Playing games at Arden St

[numchuks]

Guys, tell me if I completely mad in suggesting this.

But should we consider playing games at Arden St. I mean seriously investigate wether it is feasible or not.

Not for the big stuff, but just the little games where we're guaranteed a small crowd.

Instead of handing over 150k to Collo and the Docklands fat cats, would it be better to put that money into Arden St and play a game there?

Surely it wouldn't cost more then 150k to hire some tempfences, grandstands and some security.

I know from the redevelopment plans, that the new HQ is going to include 2 sets of changerooms and a kiosk and canteen. So that covers catering and changerooms for the umpires/opposition team.

Add in the fences/grandstand and we're basically ready to roll, and anything we make on the day from gatetakings is an added bonus.

Thoughts all?

 

[Flawed Genius]

Just to be sure, you're suggesting playing games at Arden St against teams like Port Adelaide, Fremantle, etc, that we regularily draw poorly against at places like Etihad and the MCG?

 

[Grossy Morrell]

It's a dream that will never happen. I remember StKilda was threatening to play games at Moorrabin a couple of seasons ago too.

 

[Rooboy 96]

Build it and they will come....

 

[Sandgroper35]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it a public oval therefore we would be unable to charge for entry?

 

[Rooboy 96]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it a public oval therefore we would be unable to charge for entry?

just between you and me mate... what they don't know wont hurt them...

 

[Christabella]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it a public oval therefore we would be unable to charge for entry?

Members only then, which should in turn boost the memberships.

I'd be there for sure.

 

[giantroo]

I reckon if history shows we can fit 35k in there, then there is no doubt we can get this thing up and going.

Just add seats and put a fence. Get beer tents, the ladies to do the sausages and we will make profits galore.

 

[ApplecrossWC]

Maybe we could have lucky dips and "guess the amount of jelly beans in the jar" to raise some extra bucks too

 

[robaba]

Could be the cheapest option for other teams too. Close to public transport,
NM sdtation 500 metres away. 25k capacity would be perfect. The AFL should consider this as an option.
20mill max to improve and develop and tell Jihad stadium to go blow themselves up.

 

[Christabella]

Maybe we could have lucky dips and "guess the amount of jelly beans in the jar" to raise some extra bucks too

Maybe some elephant rides too?

 

[roonskins]

Could be the cheapest option for other teams too. Close to public transport,
NM sdtation 500 metres away. 25k capacity would be perfect. The AFL should consider this as an option.
20mill max to improve and develop and tell Jihad stadium to go blow themselves up.

spot on loved the last bit lol

 

[gokangas]

Arden Street is a dead option. Impossible. The only existing option for us is if they bring Princess Park back up to game standard. I hear the AFL is considering that as a real option at the moment.
Forget WA as the AFL has said no and forget Skilled Stadium. The Dome and MCG will change their deals before season's end and this won't be an issue.
The Dome in particular will be paid off with extra games as the new teams come on board.

 

[Limerick]

Arden St Attendances - 1970 - 1985
YEAR--------Total-----Games-Ave per Gm.
1970--------97,437-------9-----10,826
1971------106,610------10-----10,661
1972--------98,596-------9-----10,955
1973------164,682-------9------18,298
1974------164,024------10-----16,402
1975------139,451-------9------15,495
1976------172,278------10-----17,228
1977------148,286-------9------16,476
1978------194,061------10-----19,406
1979------154,522-------8------19,315
1980------169,819-------9------18,869
1981------129,616-------8------16,202
1982------133,211-------8------16,651
1983------142,468-------9------15,830
1984--------60,739-------5-----12,148
1985---------7,341-------1-------7,341

With the development even with temporary fencing etc I doubt we would be able to handle more than 10k-12k and the facilities would be crude by today's standard. However with a members only fully ticketed appproach it might be worth a go to make a point. Even a break even situation would save us $150k assuming that the advertising, food & merchandise sales would cover the costs.

 

[conwaynmfc]

Anyone emailed Euge about it?

 

[numchuks]

Just to be sure, you're suggesting playing games at Arden St against teams like Port Adelaide, Fremantle, etc, that we regularily draw poorly against at places like Etihad and the MCG?

Yes just those two, plus Gold Coast and West Sydney. For Port and Freo it wouldn't be worth it, but with another 2 clubs coming in it means there are 4 clubs we are guranteed to draw low crowds against in Melbourne, which makes it worth looking at.

People talk about the poor crowd we drew against Port, but these are the crowd figures over the past decade:

Port in Melbourne:
2009 - 14,342
2008 - 22,144
2006 - 14,815
2004 - 16,910
2002 - 9,398
1999 - 16,429
1997 - 13,056

Fact is, what we drew against Port on Saturday was actually on par with previous crowds and wasn't historically that bad. As you can see, drawing low crowds against Port Adelaide has been a problem for 13 years. Crowds havn't gotten better in that time, and it's unlikely to improve in another 10 years.

I don't think crowds against port will ever be profitable at Etihad, the soloution is either moving those games to a smaller venue, or keep playing them at Etihad and waiting to go broke.

