Sea eagles no longer screaming

[Dan]

[quote author=clontaago link=topic=177629.msg186796#msg186796 date=1213230133]
[quote author=Corso_Pete link=topic=177629.msg186739#msg186739 date=1213171667]
[quote author=clontaago link=topic=177629.msg186738#msg186738 date=1213168961]
What a membership offer should look like

http://www.carltonfc.com.au/Membership/tabid/4403/default.aspx

So for $70.00 you get the same sort of stuff as Manly and you are not classified as an "official member". It is however a very slick looking website but I guess that what the extra fees go towards supporting.
[/quote]

Over 35,000 members Pete. How many have Manly got?
[/quote]

That was my point, they are selling essentially the same thing, at a higher cost and yet they have around 33,000 more members. What makes Victorians want to be a member of their club?
[/quote]

The management of the clubs have more business Savvy?
Victorians have more money to give?
Victorians are too dumb to realise what they are doing?
It is a tougher time to start a membership program?

 

[Canteen Worker]

Membership of AFL clubs is a time-honoured tradition and culture. Crowds have always been much bigger in all sports than Sydney over 100 years. A good game of Scissor/Paper/Rock gets a crowd of a thousand in Melbourne.  AFL is much more part of the state and city culture than League which competes with a whole lot of other things for support. The fanatics here are small groups whereas in VIC there are so many more. Once in Melbourne whilst I was there they stopped the TV progamme to announce that Gary Ablett had retired. It's all nothing new, though it is important to note that the Melbourne Storm do not enjoy this level of patronage or coverage and should NEWs withdraw their support they wouldn't last three weeks.

 

[Stillman]

If the club is serious about having input from their fans, put me down Vidmar. I don't know what it would be worth but i did just write 11000 words on the thing.

 

[clontaago]

The simple truth is that the AFL memberships are promoted by professionals. There is a lot of focus put on memberships as they realise that this is where a huge chunk of their income comes from.

 

[Corso_Pete]

So do the club spend $120K-$150K pa on employing a marketing professional to  promote the membership scheme? Or as I suspect that NRL supporters simply do not understand what membership means. You only have to read this thread to understand the lethargy involved (by passionate supporters) in becoming financially involved with their club.

It seems to be a classic Catch 22 situation, could a professionally run and marketed membership program generate at least an additional 5000 members, and retain them to make the investment viable. It hasn't in the past, whether that is a reflection of the management of the time or the market to expand the membership base simply does not exist I do not pretend to know nor understand.

What I do understand is that if the readers of this site can find a myriad of excuses to not join and if those reasons are a sample of what the 15000 that attend Brookvale on a regular basis think  then I suspect that a membership base that even gets to 20% of what AFL clubs enjoy will be nothing but a dream. 

 

[Guest]

Maybe you should go and support Souths for a while to get a feel of what it is like to support a club with no hope and no future.  Because unless our supporter base and in fact all NRL supporters as a whole change their attitude in regards to membership to be more in line with AFL clubs/supporters we will be only watching A League/AFL/Union in a decade or two.

Just my thoughts, if you can't afford then so be it.  But if you put a dollar amount on the entertainment value the Manly football club gives you then as stated earlier less than $1 per week is pretty good value.

I did support a club with no hope and no future for 25 years.  They were called Norths.   

Now I am only too happy to pay for 3 season tickets (even though we cannot go to every game) and football membership without complaining.

The reality is that Manly cannot expect Max and Penn to keep putting their money into the football club year after year to cover the annual shortfalls.

I wonder if when they stop their money flow will the supporters then be prepared to put their hand into their packet to help the club financially or will they just walk away and support another club or code?

Just ask a Kings supporter or a Norths supporter or a Newtown supporter what it is like not to be able to follow their teams every weekend in winter.

Don't think that it won't happen to Manly in the future because if they don't have the cash flow then they won't survive. It almost happened once and could easily happen again.      

Our family is paying $500 for a paver at Brookie just to support the club.  

 

[Garts]

We will never get the membership base of a AFL club, it is a completely different culture!!!!!  We could offer memberships with $1 profit for the club and still not crack 10,000 imo, would not even get close as people do not see the point. 

 

[SilentBob]

Do Delmege and Penn pay extra to have their logos all over the jerseys or is it included in their ownership?

 

[Matabele]

Do Delmege and Penn pay extra to have their logos all over the jerseys or is it included in their ownership?

  pay extra.  They get a loot of it back at tax time.

