Memberships/Season Tickets

[eric forman]

4 hours ago, Heart of Melbourne said:

Surprised that the club has kept a low key on the record membership 

I believe it is lower than what they wanted.

[Tony999]

49 minutes ago, eric forman said:

I believe it is lower than what they wanted.

I think CFG know by now there is no short term fix. They realise with success comes more attendance. And it is a record number for memeberships since our inception so I'm sure they are pleased. 

[Chris p]

Does 3,000 extra members cover Cahills 3million+ wage bill ? 

[hakz7]

2 hours ago, eric forman said:

I believe it is lower than what they wanted.

Yeah. Didn't they expect like 14k for the season?

[Tony999]

1 hour ago, hakz7 said:

Yeah. Didn't they expect like 14k for the season?

Didn't they expect that last season?

[Shahanga]

3 hours ago, Chris p said:

Does 3,000 extra members cover Cahills 3million+ wage bill ? 

You channeling Peter Sidwell? I thought Timmy was about building the brand, changing the culture and buying sky blue jerseys. (Plus winning a few more games)

[jw1739]

11 hours ago, Shahanga said:

You channeling Peter Sidwell? I thought Timmy was about building the brand, changing the culture and buying sky blue jerseys. (Plus winning a few more games)

QUite correct. Tim Cahill was not really signed by us to boost our squad at all. He is here to boost the profile of the A-League, and anything he does for us is co-incidental. We already had Bruno's signature and Colazo was lined up to be our second marquee. So FFA came up with the one-season guest marquee place to accommodate TC, and we agreed subject to the conditions of sky-blue jerseys and whatever else we've been able to screw out of FFA.

[mjake1234]

14 hours ago, hakz7 said:

Yeah. Didn't they expect like 14k for the season?

Always good for them to be optimistic.  Reckon we will end up with a number of about 12,800 "members" by the end of the season.

[Tony999]

So now we have the third highest membership yet we'll get a capacity crowd of 7k against Perth.

[Heart of Melbourne]

41 minutes ago, Tony999 said:

So now we have the third highest membership yet we'll get a capacity crowd of 7k against Perth.

Samaras will fix this

[jw1739]

12,008.

[jw1739]

12,076 as of 8th January 2017.

3-match memberships released 9th January 2017.

[Baka1]

12k mems. Avg 11k crowds so far. Not to bad but could be better

[carlings]

Has anyone had anything to do with the member get member program or received a promised reward? http://membership.melbournecityfc.com.au/content/member-get-member

I signed up 5+ members with this incentive in mind (funnily/ un-funnily enough, 4/5 of those new members have now lost all interest and have stopped attending matches)

I've been emailing/ calling the club since October and no one at the club seems to know what's going on with it. Pathetic.

Edited February 3, 2017 by carlings

[Heart of Melbourne]

3 hours ago, carlings said:

Has anyone had anything to do with the member get member program or received a promised reward? http://membership.melbournecityfc.com.au/content/member-get-member

I signed up 5+ members with this incentive in mind (funnily/ un-funnily enough, 4/5 of those new members have now lost all interest and have stopped attending matches)

I've been emailing/ calling the club since October and no one at the club seems to know what's going on with it. Pathetic.

Fold the club

[jw1739]

Citizens, City Voice, now Member-get-Member - the club is in snooze mode again. Something seriously wrong with the management out there at Bundoora. Either incapable or unwilling, or both.

[jw1739]

12,669. Reasonably close to the purported target of 14,000. (Sydney 12,193.)

[Tony999]

57 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

12,669. Reasonably close to the purported target of 14,000. (Sydney 12,193.)

Sounds all nice and sweet. The issue now is getting those members to ROCK UP!

[mattyh001]

1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

12,669. Reasonably close to the purported target of 14,000. (Sydney 12,193.)

dont quite get how we can surpass the smurfs and sit third on the memberships tally when (a.) they are run away title favourites and (b.) we have been so bloody inconsistent.

by all means we have had a boost thanks to Cahill.  of which we probably would have hit a mark a lot closer to 14k (if not more) had we been a shite load more consistent since the Cup final.

that still doesnt excuse the smurfs tho.  how the fuck do they go on the run they have had and not have more members.  bloody Sydney siders!!