 

[FrangaRoo]

lol, cant tell if this is a piss take or not.

at best, wishful thinking.

 

[numchuks]

Arden Street is a dead option. Impossible. The only existing option for us is if they bring Princess Park back up to game standard. I hear the AFL is considering that as a real option at the moment.
Forget WA as the AFL has said no and forget Skilled Stadium. The Dome and MCG will change their deals before season's end and this won't be an issue.
The Dome in particular will be paid off with extra games as the new teams come on board.

Everything I have heard suggests that this will be a long legal fight, and it will at least take several years to rectify the stadium deal.

Unless the break even is lowered to 15k, we are still going to be making losses on these Port/Freo/GC/WS games. If a deal is reached at the end of this year, I suspect it will be minimal at best, and not enough to give us complete security.

 

[NMFC ALWAYS]

Guys, tell me if I completely mad in suggesting this.

But should we consider playing games at Arden St. I mean seriously investigate wether it is feasible or not.

Not for the big stuff, but just the little games where we're guaranteed a small crowd.

Instead of handing over 150k to Collo and the Docklands fat cats, would it be better to put that money into Arden St and play a game there?

Surely it wouldn't cost more then 150k to hire some tempfences, grandstands and some security.

I know from the redevelopment plans, that the new HQ is going to include 2 sets of changerooms and a kiosk and canteen. So that covers catering and changerooms for the umpires/opposition team.

Add in the fences/grandstand and we're basically ready to roll, and anything we make on the day from gatetakings is an added bonus.

Thoughts all?

Yeah your mad for suggesting it numchuks , but mad in a good way .

Sad thing is it will never happen .

It would be great if all Vic clubs could still play a few games at their sacred grounds .

 

[alonzo]

Sadly, this is just never going to happen and is totally impractical. The cost to renovate Arden St to an acceptable standard and capacity, will be far too great for the three or four games to be played there. There are also parking issues and the public transport isnt all that great for fans to get there. The new facilities will be ideal for suburban footy, with crowds of up to 2-3 thousand. It will also be a first class AFL training venue, which we have needed for a very long time. What we can play there is our annual intra-club match, which if promoted a bit more heavily amongst the members and given a more friendly start time, can be a useful promotional and fundraising day each pre-season. Imagine a ' Back to Arden St' day once a year;
- first chance to see new recruits for the year
- first game of footy for 4-5 months
- peninsula ladies sausage sizzle
- chance to buy membership and / or merchandise
- game day raffle
- photo and autograph opportunities
- tour through the new facilities
This year we had about 300 people. Why not 2-3 thousand?

 

[giantroo]

Spot on there. If we can promote our intra club game enough and can put on enough promotional activities, we can easily grab 2k+ to the ground.


Can we also try holding the family day there too? The only problem would be the parking.

 

[Jacksy]

For **** sake, we should be using Princes Park. Get the Dogs, Saints, Blues, Dees and hold ALL low-drawing games there.

Stop pissing about with pipedreams. Arden St is a nice ground for a kick with mates, and nothign more. It will never be the ground of my childhood nor will the game.

There's a readymade ground sitting on Royal Ave. Use the ****ing thing and shove it up the stadiums.

I'd rather see Carlton make a small profit than those ***** at at Jihad Stadium get a windfall everytime we play a team no-one in Melbourne gives a shit about!

but that's just me...

 

[Roo-Boy]

I'd rather bring them to Arden St than Princes Park so we can make all the profit instead of Carlton getting some of it.

 

[ansonholt]

For **** sake, we should be using Princes Park. Get the Dogs, Saints, Blues, Dees and hold ALL low-drawing games there.

Stop pissing about with pipedreams. Arden St is a nice ground for a kick with mates, and nothign more. It will never be the ground of my childhood nor will the game.

There's a readymade ground sitting on Royal Ave. Use the ****ing thing and shove it up the stadiums.

I'd rather see Carlton make a small profit than those ***** at at Jihad Stadium get a windfall everytime we play a team no-one in Melbourne gives a shit about!

but that's just me...

My vote goes for this one as well. I have fond memories of watching us beat Carlton there in 1997. It's a very nice stadium, great surface, convenient, and cost-effective. I agree, I'd rather give Carlton some $ just to ensure we also make a profit. Keeps the members happy too, because games are played in Melbourne, not sold to an interstate market that the AFL has to fund in the first place.

 

[Horace]

For **** sake, we should be using Princes Park. Get the Dogs, Saints, Blues, Dees and hold ALL low-drawing games there.

Stop pissing about with pipedreams. Arden St is a nice ground for a kick with mates, and nothign more. It will never be the ground of my childhood nor will the game.

There's a readymade ground sitting on Royal Ave. Use the ****ing thing and shove it up the stadiums.

I'd rather see Carlton make a small profit than those ***** at at Jihad Stadium get a windfall everytime we play a team no-one in Melbourne gives a shit about!

but that's just me...

I'm with you on this Jacksy. Nice idea Arden Street but totally impractical because of all the work required to get it to standard.