How do we get people to come to games?

[jw1739]

29 minutes ago, Embee said:

They proved that those signings lead to a short term increase, once they both left though their impact had almost no ongoing legacy.

Hardly fair to make that assessment for Villa - he played only two home matches and the club totally botched the whole thing. But in my mind "almost no ongoing legacy" isn't a reason to not keep doing it. To draw big audiences you need top entertainers. In at least most leagues (one possible exception being Germany where they seem to draw huge crowds whatever they do) as soon as a club gets relegated attendances drop, because the quality of entertainment drops. I'm sure that there would be a lot more interest in, focus on and media coverage of City and bigger attendances if we had a big name every season.

Edited November 5, 2019 by jw1739

[Embee]

4 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Hardly fair to make that assessment for Villa - he played only two home matches and the club totally botched the whole thing. But in my mind "almost no ongoing legacy" isn't a reason to not keep doing it. To draw big audiences you need top entertainers. In at least most leagues (one possible exception being Germany where they seem to draw huge crowds whatever they do) as soon as a club gets relegated attendances drop, because the quality of entertainment drops. I'm sure that there would be a lot more interest in, focus on and media coverage of City and bigger attendances if we had a big name every season.

Entertainment isn't solely linked to big players really, or good youth prospects either to be fair. Realistically, relegation is as much about a club not playing at the highest level possible as it is about anything else.

To the last point, perhaps we would, but I also think that same statement would be true if a large portion of our squad were talented youth prospects who were present in a successful team.

The difference for me is that I think you can establish an on-field identity with that kind of approach, and if you're looking to gain a foothold in a market it's a more attractive selling point than 'they have an ex-EPL player come in every year or so', IMO anyway. Having big-name entertainers will have varying degrees of impacts depending on the specific player and their success whilst at the club, where-as a specific approach like the one I'm pitching could actually be seen as quality/attribute of the club itself.

Either way, neither approach will make much difference without sustained on-field success. Victorians love a winner, we see it all the time in the other codes. If City were to win the title this year, our membership/attendances would increase going into the next.

[Mr MO]

So the stats show that attendances peak with signing bigger name players and drop when they leave.

Isn’t that a good enough reason to consistently have one or two on the books? If than the results are going our way I can see the numbers go up. Tells me that that’s what the general public wants to see.

Edited November 6, 2019 by Mr MO

[Dylan]

Only way to success. Bring back Mooy head

[NewConvert]

This isn't a single ingredient thing to fix. There are multiple factors involved that many posters have alluded to. To summarise: the A-League has to lift its game for the whole competition and now that the owners are in charge then we shall see whether this happens; the club needs to have members/football fans invest emotionally by developing youth and keeping players longer (hard task to do but the balance is required); regular signings of big name players so fans of international football can come along although they may not know who the local players are; play attacking football to interest everyone - no more Warren Joyces; and decent promotional activities. So far this season the club has improved in the attractive football stakes and has some promising youth to showcase. The rest needs more work.

[haz]

3 hours ago, Embee said:

Winning is the key really, and not just bits and pieces, but sustained success and proof that you can put your belief and faith into what the club is carrying out on the field.

Establishing an identity from an ON-FIELD

I'd much prefer to see a team full of Metcalfes, Arzanis, Atkinsons and the like to a team full of over the hill VISA's with name value.

Very optimistic of you to think we'll have Visas that can actually make it onto the pitch!

[KSK_47]

Active support is the answer. Or at least a big part of it IMO.

I took loads of people to some dire games during the heart years and no matter what happened on the pitch, if Yarraside was pumping they would always have a blast and want to come back 

[MHFC-FAN]

1 minute ago, KSK_47 said:

Active support is the answer. Or at least a big part of it IMO.

I took loads of people to some dire games during the heart years and no matter what happened on the pitch, if Yarraside was pumping they would always have a blast and want to come back 

Those early Yarraside days were the best! Still don't think we have had an active that has matched the YSB yet... 