[n i k o]

17 minutes ago, mattyh001 said:

dont quite get how we can surpass the smurfs and sit third on the memberships tally when (a.) they are run away title favourites and (b.) we have been so bloody inconsistent.

by all means we have had a boost thanks to Cahill.  of which we probably would have hit a mark a lot closer to 14k (if not more) had we been a shite load more consistent since the Cup final.

that still doesnt excuse the smurfs tho.  how the fuck do they go on the run they have had and not have more members.  bloody Sydney siders!!

Same reason Brisbane dont have a lot of members. IMO it come down to the stadiums they play in. Ridiculously oversized stadiums, close to no demand for different seating options besides in active. Why should people feel the need to commit to a season with a large up front payment when they can turn up garunteed every game of any seat of their choice. And they can miss games without losing their money should they not be able to attend. Put them in a 20,000 seat stadium and watch how people grab membership to garuntee a seat. 

Edited February 7, 2017 by n i k o

[mattyh001]

2 hours ago, n i k o said:

Same reason Brisbane dont have a lot of members. IMO it come down to the stadiums they play in. Ridiculously oversized stadiums, close to no demand for different seating options besides in active. Why should people feel the need to commit to a season with a large up front payment when they can turn up garunteed every game of any seat of their choice. And they can miss games without losing their money should they not be able to attend. Put them in a 20,000 seat stadium and watch how people grab membership to garuntee a seat. 

understand what you're saying, but given our attendances you could say the same about us in terms of reasons why people wouldnt have to buy memberships  

[n i k o]

11 minutes ago, mattyh001 said:

understand what you're saying, but given our attendances you could say the same about us in terms of reasons why people wouldnt have to buy memberships  

Id have to disagree there. I love my seat at AAMI park and continue to sign up as a member as there's a very high chance that I will lose it. Seeing as my row and the rest of the rows surrounding my seat are quite full most games says that demand is high for these seating options. The other thing you have to remember is that the top tier isn't opened so demand is higher because of this, particularly on the wings. Essentially we are playing in a 15-20k capacity stadium when you remove the option of buying seats in the third tier.

Anyway you only have to have a look at the seats on the wings when Sydney plays and 70-80% of them are unused, sometimes bordering on 90-95% unused. No demand whatsoever. 

Edited February 7, 2017 by n i k o

[mattyh001]

17 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Id have to disagree there. I love my seat at AAMI park and continue to sign up as a member as there's a very high chance that I will lose it. Seeing as my row and the rest of the rows surrounding my seat are quite full most games says that demand is high for these seating options. The other thing you have to remember is that the top tier isn't opened so demand is higher because of this, particularly on the wings. Essentially we are playing in a 15-20k capacity stadium when you remove the option of buying seats in the third tier.

Anyway you only have to have a look at the seats on the wings when Sydney plays and 70-80% of them are unused, sometimes bordering on 90-95% unused. No demand whatsoever. 

not disagreeing that there's a lot more space up the wings at Sydney games, more so that there is still a lot of space at our games. people could avoid buying a membership and still generally get tickets in decent spots.  IIRC the top tiers at AAMI Park hold around 10k between them (20k thereby remaining - something where we generally dont fill much above 12k other than derbies), and with the regular non shows from our 12k membership people would have some flexibility in sneaking into a decent spot if they were so worried.

the highlighted section is an interesting point, of which we will never know how much of a drop off the club would have if they actually ever opened the upper decks. 

i suspect that there is some truth in what you say, however the club could open the upper decks if the true demand was there. this in itself implies the club has hit some sort of artificial ceiling on the general maximum membership level we can achieve because if casual fans were really scared, worried, etc of not getting a good seat they would have signed up to the point of getting an upper deck opened up.

