9 hours ago, DaveyDee said:

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

Oh no, absolutely not. I've given 25 consecutive years of my life to this football club, of which only 7 have seen them make finals (28%).

There is no mystery as to what came first, my support or MFC success. Dare i say it must be the case for 95%+ of our members. It's about time this football club finally started vindicating our ongoing support. Until such time, i see no reason to give more than what i currently do.

5 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

50k at the MCG is bare minimum  ... it's not a great payday when the break even factor is around 25k

Where are these figures coming from? From what I know from inside the Club this couldn’t be any more wrong. Club only writes a cheque when we play as the home club at Etihad, never at the MCG, even when drawing 15000 in the dark days against Freo. 

 

Decent sports science program, resources and staff would be nice

WHY would you pay more money after round 23 ?

Wattsy's 150k is the antithesis of stabilisation I would have thought.  What's that.  300-400 memberships?

4 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

It's a moot point because the AFL will never turn their nose up at a dollar.

You want to bet on that? Not sure the new chairman of the AFL commission is that much in favour of the pokies money. Plus there is quite a few clubs that dont get a $ from them. Very interesting times ahead. 

Bargain with pay per view to have the teams reap a percentage of profit (probably already does this, maybe through the AFL who pay clubs). Supply high quality leather jackets with a subtle demon logo on it (starting at $1000). Observe and model funding arrangements like in the US college teams. Partner with more service providers to pay a premium to your fav team. Perform better (increase your membership base). 

Make demonland a purchasable app and send the proceeds to the dees. Seek more generous sponsors... there's heaps to do.

Or just ring Gutnik again..

But the last thing I would do is try to squeeze more out of players...

7 hours ago, TRIGON said:

2017 games against Melbourne-based clubs at the G this year:

85,657 v RIC

46,727 v CAR

38,693 v HAW...most of their supporters had already jumped ship for the season

33,18 v NOR...norf had no ship to jump off

70,926 v COLL

53,114 v STK

51,223 v COLL

And despite having games in Darwin and Alice Springs, we still came in 8th for attendances in 2017. So I think it's a myth that Melbourne cant pull a crowd.

I'm not sure its our ability to pull a crowd when we start winning games is the problem. Might be more the $3.6 - 4.0 million dollars we generate in Pokies profit might be the sticking point. 

Pokies and Hospitality Profit

• Melbourne – $3,620,569

If we cant find an alternative revenue stream things start to get very interesting. 

18 hours ago, small but forward said:

This graphic taken from a Herald Sun article in April - shows clubs revenues from Pokies in yellow...we'd need to find something like 22-25% of $45M in revenues equivalent if we were to drop the pokies. It's a problem - the difference between Nth Melb and Carlton is only the pokie generated revenue.

What constitues other income in light blue?

Seems very significant in West Coast and Freo

and paltry in the case of Melbourne

 

55 minutes ago, jackaub said:

What constitues other income in light blue?

 

The reason for the thread - alternative streams of income, baring in mind our relatively low supporter base plus many of our current base not willing to give the heavy lifting will be down to what group?

Would be awesome to see Demonland step up with a few ideas at least that the club could consider. 

Nup.

I don’t think the club is as interested in supporter charity as it was under Jimma anyway.

For starters, the narrative isn’t there to run that kind of campaign. In 2010, we were told that our debt would kill us if we didn’t pay it off. PJ has stated that debt isn’t a bad thing per se. What is fatal is if you don’t have the revenue streams to pay it off. 

With that being said, it appears that he is looking for more sustainable cash flow. Though Foundation Heroes lives on does it not?

I would say PJ has done a fantastic job of bringing financial stability to the club through a variety of means:  Membership, sponsorship, gate takings etc.

Of course, the more $ the better.  But it is difficult for supporters to chip in more, after 15 years of ungrudgingly taking memberships which were effectively donations.  And for some of us making donations in addition to memberships.

 

To improve our financial position, nothing beats sponsorships.  This is where we struggle.

• We started 2017 without a back of jumper sponsor.  iselect came on board well into the season, on the back of their sponsoship of our AFLW team.
• Our front of jumper sponsorship with AHG has ended, after a 3 + 1 year deal. 
• Sadly, we have rarely (if ever) had a 'household name' type sponsor (which most other clubs have) who are in it for the long haul. 

So, despite eveyone's fine efforts we struggle to get sponsors  and we struggle to keep them. 