[KSK_47]

14 minutes ago, MHFC-FAN said:

Those early Yarraside days were the best! Still don't think we have had an active that has matched the YSB yet... 

Cant comment on current leadership of active, but I can safely say that if it wasnt for the tireless efforts of a handful of people, YSide would never have been what it was. Seriously what that group managed to pull off with the resources they had is staggering.

[MHFC-FAN]

2 minutes ago, KSK_47 said:

Cant comment on current leadership of active, but I can safely say that if it wasnt for the tireless efforts of a handful of people, YSide would never have been what it was. Seriously what that group managed to pull off with the resources they had is staggering.

Very fond memories indeed getting amongst it in the early days! Some of the tifos were epic!! 

[Jovan]

2 things, 

Full strength beer and bratwursts.

 

[mjake1234]

14 hours ago, KSK_47 said:

Active support is the answer. Or at least a big part of it IMO.

I took loads of people to some dire games during the heart years and no matter what happened on the pitch, if Yarraside was pumping they would always have a blast and want to come back 

Active support is very, very high on the list of "what makes a great game day experience".

With this in mind I sent the following email to the club after our first home game on 20th October that contained the following

"..... what a great game experience it was.  This was certainly better than what I have suffered for the last two years.  It was helped by the win of course but was also due to the much more attacking style of football. The entertainment was also a credit to the City Terrace boys.  I do not belong to them (a little past that sort of thing) but they are an asset that should be nurtured and I would hope that the club does all they can to embrace them - maybe a regular meeting with them at Bundoora.  From what it would seem the new club Western United are very committed to their supporter group and have visibly engaged with them."

Guess what - no response

 

However, keep it up Terrace. We love you.

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, mjake1234 said:

Active support is very, very high on the list of "what makes a great game day experience".

With this in mind I sent the following email to the club after our first home game on 20th October that contained the following

"..... what a great game experience it was.  This was certainly better than what I have suffered for the last two years.  It was helped by the win of course but was also due to the much more attacking style of football. The entertainment was also a credit to the City Terrace boys.  I do not belong to them (a little past that sort of thing) but they are an asset that should be nurtured and I would hope that the club does all they can to embrace them - maybe a regular meeting with them at Bundoora.  From what it would seem the new club Western United are very committed to their supporter group and have visibly engaged with them."

Guess what - no response

 

However, keep it up Terrace. We love you.

@mjake1234 My experience is that an e-mail sent to the "general" address  (info@....) is a hit or a miss - a response is not always forthcoming. I have found that the most reliable contact there is the membership section, and Ryan in particular. Never met him in person, but he seems to go out of his way to relate to individual members. His response to me after the loss of my wife was sympathetic and understanding. I do wish that as an entity the club could find that personal touch and embrace its supporters. A reply to your communication was the very least it should do.

[Imtellingyou]

The most people at the stadium are members.  One mentioned proposal is to spend 10mil and build a Barbie stadium where we can fill up half a capacity. Reality is that there is no stadium where we could open grand stand for a regular fixture. We need more supporters of all kinds. 

[thisphantomfortress]

11 minutes ago, Imtellingyou said:

The most people at the stadium are members.  One mentioned proposal is to spend 10mil and build a Barbie stadium where we can fill up half a capacity. Reality is that there is no stadium where we could open grand stand for a regular fixture. We need more supporters of all kinds. 

In what world do you think we can build a stadium for $10m?!

[n i k o]

52 minutes ago, thisphantomfortress said:

In what world do you think we can build a stadium for $10m?!

