What would you pay more money for to help the MFC further financially stabilise?

Lets be clear I'm not taking about anything membership or seating related - I'm taking about what would further motivate you to send the MFC some extra dollars on a yearly/weekly basis. 

AFL has made its stance clear, poker machines are on the way out, we have a very heavy reliance on the income from those machines and we need to find alternatives. We cant rely that "Project Fruit" will un-cover a satisfactory result for all clubs. 

So in a nutshell - what would you do to further help stabilise the MFC financially. 

Absolutely nothing. 

Sorry. They are a commercial entity not a charity.

I await the howls.

There is nothing on the MFC agm agenda regarding this

I wonder if the club has a plan post pokies

Me I would develop the land at Bentleigh for a profit while prices are sky high and invest for a good quality cash flow from earnings

what profit do we earn from poker machines anyhow?

I should post what i would be pre-pared to pay extra for 

MFC Business Directory - almost like a MFC yellow pages online

I would actually pay twice a/ to access the information & b/ to list a company on the directory.

So in theory if I was looking for a bricklayer, dentist, accountant almost any profession I could go to the directory knowing the club has benefited. Also companies could offer exclusive deals to subscribed members almost exactly like "groupon" do again the club could benefit.  

Just a thought. 

13 minutes ago, jackaub said:

There is nothing on the MFC agm agenda regarding this

I wonder if the club has a plan post pokies

Me I would develop the land at Bentleigh for a profit while prices are sky high and invest for a good quality cash flow from earnings

what profit do we earn from poker machines anyhow?

Sale perhaps but we are not developers.

The problem with a sale is that it would give you a few million which is a drop in the bucket from an investment return basis.

Unfortunately the answer lies in increasing the return per supporter which means creating a rarity factor ( Geelong). You cannot rely on ad hoc tin rattling anymore.

There are so many problems with the MFC from a financial modelling viewpoint it is hard to know where to start. Some continued on field success will not alone fix the problem but it might make the journey a little easier.

1 minute ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Sale perhaps but we are not developers.

The problem with a sale is that it would give you a few million which is a drop in the bucket from an investment return basis.

Unfortunately the answer lies in increasing the return per supporter which means creating a rarity factor ( Geelong). You cannot rely on ad hoc tin rattling anymore.

There are so many problems with the MFC from a financial modelling viewpoint it is hard to know where to start. Some continued on field success will not alone fix the problem but it might make the journey a little easier.

It doesn't necessarily have to be this way. Increased revenue could also come from increasing the number of supporters who contribute or from other sources such as businesses who want their products showcased to supporters (ie, sponsors). Increased revenue can also come from a bigger distribution from the AFL. (That's not a criticism of the AFL - just making the point that if the AFL earns more overall, the individual clubs can all benefit.) 

Power and Gas Bills are going to get all my extra money from Jan 1st

9 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

It doesn't necessarily have to be this way. Increased revenue could also come from increasing the number of supporters who contribute or from other sources such as businesses who want their products showcased to supporters (ie, sponsors).

The point of the thread is to look for ways to find additional revenue streams and what you would consider topping up your financial contribution on a yearly/weekly basis - business who want their products show cased - I like the idea. Personally i would probably even pay a marginal amount to be show cased too - knowing the club stood to benefit. 

6 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Sale perhaps but we are not developers.

The problem with a sale is that it would give you a few million which is a drop in the bucket from an investment return basis.

Unfortunately the answer lies in increasing the return per supporter which means creating a rarity factor ( Geelong). You cannot rely on ad hoc tin rattling anymore.

There are so many problems with the MFC from a financial modelling viewpoint it is hard to know where to start. Some continued on field success will not alone fix the problem but it might make the journey a little easier.

