North pushing for 1 home game in Perth

[numchuks]

Hmmmmm, this is one almighty backflip from what Euge said about selling games interstate a few weeks ago:

“We need to change that mindset and get them (supporters) back into being passionate about coming to the game … and I think that if you start selling your home games you start turning people away from Melbourne matches. I reckon we need to give ourselves a decent crack at eleven home games in Melbourne despite the pain, (and) in the long run it may bear fruit. And any selling games as has been seen by North Melbourne is pretty short-sighted, and on one view is a step towards relocation. So it is not part of our business planning to sell games interstate.”

http://roobeauty.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/aroccas-stadium-tiers/

I don't like this idea at all.

Making it a marque fixture means means we'll be locking ourselves into a long term deal to sell a game to Perth every year, and take a home game away from the heartland. This doesn't sound like a short term solution to me. It wont be long before West Coast gets going again, and we'll be handing them over 4 points aswell.

This deal sucks, and goes against everything this admin has stood for in Melbourne. Selling games interstate is the same tired old buisness model the previous admin used to keep this club afloat. Surely we've moved on from that and can find some alternative ideas to bring in the doh.

 

[Giveadogabone]

Wonder what Buckley thinks of this?

 

[conwaynmfc]

all eagles supporters are for this idea

gee, really?

 

[WesternRoo]

I think it would be great.
WCE are struggling anyway, so im not sure why all this talk is about wanting to play Freo more.

Would be great to see the Melbourne based supporters getting over for a weekend and giving it to The WCE fans.

The lack of an idea and the leaving early by a large portion will truly add to some great match day sledging which we are used to!

Its a great vibe in Subi match day and given there is always just one game in town, the build up is always a pretty big deal.

 

[The Filth Wizard]

Woah woah woah. Let's not go saying things that we can't take back.

There's a very loyal SA contingent of North fans. Myself, jozeph, Scottroo, etc. Then you've got posters like Arden and Gabbie up in QLD, Mini-Laidley up in Darwin, etc etc.

Ahem.

Some of us in NSW go alright too.

Loyally, that is.

 

[numchuks]

As a Freo supporter and member this would absolutely suck - essentially 1 extra home game to WCE.....NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shuttup. If you don't like it then give us more and we'll play you instead.

 

[purple hater]

Dont mind North Melbourne heading West - just play Freo rather than WCE

They want to sell it for the money obviously. Why would they sell it to Freo when they can make more money from selling it to West Coast, as more people would go to the game?

 

[Twinkletoes]

Its a great vibe in Subi match day and given there is always just one game in town, the build up is always a pretty big deal.

Apart from the vibe in the carpark after a night game. That has to be THE worst carpark of all major grounds in the AFL thesedays, and I've been to all of the grounds. I can never believe the chaos and gridlock which forms so rapidly following a Subi game!

It's a great suburb though Subi, and a great city.

Originally Posted by numchuks
This deal sucks, and goes against everything this admin has stood for in Melbourne.

I reckon they would've stuck fat to their business plan had 25k+ members turned up for the lower drawing games. I think Euge no likey signing cheques to play games at that joint.

 

[numchuks]

I reckon they would've stuck fat to their business plan had 25k+ members turned up for the lower drawing games. I think Euge no likey signing cheques to play games at that joint.

Euge has flip flopped all over this issue.

When he first came to the club, he had an agenda of not selling any more home games interstate. Then this year he renegged on that agenda, and has been talking about playing in Canberra, Ballarat, Tasmania, Darwin etc. etc. etc And then he ruled out selling games, and finally after all that now he is saying we we will sell games again.

The whole thing is starting to piss me off tbqh!

 

[blackshadow]

Euge has flip flopped all over this issue.

When he first came to the club, he had an agenda of not selling any more home games interstate. Then this year he renegged on that agenda, and has been talking about playing in Canberra, Ballarat, Tasmania, Darwin etc. etc. etc And then he ruled out selling games, and finally after all that now he is saying we we will sell games again.

The whole thing is starting to piss me off tbqh!

The club is a business and business conditions can and do change. I'm sure Eugene hasn't just gone off and come up with this proposal I'm sure this decision has the backing of the board.

On the face of it the decision looks good a great deal as long as it is for one game only.

Most Vic clubs are selling some games - Hawthorn, St Kilda, Bulldogs and Carlton all sell more than one game interstate to shore up their bottom line. It's not ideal but we need to keep our bottom line strong to build our club.

 

[Manbearpig]

If those numbers are correct, do it.

 

[windsock]

A short term solution is precisely what it is windsock, as the current situation with our stadium deal could ruin us, and the solution to it long term is out of our hands. So, while the AFL and Collo's greedy shareholders quibble as we fund their excess, we have a way of offsetting the losses without going cap in hand to the AFL.

Is it a short term solution? How do you know? Once again, the supporters have been left in the dark. If they explain the situation to us and they might be surprised with how we react to it. As I said, there's a lot of trust in this admin - they could just about sell anything to us. But I'd rather hear it from Euge than Hutchy on the Footy Show.

But anyway, my comment about it being a short-term solution was more to do with wondering what our long-term plan is to grow our membership base. Are we developing plans to culivate Werribee? North Ballarat? Broady?