To understand that you have to live in @Imtellingyou world

[thisphantomfortress]

11 minutes ago, n i k o said:

To understand that you have to live in @Imtellingyou world

A terrifying and strange place no doubt

[jw1739]

Discussion of this subject here: https://forum.insidesport.com.au/2728512/Football-ball-stadium-build-costs

I see three main issues: the insistence, up to now at least, of whoever owns a stadium and organizations such as FFA, on stadiums being built with all the bells and whistles; high relative construction costs in Australia (if it can be proven but it seems to be popular wisdom), and simply not a good enough business case for a club to build its own stadium to host 12-13 matches in a six-month season.

We need a quantum shift in the thinking around football in this country. Until we get that most clubs will be saddled with paying to hire stadiums with gold-plated add-ons that are far too big which State Government fuck-wits will continue to build and own.

[haz]

1 hour ago, thisphantomfortress said:

In what world do you think we can build a stadium for $10m?!

Slaves, lots and lots of slaves. Dodgy concrete, cardboard and some of the lads in-charge of Sydney's apartment buildings. Oh, and a hint of neglect for human rights.

Edited November 6, 2019 by haz

[thisphantomfortress]

11 minutes ago, haz said:

Slaves, lots and lots of slaves. Dodgy concrete, cardboard and some of the lads in-charge of Sydney's apartment buildings. Oh, and a hint of neglect for human rights.

Oh so the Qatar world cup bid? 

[haz]

24 minutes ago, thisphantomfortress said:

Oh so the Qatar world cup bid? 

Nah I was referring to *insert international sport tournament* in *insert Arab country*.

[kingofhearts]

Some of you people are crazy

Building a new stadium won't solve the problem. Sure, a smaller stadium will cost the club less to run in the long run but won't solve the problem of attracting more fans. FWIW too aami park is a great stadium, I see no reasons to move from their.

The only way to attract more fans is through success. Anytime that this club has had a continued run of wins or some success during the regular season, we manage to fuck it up somehow. A demoralising loss or an underwhelming performance, book one of the two in anytime this club gets on some type of good run of form. Even though a club like Sydney may not be selling out every game with all the success they have had, they have still been getting more than reasonable crowds due to their success.

Big money marquees will add a temporary boost to attendances, but the only long term sustainable option to crowd success is to build a successful football club. Hopefully the club is now turning the corner with mombarts as our coach but oh boy, have I been sucked in before by this lot 

This club has either fucked up/ had  so much change to it since it's inception (Forarali saga, running the club on a shoestring budget, colour changes, tying the longest record in Australian sports without winning a game) that the only identity with been able to consistently have is the identity of always disappointing when any type of expectation is put on us. As much as I hate the vistors they have been constantly successful as a club throughout most of their history and a large fan base has also followed (them also being the only team in Melbourne for a while may have also helped them corner the market but continued success has brought back their fans constantly)

ATM on the field we are doing well, but we need to put together more consistency to bring more fans to our games.The FFA can also take some responsibility because any cunt who thought it would be a good idea to schedule games late on a sunday is a muppet. 4 and 6pm kick offs before a work day? Get outta here. 

TL:DR: Win more games=more fans

Edited November 6, 2019 by kingofhearts

[citypool]

The thing with Sydney as well is now they have the derby with wsw which is really the biggest game in a league calendar I really want to see the Melbourne derby reach that level 

[playmaker]

Ibrahimovic will sell out our first 5 games at least.

He would sell out every away game.

Rough math and feel free to correct.

Atm we get 7000 per game therefore total home game attendances for the season is about 90 000.

5 x sellout (30 000) = 150 000

Plus at least double our current crowd numbers for the rest of the season

home games = 8 x 15 000

= 120 000

Total home game crowd for the season

= 270 000

That's 180 000 increase.

Plus

Nearly every away game would be a sellout so add 150 000 for the season.

Let's put a $ figure on it at $30 per attendee

Revenue increases by $5.4 million for home games

Away games an increase of $4.5 million 

So basically there is a $10 million increase per season not including merchandise and other revenue making auxiliaries.

So we get him for 2 seasons and so there would be an increase in opportunity to maximise new regular attendees which would boost membership for the longer term.