[n i k o]

3 minutes ago, mattyh001 said:

not disagreeing that there's a lot more space up the wings at Sydney games, more so that there is still a lot of space at our games. people could avoid buying a membership and still generally get tickets in decent spots.  IIRC the top tiers at AAMI Park hold around 10k between them (20k thereby remaining - something where we generally dont fill much above 12k other than derbies), and with the regular non shows from our 12k membership people would have some flexibility in sneaking into a decent spot if they were so worried.

the highlighted section is an interesting point, of which we will never know how much of a drop off the club would have if they actually ever opened the upper decks. 

i suspect that there is some truth in what you say, however the club could open the upper decks if the true demand was there. this in itself implies the club has hit some sort of artificial ceiling on the general maximum membership level we can achieve because if casual fans were really scared, worried, etc of not getting a good seat they would have signed up to the point of getting an upper deck opened up.

The parts I've highlighted though indicate precisely why people buy memberships. I certainly don't want to risk generally getting tickets in areas I'd prefer not to be sitting as would many people. And implying some flexibility means finding a seat of my preference would be difficult to a certain point and in some cases impossible. Also regardless of member no shows the club still doesn't have a system in place for those seats to be bought by the general public (something that has been put to the club). Those 12,000 seats are essentially gone and only accessible by membership holders. 

[jw1739]

The capacity of Level 1 is 18,500. (Corporates, Level 2 (c. 1500) excluded). Pressure on availability (the tipping point) starts somewhere around the 75% level, or slightly below - i.e around 13,900. At around that attendance you will find that walk-ups begin to find that the seat they want is already sold, or is not available because it is reserved for a member. Even at present membership levels (12,600+) some walk-ups are being turned away. In summary we are close to (or possibly at) the point where it is better to buy a cheap membership than risk being turned away from a match that you want to attend.

Edited February 7, 2017 by jw1739

[n i k o]

@jw1739 I wouldn't even include corporates in the discussion because walk ups will never buy a corporate seat. What's the capacity of the bottom tier without corporate seats?  

[jw1739]

4 minutes ago, n i k o said:

@jw1739 I wouldn't even include corporates in the discussion because walk ups will never buy a corporate seat. What's the capacity of the bottom tier without corporate seats?  

18,500 as quoted.

[n i k o]

Just now, jw1739 said:

18,500 as quoted.

Ok yep didn't read it properly. 

[jw1739]

1 minute ago, n i k o said:

Ok yep didn't read it properly. 

That's OK. So we are certainly approaching the tipping point, or perhaps we are already there.  Certainly if you go online and look to buy a membership in Category C or whatever it is now (City Blue?) at the Southern End there are very few seats available. Also many of the wing bays (Silver, Gold) are the same. And this is a season that has turned sour for us, but people are still signing up.

I've just realised that the quoted club target is 14,000, so perhaps they've done the same calculation as I have...

[Chris p]

Will we grow or go backwards next seaon ? 

[jw1739]

1 minute ago, Chris p said:

Will we grow or go backwards next seaon ? 

Announce a reputable coach, make some sound defensive signings and I'd say a definite "yes." Don't forget Cahill will go under the cap so we'll have no obligations to FFA, Colazo is on a 1-season loan so we'll have room for another marquee, we'll have a decent strip, so there's a few things going our way. A good manager should be able to get a lot out of the lads we have and we can put this year behind us. And we have got one senior trophy, whatever else has not gone according to the script.

[haz]

38 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Announce a reputable coach, make some sound defensive signings and I'd say a definite "yes." Don't forget Cahill will go under the cap so we'll have no obligations to FFA, Colazo is on a 1-season loan so we'll have room for another marquee, we'll have a decent strip, so there's a few things going our way. A good manager should be able to get a lot out of the lads we have and we can put this year behind us. And we have got one senior trophy, whatever else has not gone according to the script.

I'm not getting my hopes up. We could get a reputable coach and marquee but still play crap and concede in the last 15 minutes of every game.   Tbh, after last season I wouldn't even feel comfortable if we are 1st on the ladder with 3 weeks still to play.

 

This club has scarred me.

[mattyh001]

3 hours ago, n i k o said:

The parts I've highlighted though indicate precisely why people buy memberships. I certainly don't want to risk generally getting tickets in areas I'd prefer not to be sitting as would many people. And implying some flexibility means finding a seat of my preference would be difficult to a certain point and in some cases impossible. Also regardless of member no shows the club still doesn't have a system in place for those seats to be bought by the general public (something that has been put to the club). Those 12,000 seats are essentially gone and only accessible by membership holders. 

