. it would just more accurately reflect the the support melbourne has. it would just make the mcc members who go to the games every week feel like they are as an important part of the club as they are.

No issue with that but the real matter of substance is financial return. Membership numbers are one thing but they are a means to an end. The real test of this initiative is net membership receipts.

the mfc is unique in half of there supporters who go to the games each week have no real recognition as supporters. so therefore it would unite the two parts of the supporter base. the mfc half and the mcc half. yes the $40 is nominal.

As time goes on the MCC membership will more accurately reflect the general AFL supporter base proportions. The MCC has changed and applications don’t just come from the traditional base any more. I am not a member or a Melbourne supporter but I put both my kids down. There are many in the same boat.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

No issue with that but the real matter of substance is financial return. Membership numbers are one thing but they are a means to an end. The real test of this initiative is net membership receipts. As time goes on the MCC membership will more accurately reflect the general AFL supporter base proportions. The MCC has changed and applications don’t just come from the traditional base any more. I am not a member or a Melbourne supporter but I put both my kids down. There are many in the same boat.

Absolutely correct. The Melbourne supporters in the MCC are generally the older members. As they die off and get replaced by your kids, the mix will change more in line with across-the-board club support. Before too long the MCC will be a sea of black and white.

 

[DeeHughMan]

Absolutely correct. The Melbourne supporters in the MCC are generally the older members. As they die off and get replaced by your kids, the mix will change more in line with across-the-board club support. Before too long the MCC will be a sea of black and white.

i agree with you that the collingwood supporter base will increase. but the essendon base is decreasing because of there move to the dome. queens birthday dees supporters still out number the pies 2-1. the mcc is not recent is it? neither are the pies or dees. it might take a hundred year for there to be as many mcc pies supporters as dees supporters. the mcc is not cheap and the supporter base reflects the background of the supporters who go for each team. hence the range rover, ski jokes for the dees

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

the mcc is not recent is it?

No, but the "sign up your kids" philosophy - even if you're not a member yourself - is a pretty new phenonemon - probably 10- 20 years. Its only since the era of ground rationalisation that its become worthwhile (or more worthwhile) for these people to consider going on to the waiting list.

In time - still another 20 years or so - the MCC membership mix will definitely approximate the AFL mix of supporters, or at least the mix of MCC tenants.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Absolutely correct. The Melbourne supporters in the MCC are generally the older members. As they die off and get replaced by your kids, the mix will change more in line with across-the-board club support. Before too long the MCC will be a sea of black and white.

You dont think the elder members also signed up their kids to go on the MCC waiting list.

Most Melbourne clubs already have an agreement with the MCC. Hawthorn costs $160 - absolute rip off (I effectively am paying $80 each time we are at telstra dome) and paying 4 times what demons are, while tigers is $120 = 3 x demons price.
You have to wonder about the point of the membership tally????

I'm pretty sure theyre looking at doing this across all clubs next year.

 

[DeeHughMan]

No, but the "sign up your kids" philosophy - even if you're not a member yourself - is a pretty new phenonemon - probably 10- 20 years. Its only since the era of ground rationalisation that its become worthwhile (or more worthwhile) for these people to consider going on to the waiting list.

In time - still another 20 years or so - the MCC membership mix will definitely approximate the AFL mix of supporters, or at least the mix of MCC tenants.

yeah 25 years to be exact. i agree that the one tenant club (collingwood) mcc mix will increase dramatically in the next few years. but i think the dees base will remain high for financial reasons. it is very easy to sign up. but it is costly when they turn 15 and can become members.

mcc membership is well worth the cost for dees, pies and tigers supporters and if you are a cricket fan that is a bonus.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

You dont think the elder members also signed up their kids to go on the MCC waiting list.

Yes they probably did, but theres more of us out there than sons of surgeons from Kew, so and we'll slowly catch up over the next few decades.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Yes they probably did, but theres more of us out there than sons of surgeons from Kew, so and we'll slowly catch up over the next few decades.

I won't hold my breath.

Melbourne should get to at least 35K (and preferably 40K) members over the next year or two with this initiative and begin competing with the membership heavyweights giving us a better bargaining position with sponsors and the AFL administration.