I think I am being quite conservative with the figures but it would be a win win for MCFC and the FFA.

 

[bt50]

7 hours ago, playmaker said:

Ibrahimovic will sell out our first 5 games at least.

He would sell out every away game.

Rough math and feel free to correct.

Atm we get 7000 per game therefore total home game attendances for the season is about 90 000.

5 x sellout (30 000) = 150 000

Plus at least double our current crowd numbers for the rest of the season

home games = 8 x 15 000

= 120 000

Total home game crowd for the season

= 270 000

That's 180 000 increase.

Plus

Nearly every away game would be a sellout so add 150 000 for the season.

Let's put a $ figure on it at $30 per attendee

Revenue increases by $5.4 million for home games

Away games an increase of $4.5 million 

So basically there is a $10 million increase per season not including merchandise and other revenue making auxiliaries.

So we get him for 2 seasons and so there would be an increase in opportunity to maximise new regular attendees which would boost membership for the longer term.

I think I am being quite conservative with the figures but it would be a win win for MCFC and the FFA.

 

I think you're grossly overstating the impact Ibrahimovic would have on attendances tbh, but then again its a hypothetical so there's no way really to prove that.

That's not to say it might not be a worthwhile exercise, but i do think those numbers are a bit pie in the sky tbh.

[Hanz]

Although I agree that big name marquees would only act as a short term sugar hit i think we really do need a few hits to get back on track.

also just bring back red and white, I was able to convince 8 friends to come along Friday night which hasn’t happened since we all went to heart games!

[MHFC-FAN]

34 minutes ago, Hanz said:

Although I agree that big name marquees would only act as a short term sugar hit i think we really do need a few hits to get back on track.

also just bring back red and white, I was able to convince 8 friends to come along Friday night which hasn’t happened since we all went to heart games!

Shit, there seems to be anticipation for the game tomorrow. Prepare for us to collapse like a house of cards whenever there's a sniff of expectation... 

[fensaddler]

2 hours ago, MHFC-FAN said:

Shit, there seems to be anticipation for the game tomorrow. Prepare for us to collapse like a house of cards whenever there's a sniff of expectation... 

Dead right, I'm really looking forward to it. Fingers crossed the team does the business on the pitch. 

[n i k o]

11 hours ago, playmaker said:

Ibrahimovic will sell out our first 5 games at least.

He would sell out every away game.

Rough math and feel free to correct.

Atm we get 7000 per game therefore total home game attendances for the season is about 90 000.

5 x sellout (30 000) = 150 000

Plus at least double our current crowd numbers for the rest of the season

home games = 8 x 15 000

= 120 000

Total home game crowd for the season

= 270 000

That's 180 000 increase.

Plus

Nearly every away game would be a sellout so add 150 000 for the season.

Let's put a $ figure on it at $30 per attendee

Revenue increases by $5.4 million for home games

Away games an increase of $4.5 million 

So basically there is a $10 million increase per season not including merchandise and other revenue making auxiliaries.

So we get him for 2 seasons and so there would be an increase in opportunity to maximise new regular attendees which would boost membership for the longer term.

I think I am being quite conservative with the figures but it would be a win win for MCFC and the FFA.

 

I think the bolded parts are far from conservative. In fact those bolded parts you have completely maximised the impact he will have. There isn't anything conservative about it. I'd agree with your figure of 15k for home games though. We may even get more. But interest will most certainly drop off somewhat as well. I always prefer to use the theory of underestimate/overestimate your figures. 

[Imtellingyou]

Reader's digest is that we, obviously, don't need a better stadium or in better location.  This season is probably the last chance for CFG to get any traction. If we don't win it then United will become 2nd club in the city. Even without Wazza and with good results, attendance is not getting any better. 

Anyway, if they can sell another Mooy, they won't be concerned about (no) public. 