Richmond has a summer training base at Craigieburn. Melbourne has forged a deal with Casey. St Kilda are heading to Frankston. Hawthorn moved their home to Waverley. These are all moves that should reap long-term pay offs. What are we doing?

 

[hotham]

Why not, it's a good idea for the club and a great thing for the WA supporters. Maybe have a Ross Glendinning cup ?

 

[Twinkletoes]

Is it a short term solution? How do you know? Once again, the supporters have been left in the dark. If they explain the situation to us and they might be surprised with how we react to it. As I said, there's a lot of trust in this admin - they could just about sell anything to us. But I'd rather hear it from Euge than Hutchy on the Footy Show.

But anyway, my comment about it being a short-term solution was more to do with wondering what our long-term plan is to grow our membership base. Are we developing plans to culivate Werribee? North Ballarat? Broady?

Richmond has a summer training base at Craigieburn. Melbourne has forged a deal with Casey. St Kilda are heading to Frankston. Hawthorn moved their home to Waverley. These are all moves that should reap long-term pay offs. What are we doing?

All legit questions mate, and you're right on the trust thing. I don't know the answers either, other than the fact we're up to our necks in debt and losses in the current state of play, and we're full steam ahead with the re-development of Arden St as a training base and community facility.

I'm assuming that's our equivalent of those teams who've opted for moves to outer suburbs for better facilities and additional income generation.

The ultimate solution requires the AFL sorting the stadium deals out for all clubs. I can only presume that the board are cognisant of all of those long term issues you raised and that this is a "thinking beyond the square" stop gap measure to offset the leaking of funds for now.

 

[gokangas]

The club is a business and business conditions can and do change. I'm sure Eugene hasn't just gone off and come up with this proposal I'm sure this decision has the backing of the board.

On the face of it the decision looks good a great deal as long as it is for one game only.

Most Vic clubs are selling some games - Hawthorn, St Kilda, Bulldogs and Carlton all sell more than one game interstate to shore up their bottom line. It's not ideal but we need to keep our bottom line strong to build our club.

Sums it up well. circumstances change and we need to change too to meet changing demands.

nobody wants us to sell off a home game but for $650k on (or off) the bottom line it is hard to argue against. effectively that could be our profit for the year.

It is disappointing that it has to happen but we all need to understand why and trust in Euge.

Lets not forget that it hasn't happened yet and the AFL has always refused offers to sell home games into an established AFL market. No guarantee that they will approve this.

 

[Joshen]

Wonder what Buckley thinks of this?

It doesn't matter what Buckley thinks he is not our coach. Or associated with the club at all.

 

[robaba]

The joke is that even if all 30000 members turned up to IdiotHead stadium for our home games, we wouldn't make a cent. What a ripoff.
Geelong get 25000 to Skilled and make $400,000 clear profit.
I'm all for us selling a game to Perth for the benefit of the club.
Make it happen !!! The AFL cannot deny us this right. They have sat on their hands while Collo and Co. ripped us all off.

 

[Limerick]

While we would all like to have North play 11 home games in Melbourne the facts of 2009 shows that we would go out of business if we continue along this path. The current Dome deal will strangle the life out of us. As stated above even getting 30k+ to every home game, we still need the ASD or whatever its called, to do better than break even. This is in a competition where the larger clubs are pulling $500k from one game. We have a current debt of around $3m and another up to $2m coming from the arden St redevelopment.

JB stated at the 2007 meeting that we may have to sell 1-2 games in the short term to get us back on track financially.

The Club does have a challenge in how it presents or sells this to the members.

The reaction from the AFL will be interesting. If they knock us back, then clearly they have us in the gun.

 

[Urmoe]

My main concern is similar to one of Windsock's points. Why gift West Coast another home game?

It may make financial sense but it stinks from a football viewpoint.

 

[RoyalBlue]

We need an offset to the raping we will get for the coming few years at least on stadium deals.

I don't like it, I wish we didn't have to do it, but we are so ****ing far from out of the woods yet.

I do however agree with windsock about the need to just be up front, for **** sake.

You read it here first by the way.

 

[Zvim]

This is what happens when the w***ers don't come out to games. That one year effort doesn't turn things around for our club.

 

[tcwaters]

As a Freo supporter and member this would absolutely suck - essentially 1 extra home game to WCE.....NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dont mind North Melbourne heading West - just play Freo rather than WCE

Sucker.



Anyway, great idea

 

[naturally north]

far out anyone who questions this deal has lost their marbles.!! 1xgame =$600 000 +

I doubt we'll ever make more than $100 000 a game playing Jihad Stadium..ever!! Of course that would be $1.1 mil over a season as home side revenue.

I say a 10 yr deal for $600 000 + , for one game a year is fanbloodytastic. Its one thing selling 3 or 4 games and playing in front of 10 people for a total of 1.2 mil. But a sell out crowd and that amount of cash = SUCCESS!!

 

[snapperbowler]

I would much rather us pursue the idea of playing some home games in Geelong.

We could have North Ballarat playing in the curtain raiser which would hopefully encourage the Ballarat people to attend.

The games would be against interstate teams and I know that Geelong is keen to have other games played down there.

 

[Oneout Oneback]

Yessss. Bring it on.

A great idea. Stuff "The Dome", support WA supporters!

Ticks everywhere on the KPI.