The club I believe will never be a powerhouse in terms of absolute numbers

mcc membership and older demographic works against us combined with missing 2 or 3 generations of young supporters

so I agree we must increase the return per member how you might do it is perplexing

If this is so then we will have to be much smarter than we have been to achieve it

I agree Diamond Jim the club has a glut of marketing issues to deal with 

including the perception that it is a club suppoted by toffs and big business

that is as we all know completely false

 

5 minutes ago, jackaub said:

The club I believe will never be a powerhouse in terms of absolute numbers

mcc membership and older demographic works against us combined with missing 2 or 3 generations of young supporters

so I agree we must increase the return per member how you might do it is perplexing

If this is so then we will have to be much smarter than we have been to achieve it

I agree Diamond Jim the club has a glut of marketing issues to deal with 

including the perception that it is a club suppoted by toffs and big business

that is as we all know completely false

 

Good point - so how can the rank and file help? Would it be more player - member functions? More administrators - member functions? 

All constructive ideas are worth exploring. 

We need to influence - across a few years - the very young, young and adolescent supporter base. Our last premiership was a long time ago and we have not been the flavour of the month for decades. Supporters need to grow with their club. Only a handful will remain with a club - to wither by example with their club on the vine.  Demons supporters are passionate but have been tested, tested, tested and have largely grown old with limited expectation for success. With such success now more possible and potentially realistic, it is time to get 'em young, again. If all else fails, let's get a good rapport going with the field umpires who have punished us in many games across many years as if by AFL/VFL direction that hunted the dollar in gate receipts by their supportive on-field decision-making of clubs that already had larger supporter bases. Amongst the 'old timers', we all know why we hate Collingwood. In the 50s, it was just nice to beat them.

26 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

It doesn't necessarily have to be this way. Increased revenue could also come from increasing the number of supporters who contribute or from other sources such as businesses who want their products showcased to supporters (ie, sponsors). Increased revenue can also come from a bigger distribution from the AFL. (That's not a criticism of the AFL - just making the point that if the AFL earns more overall, the individual clubs can all benefit.) 

LDC .. your idea has merit but as our numbers increase so too will those of the power clubs. The laws of mathematics says that in raw terms membership of the power clubs will increase far more than ours. To have any real impact we would need to emulate the success of Hawthorn and go through a period of success of around 40 years. Unlikely but nice to dream about.

12 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

We need to influence - across a few years - the very young, young and adolescent supporter base. Our last premiership was a long time ago and we have not been the flavour of the month for decades. Supporters need to grow with their club. Only a handful will remain with a club - to wither by example with their club on the vine.  Demons supporters are passionate but have been tested, tested, tested and have largely grown old with limited expectation for success. With such success now more possible and potentially realistic, it is time to get 'em young, again. If all else fails, let's get a good rapport going with the field umpires who have punished us in many games across many years as if by AFL/VFL direction that hunted the dollar in gate receipts by their supportive on-field decision-making of clubs that already had larger supporter bases. Amongst the 'old timers', we all know why we hate Collingwood. In the 50s, it was just nice to beat them.

Yep this. And the only way to influence young kids is to win. 

That is all they care about

1 hour ago, Deemania since 56 said:

We need to influence - across a few years - the very young, young and adolescent supporter base. Our last premiership was a long time ago and we have not been the flavour of the month for decades. Supporters need to grow with their club. Only a handful will remain with a club - to wither by example with their club on the vine.  Demons supporters are passionate but have been tested, tested, tested and have largely grown old with limited expectation for success. With such success now more possible and potentially realistic, it is time to get 'em young, again. If all else fails, let's get a good rapport going with the field umpires who have punished us in many games across many years as if by AFL/VFL direction that hunted the dollar in gate receipts by their supportive on-field decision-making of clubs that already had larger supporter bases. Amongst the 'old timers', we all know why we hate Collingwood. In the 50s, it was just nice to beat them.

ok - you have told me the problems (thank-you) - now what is the solution?

Baring in mind suggestions for alternative revenue streams you would pay for? 