[playmaker]

56 minutes ago, n i k o said:

I think the bolded parts are far from conservative. In fact those bolded parts you have completely maximised the impact he will have. There isn't anything conservative about it. I'd agree with your figure of 15k for home games though. We may even get more. But interest will most certainly drop off somewhat as well. I always prefer to use the theory of underestimate/overestimate your figures. 

I think it is realistic.

First 5 home games should be sold out where football and non-football people would attend for the novelty to see a world football megastar and in light of the fact that Melbourne embraces sport like we do. As for the other teams around the country and seeing they will only have one opportunity to see him, I think they would definitely sell out their games.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that there would be a greater upside rather than downside to this scenario in 3 ways

1. MCFC membership 

2. Promotion of the game

3. The direct and indirect financial gain for both clubs, FFA and media.

I think the revenue from such a scenario would be closer to $20 million per season in total.

How much would we need to pay him, $3-8 million per season? Even at 10 It still works in our favour once the wage is split between MCFC, FFA and Fox.

[MHFC-FAN]

2 hours ago, fensaddler said:

Dead right, I'm really looking forward to it. Fingers crossed the team does the business on the pitch. 

Well if we continue our historical trends we will flop against the mariners. However if we were to beat them then we just might be slowly but finally changing our course of history... 

I certainly wish for the latter however, after witnessing this team fail in these occasions over the past 10 years I can't say I'm overly confident. 

[n i k o]

1 hour ago, playmaker said:

I think it is realistic.

First 5 home games should be sold out where football and non-football people would attend for the novelty to see a world football megastar and in light of the fact that Melbourne embraces sport like we do.

You don't think that interest would wear off over the course of the 5 home games? And furthermore you think expecting the maximum capacity of crowd every game is realistic and conservative? You're looking at the best case scenario. That's not what being conservative is about at all. 

There's no room for error in your model for Zlatan to come here and be a good investment. 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2019 by n i k o

[Jovan]

I think there is more chance to sign Messi than Zlatan.

And that would be zero.

[playmaker]

2 hours ago, n i k o said:

You're looking at the best case scenario

 

3 hours ago, playmaker said:

I think it is realistic

 

[n i k o]

27 minutes ago, playmaker said:

 

 

Best case: based on a projection of future events that assumes only the best possible circumstances

Realistic: having/showing a sensible and practical idea of what can be achieved or expected.

 

[Dylan]

Just on the stadium thing. WU is going to cost around 180mil apparently. Man city got 10mil for Mooy, so that’s around 18mil AUD. So I don’t think the stadium idea is that farfetched 

[jw1739]

IMO it's realistic to suggest that a David Villa type marquee such as Zlatan would push our home attendances up to the 15,000 mark, and not beyond that at the present time except for home derbies.

[NewConvert]

18 hours ago, playmaker said:

Ibrahimovic will sell out our first 5 games at least.

He would sell out every away game.

Rough math and feel free to correct.

Atm we get 7000 per game therefore total home game attendances for the season is about 90 000.

5 x sellout (30 000) = 150 000

Plus at least double our current crowd numbers for the rest of the season

home games = 8 x 15 000

= 120 000

Total home game crowd for the season

= 270 000

That's 180 000 increase.

Plus

Nearly every away game would be a sellout so add 150 000 for the season.

Let's put a $ figure on it at $30 per attendee

Revenue increases by $5.4 million for home games

Away games an increase of $4.5 million 

So basically there is a $10 million increase per season not including merchandise and other revenue making auxiliaries.

So we get him for 2 seasons and so there would be an increase in opportunity to maximise new regular attendees which would boost membership for the longer term.

I think I am being quite conservative with the figures but it would be a win win for MCFC and the FFA.

 

Like the maths but I think that you are forgetting the soft tissue injuries.

[haz]

1 minute ago, NewConvert said:

Like the maths but I think that you are forgetting the soft tissue injuries.

"Won't somebody think of the hamstrings!? "