I'd imagine you and I (like many forum users and/or like the bulk of members who (re)signed up before mid September) were signing up knowing we would be going week in week out almost regardless of form.  and one of the benefits we get is (as part of being a member where seats are now reserved for all members) that our seating is allocated first in first served / selected.

so in that sense I understand and agree that we enjoy getting a preferred seat and do in some sense sign up to ensure we dont miss out on a decent seat (although then again i'm active so ...); that said the way I see that is we are members as part of the fact we will be coming irrespective, and make the most of the benefit of past experience (both with going to games and being associated with the club) so to get the seats we prefer - something that I get the feeling we agree on but has been lost in the ether.  

overall tho, I'd make the point tho the way I am seeing our discussion is that we are generally referring to individuals who sign up pre season with the intention of going to the vast majority of games during the season (or are so ingrained into supporting a club they retain the membership) as opposed to general / casual walk up fans.  

part of what i was getting into was that the casual / general fans people who go once the season starts are happy to / are willing to forego a more preferred seat, overpay some what for the seat they're in (having to go Cat B as opposed to Cat C) or are making up for the fact they had no interest / intention of going regularly at the start of the season (and now are)

thereby they won't be so worried about seating and more interested in the experience - thereby willing to deal what ever is on offer as part of the roughly 6k available seats as per JW's post. 

and as for the flexibility, yes by all means at some games it would be a lot harder for the casual fan to get to a more preferred seat than at other gamess - thats because my flexibility comment is a generalisation for the casual fan.  games were we would have a 15k attendance is obviously harder because (a.) you'd expect more members than usual to be in attendance and (b.) any remaining cheap seats to the lower decks will be amongst the first to sell.  the generalisation does go the other way too tho; the home games with lower attendance (like the ones earlier in the season against Newcastle and Brisbane) do allow greater flexibility since we have crowds well under 10k - so the casual fan can by their ticket and move to more suitable seats during the game once the casual fan notices a vacant seat in their bay / section due to a member not coming.  

but getting back to my original point, i'm just a little surprised that our membership tally is ahead in comparison to Sydney despite form / results and overall average attendance this season.  simply i'm surprised that Sydney hasnt converted more fans into members.  the 6k lower tier available spaces at our games that JW pointed out is certainly more scarce than the oodles that look on offer at either Sydney or Brisbane (and I agree that it would entice some to sign up more so with us) however i dont think this would necessarily force stacks of Melbourne casual fans into memberships either.

they also have the geographic distinction in Sydney (particularly eastern / southern Sydney) that we dont have here - so fans can feel free to select either us or the tards (as stupid as that is) and go whenever they feel they can get a ticket.  

add to that the tards do have the buy back scheme from members and have worse non derby attendance / member number average ratio, the numbers seem a bit strange.

could just be me tho.

[mattyh001]

4 hours ago, jw1739 said:

The capacity of Level 1 is 18,500. (Corporates, Level 2 (c. 1500) excluded). Pressure on availability (the tipping point) starts somewhere around the 75% level, or slightly below - i.e around 13,900. At around that attendance you will find that walk-ups begin to find that the seat they want is already sold, or is not available because it is reserved for a member. Even at present membership levels (12,600+) some walk-ups are being turned away. In summary we are close to (or possibly at) the point where it is better to buy a cheap membership than risk being turned away from a match that you want to attend.

thanks for the numbers jw; intriguing.  i wonder at what point in preseason in terms of sold memberships they would look to offer more Cat C as part of opening up one of the upper tiers, since you'd think the bulk of upper tier seats would be Cat C.

does anyone know if the club can open up only one of the upper tiers for any given game in terms of cost, staffing, etc? (ie open the upper tier on the Eastern side of the stadium first since it is opposite to where the main broadcast cameras are)

[mjake1234]

8 hours ago, n i k o said:

Same reason Brisbane dont have a lot of members. IMO it come down to the stadiums they play in. Ridiculously oversized stadiums, close to no demand for different seating options besides in active. Why should people feel the need to commit to a season with a large up front payment when they can turn up garunteed every game of any seat of their choice. And they can miss games without losing their money should they not be able to attend. Put them in a 20,000 seat stadium and watch how people grab membership to garuntee a seat. 