22 minutes ago, DaveyDee said:

ok - you have told me the problems (thank-you) - now what is the solution?

Baring in mind suggestions for alternative revenue streams you would pay for? 

Move to a boutique stadium at which we make significant money with 35k attendees and go to the MCG for a few blockbusters.

Dramatic but if you think for a moment it's our only chance. Hopefully it could be a new stadium built in the Olympic area.

I'd give the club some dollars if they sent a player round to do my lawns once a fortnight.

12 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

I'd give the club some dollars if they sent a player round to do my lawns once a fortnight.

Wiseblood - you surprise me at times

1/ We used to do something along these lines at our annual auction - think 50% of the funds went to the club and 50% to the players end of year functions. But think much of this was stopped due to the professional nature of the game today. 

2/ However, other clubs have already thought of your idea and are exploring the "services" industries as a way to further monetise their supporter base. Not sure if they have gone as far as Gardening services but you could not rule anything in or anything out in 2017. 

Thanks for your constructive input - hopefully that was your intention. 

1 minute ago, DaveyDee said:

Wiseblood - you surprise me at times

1/ We used to do something along these lines at our annual auction - think 50% of the funds went to the club and 50% to the players end of year functions. But think much of this was stopped due to the professional nature of the game today. 

2/ However, other clubs have already thought of your idea and are exploring the "services" industries as a way to further monetise their supporter base. Not sure if they have gone as far as Gardening services but you could not rule anything in or anything out in 2017. 

Thanks for your constructive input - hopefully that was your intention. 

So I should.  I surprise even myself sometimes.

I was 100% taking the mick with my post, although if they offered it I'd love to have someone like Dean Kent doing my lawns as it might teach him to at least walk and jog both ways.

25 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Move to a boutique stadium at which we make significant money with 35k attendees and go to the MCG for a few blockbusters.

Dramatic but if you think for a moment it's our only chance. Hopefully it could be a new stadium built in the Olympic area.

Not that dramatic. Carlton, Collingwood & Tigers are well down this path including getting massive financial support from Federal & State governments. These clubs also have the AFL onside as to ensure a strong financial bid and we avoid mistakes made at the then Telstra Dome now Ethiad Stadium. 

But happy to hear more. 

Where have the AFL said pokies are on the way out? Unless they are made illegal I don't see how they can stop clubs profiting from them.

3 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

So I should.  I surprise even myself sometimes.

I was 100% taking the mick with my post, altough if they offered it I'd love to have someone like Dean Kent doing my lawns as it might teach him to at least walk and jog both ways.

No doubt you did, well looks like we have one bidder on Dean Kent already to do his lawns - we have to start some where.  

Just for the record I knew what you were doing - but it goes to show other clubs are prepared to do near anything to find income sources in 2017. 

Get back to me when they win a premiership, not before

2 minutes ago, Demon Disciple said:

Get back to me when they win a premiership, not before

Ah - the good old chicken and the egg argument. Not a problem - cheers. 

11 minutes ago, DaveyDee said:

Not that dramatic. Carlton, Collingwood & Tigers are well down this path including getting massive financial support from Federal & State governments. These clubs also have the AFL onside as to ensure a strong financial bid and we avoid mistakes made at the then Telstra Dome now Ethiad Stadium. 

But happy to hear more. 

It's dramatic for many on this Forum who consider the MCG tenancy sacrosanct. Unfortunately it's no longer a discriminator and we very rarely get crowds (50k plus) that make it buzz financially.

It's worthwhile remembering that even Essendon have a shared ground concept with the their army of supporters

20 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Where have the AFL said pokies are on the way out? Unless they are made illegal I don't see how they can stop clubs profiting from them.

Here's a couple of stories from The Age and The Herald Sun which address this issue. And it's probably also relevant that the President of Geelong, Colin Carter, is also on the Board of World Vision, so he'd be getting plenty of free "advice" from anti-pokies activist, Rev Tim Costello.