 

[deadlyeagle]

I remember hearing Max ( & i suppose Penn ) stating that if another sponsor came in and offered more to be Manly's Major sponsor then Max would not stand in their way and let them be the major sponsor.

I'm surprised that there hasn't been a great influx of people wanting to be sponsors due to the fact we reached the GF, we have consistently been on Prime time t.v (on a Friday free to air) for last year and most of this year. to be Honest if i had a major business on the Northern peninsula i would see it as a great opportunity (at a fairly modest price i would assume)to show of my business, but that's just me.

With the membership the one thing that holds me back is the fact there is no benefit for the consumer at all especially if you live interstate, that not to say i wont help out the club by donating $100 for the save brooky cause.

 

[Matabele]

If the club is serious about having input from their fans, put me down Vidmar. I don't know what it would be worth but i did just write 11000 words on the thing.

  I gave them my thoughts on membership etc.  Quite a bit of it is in operation - whether that is because they took my thoughts on board or my thoughts were so obvious that they were going to do it anyway, I don't know.

But their online strategy is also very similar to what Dan, Haig and I proposed 3 years ago - though there were a few planks in that scheme that haven't been delivered (eg a full time media person generating daily content).  Might come down to cost.

 

[vidmar]

So Matabele have you renewed membership this year?
If not (And please you don't have to answer if you haven't) I'd be interested why not (eg Lack of value, reduced discretionary spend, can't be arsed, too complicated, "Eagle Budget" spent on match attendance/merchandise etc etc.)

I've just read The Wheels post re the message from David Gallop and the NRL CEO's and the focus on memberships to support the club financially and came back to find this post to re-read it.

I'd be really interested in getting an understanding as to why people don't join (or re-newed) as "Screaming Eagles" or "Football Club" members and also what may change their mind (Getting it for free is not a option?)in considering a purchase in the future.

As I'm guessing the majority of readers/posters on here are pro- Manly and would wish the best for the club and its future I'd be happy for all/any comments?

?
Vidmar

 

[Dan]

I have never joined, I found it somewhat insulting, and these days I don't have the disposable income

 

[vidmar]

G'day Dan

"I have never joined, I found it somewhat insulting, and these days I don't have the disposable income"

Take the point re disposable income - But just interested that you found it insulting - Could you elaborate?

Cheers

 

[Dan]

All political stuff from back in the day of Silvertails mate, not worth dredging up to be honest. It was a personal matter between myself and some members of staff. All water under the bridge these days, but having just purchased a house and all that goes with that, I am living a quiet life at least for the next few weeks until I get back on top of bills and loans

 

[CliffyIsGod]

I joined the first year, but haven't since.

I saving for a house, I don't have the money to spare, when I already attend a hand-ful of games and have a current jersey etc...

It really is hard to justify, unfortunately.

 

[vidmar]

Thanks Dan (Aware re the history you refer to) Cliffy, thanks for getting back and appreciate the feedback.
As mentioned I'm very interested in getting a better picture of what "drives" membership and peoples "buy in"

Stillman - if you read this, I noticed your post earlier re offering to help and I'd be keen to have a chat - I'd also be extremely interested in looking at the results of your research on club memberships? - Can you please email me your contact details to [email protected] ? (If you could let me know when you've done it via this post as i don't use the hotmail account that often)

Cheers

 

[Dan]

Vidmar, are you connected to the club at all?

TBH if I can sneak the money past Leanne I was considering joining this year.

I am in the middle of setting up a shrine to the Sea Eagles in my outdoor bar, but at the moment I only have a Flag, a ball and a little "I am a manly nut" thing I bought at the markets. I would like to keep adding and say I am a member.

One of my website http://www.lpgconversions.org is starting to really ramp up and bring in the dollars at the moment ($140 USD this month alone) so once i have spent what I need to for my other sites I may have the cash, I jsut need sites like this to start making money, because at the moment this one takes all my time, but I get $0 return on it

 

[The Wheel]

Hey vid, might ctach saturday night re this as well?

 

[vidmar]

Hi Wheel, Yes, be good to catch up on Saturday if only to swap details and say a quick G'day so we can have a chat off line?
Dan, re Association with the club - Nope (Apart from being a season ticket holder and Football Club member) But can put you in contact with or point you in the right direction to get membership if need be?
I noticed that you were thinking about heading down to the GC for the game next week - if you do I'd be keen to meet up with you? (I came to this site on a reccomendation from Berkeley Eagle - G'day John, When are we going to see you at Brookie again? (or do you only do finals now? LOL) - and he rated you highly so that is good enough for me?

Cheers
Vid