Actually the reason Brisbane don't have a lot of members is because they rebelled against management last year and their membership dropped from over 12,000 to 5,300.  This year has see a few more creep back (now sitting at just over 7,000).  The interesting statistic is that they still manage to average an attendance of over 15,000 whereas we can only manage 11,000 even including the derby).

On another note - the total number of members of all clubs is now an FFA record - just touched 115,000

Edited February 7, 2017 by mjake1234

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, mattyh001 said:

thanks for the numbers jw; intriguing.  i wonder at what point in preseason in terms of sold memberships they would look to offer more Cat C as part of opening up one of the upper tiers, since you'd think the bulk of upper tier seats would be Cat C.

does anyone know if the club can open up only one of the upper tiers for any given game in terms of cost, staffing, etc? (ie open the upper tier on the Eastern side of the stadium first since it is opposite to where the main broadcast cameras are)

Taking the FFA Cup Final as a guide:

1. The middle 3 or 5 bays on Level 3 would be Gold, the 2/1 either side of those would be silver, and the 2 bays at each end would be Blue.

2. Yes, the Level 3 East can be opened and Level 3 West remain closed (and vice versa) because there is no link between the two.

For reference, the full capacities of each section (with bay numbers) are as follows:
South (Yarra) End 12-21: 5,689
Eastern Wing L1 1-11: 3,414
North (City) End 33-42: 5,903
Western Wing L1 22-32: 3,494
Upper Eastern Wing L3 70-80: 5,015
Upper Western Wing L3 81-91: 4,968
Corporate Western Wing L2 1-24: 432
Corporate Eastern Wing L2 50-60: 1,137
Capacity: 30,052
 

Edited February 7, 2017 by jw1739

[belaguttman]

I can see why Sydney don't get the numbers, if you've ever been to SFS you'll know how difficult it is to get to by anything other than car but then the traffic is terrible

[jw1739]

Post-match Members' Function is on after the Brisbane match.

http://www.melbournecityfc.com.au/article/come-along-to-our-post-match-members-function/5kmhrrgo6ykr11sniv8k89xj1

Melbourne City FC will be holding its Post-match Members Function after our clash with Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park on Saturday 11 February.

The function will give our 2016/17 members the chance to rub shoulders with all of the 2016/17 A-League squad as well as sign autographs and take pictures with their Melbourne City heroes.

This year’s function will be held in the northern internal concourse (not Edwin’s Café) and will require all members to exit the stadium and proceed to the entrance between ticket sale window F and Edwin’s Café on Olympic Boulevard (which will be clearly marked). Please note that all members must exit the stadium before heading to the function and must present their valid 2016/17 Melbourne City membership.

The event will start at 10pm and conclude at 11pm with bar and food outlets open in the northern concourse.

 

[haz]

50 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Post-match Members' Function is on after the Brisbane match.

http://www.melbournecityfc.com.au/article/come-along-to-our-post-match-members-function/5kmhrrgo6ykr11sniv8k89xj1

Melbourne City FC will be holding its Post-match Members Function after our clash with Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park on Saturday 11 February.

The function will give our 2016/17 members the chance to rub shoulders with all of the 2016/17 A-League squad as well as sign autographs and take pictures with their Melbourne City heroes.

This year’s function will be held in the northern internal concourse (not Edwin’s Café) and will require all members to exit the stadium and proceed to the entrance between ticket sale window F and Edwin’s Café on Olympic Boulevard (which will be clearly marked). Please note that all members must exit the stadium before heading to the function and must present their valid 2016/17 Melbourne City membership.

The event will start at 10pm and conclude at 11pm with bar and food outlets open in the northern concourse.

 

Most of the squad won't need to shower for this

[malloy]

1 hour ago, haz said:

Most of the squad won't need to shower for this

They should just start it at 8.30 with all the suspended players. That way when we are down 3 nil at HT we can just got this instead.