Combine this with our new training base at Olympic Park right across the road from the MCG instead of being shunted from Junction Oval to suburban/school grounds, the recruiting of Craig Cameron and the administration of Paul Gardiner working with the AFL handouts scheme to eliminate our debt and make us profitable and the MFC is definitely heading in the right direction.

We are a sleeping giant and are ready to pounce on the corpse of the Carlton footy club and usurp their position as one of the big 4 Melbourne clubs.

 

[doppleganger]

yeah 25 years to be exact. i agree that the one tenant club (collingwood) mcc mix will increase dramatically in the next few years. but i think the dees base will remain high for financial reasons. it is very easy to sign up. but it is costly when they turn 15 and can become members.

mcc membership is well worth the cost for dees, pies and tigers supporters and if you are a cricket fan that is a bonus.

MCC membership isn't expensive

cheapest collingwood membership is the 18-game season ticket at $290
social club 18 is $445
legends membership is $740 that gives a reserved seat at all 18 melb games

now that the pies play 15 games a year at the G, there is much more reason for the pies supporters to become an MCC member now then when we were playing our games at vic park and waverley

 

[Demonic Ascent]

now that the pies play 15 games a year at the G, there is much more reason for the pies supporters to become an MCC member now then when we were playing our games at vic park and waverley

Thats true but they still have to wait their turn on the list until the older members die or dont renew. It will be at least a couple of decades before Collingwood has as many MCC members as Melbourne, but having said that if Collingwood had the same initiative in place that we do this year they could boost their membership to 50K, as could Essendon.

 

[Hawkk]

.
We are a sleeping giant and are ready to pounce on the corpse of the Carlton footy club and usurp their position as one of the big 4 Melbourne clubs.

Doubtful

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I won't hold my breath.

Melbourne should get to at least 35K (and preferably 40K) members over the next year or two with this initiative and begin competing with the membership heavyweights giving us a better bargaining position with sponsors and the AFL administration.

Crowds and tv ratings over a long time determine how much clout you have, not Membership artifically boosted by a new $40 "associate membership" category.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

We are a sleeping giant and are ready to pounce on the corpse of the Carlton footy club and usurp their position as one of the big 4 Melbourne clubs.

You'd want to hurry up, Carlton have already hit rock bottom and are beginning the long haul up again. You've done very little usurping so far, and on-field the clock is ticking for the Dees.

 

[dave_27]

i agree with you that the collingwood supporter base will increase. but the essendon base is decreasing because of there move to the dome.

Actually quite the contrary.

Essendons MCC membership base will actually increase quite significantly before it plateaus as the generation who signed up and their their kids during the 90's when we were a tenant of the MCG will come up for membership over the next 15 years.

 

[dave_27]

I
Melbourne should get to at least 35K (and preferably 40K) members over the next year or two with this initiative and begin competing with the membership heavyweights giving us a better bargaining position with sponsors and the AFL administration.

It means squat when your pulling crowds of 20k against interstate sides like Fremantle, Port Adelaide etc.

And sub 20k crowds when your near the bottom.

 

[doppleganger]

Thats true but they still have to wait their turn on the list until the older members die or dont renew. It will be at least a couple of decades before Collingwood has as many MCC members as Melbourne, but having said that if Collingwood had the same initiative in place that we do this year they could boost their membership to 50K, as could Essendon.

in terms of importance to collingwood, they would much rather have the supporters sign up as legends members and get $700 bucks then have them give a $50 donation and have MCC membership

the membership number number isn't important it is the membership revenue

the "collingwood stand" at the g, that has all of level two behind the goals full of reserved seat holders is very important to the woods

another bonus the pies have over other clubs is that our memberships are more expensive because we have more games in melbourne

would be interested to know the price of the most expensive hawthorn membership for instance, doubt be anywhere near $750, because the club sold away its games that it could previously offer

 

[DeeHughMan]

It means squat when your pulling crowds of 20k against interstate sides like Fremantle, Port Adelaide etc.

And sub 20k crowds when your near the bottom.

you been to those games have you

 

[dave_27]

you been to those games have you

I think the more relevent question would be did you?

 

[Mcchawk]

Seriously how many members will actually put the hand in pocket? Me thinks not many. If a range rover driving toorak snob can't afford $120 how are they going to afford $40?