The best way to 'stabilize' mfc is to get some sponsors that come on board for the long hall.  Of course, that is easier said than done.  Hopefully, PJ has an announcement at the AGM otherwise we start another year without a name on the front of our jumper.

11 hours ago, Demons1858 said:

Decent sports science program, resources and staff would be nice

Sports psychologist is a must too

10 hours ago, DaveyDee said:

You want to bet on that? Not sure the new chairman of the AFL commission is that much in favour of the pokies money. Plus there is quite a few clubs that dont get a $ from them. Very interesting times ahead. 

So the AFL are going to cut all their sponsorships with TAB, Sportsbet, Crownbet, Crown Casino etc? I doubt it very much 

10 hours ago, TGR said:

Wattsy's 150k is the antithesis of stabilisation I would have thought.  What's that.  300-400 memberships?

The AFL covers salary cap payments so comparing it to membership income is irrelevant 

11 hours ago, ox_5 said:

Where are these figures coming from? From what I know from inside the Club this couldn’t be any more wrong. Club only writes a cheque when we play as the home club at Etihad, never at the MCG, even when drawing 15000 in the dark days against Freo. 

 

MCC pays extra to the MFC for home games following an agreement signed several years ago ($100k per game?) So regardless of attendance we make money. But the difference between a 25-30k crowd and a 75-80k crowd is something like $500k-$1m.

Check page 8 on the AFL club funding presentation 2012-2016

http://footyindustry.com/files/afl/Documents/AFL club funding presentation.pdf

37 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

I would say PJ has done a fantastic job of bringing financial stability to the club through a variety of means:  Membership, sponsorship, gate takings etc.

Of course, the more $ the better.  But it is difficult for supporters to chip in more, after 15 years of ungrudgingly taking memberships which were effectively donations.  And for some of us making donations in addition to memberships.

 

To improve our financial position, nothing beats sponsorships.  This is where we struggle.

• We started 2017 without a back of jumper sponsor.  iselect came on board well into the season, on the back of their sponsoship of our AFLW team.
• Our front of jumper sponsorship with AHG has ended, after a 3 + 1 year deal. 
• Sadly, we have rarely (if ever) had a 'household name' type sponsor (which most other clubs have) who are in it for the long haul. 

So, despite eveyone's fine efforts we struggle to get sponsors  and we struggle to keep them. 

The best way to 'stabilize' mfc is to get some sponsors that come on board for the long hall.  Of course, that is easier said than done.  Hopefully, PJ has an announcement at the AGM otherwise we start another year without a name on the front of our jumper.

Which is why the fixture matters despite what some say. Sponsors want exposure in prime time and on FTA. 1 Friday night game in 2018 hurts.

The only answer is More Sponsorship. This situation will not improve with just families tipping in more Money. 

We need to win more, which brings us more exposure which in turn brings companies to us, wanting that exposure. 

We have to stop the charity persona. Selling games to the NT will kill us long term  where is the Sponsorship and Membership Benefit?

We need to put plans in place long term to fill our stadium. 

If we as a club believe that our only model of survival is being at a “Boutiqe” Stadium then we are already dead. 

Nought were crazy not to go to the Gold Coast. 

They won’t survive another 10 years down here

The main avenues of extra revenue are sponsorship and selling reserve seat and corporate box packages to home games. This is why getting to 50k and above members is a must as it creates a scarcity which means members must buy reserve seat packages. Having a lot of MCC members hurts us in this regard as they obviously have the MCC reserve so don't need to reserve a seat.

Reserve seat and corporate packages are where the interstate clubs thrive and where clubs like Collingwood, Essendon and the Cats make a packet.

The other option is selling more games interstate which is obviously anathema to the supporters.

3 hours ago, jackaub said:

What constitues other income in light blue?

Seems very significant in West Coast and Freo

and paltry in the case of Melbourne

 

I think West Coast and Fremantle manage the corporate box sales at their home games.  It also could be the money allocated to them by governments to build their new training facilities

8 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The main avenues of extra revenue are sponsorship and selling reserve seat and corporate box packages to home games. This is why getting to 50k and above members is a must as it creates a scarcity which means members must buy reserve seat packages. Having a lot of MCC members hurts us in this regard as they obviously have the MCC reserve so don't need to reserve a seat.

Reserve seat and corporate packages are where the interstate clubs thrive and where clubs like Collingwood, Essendon and the Cats make a packet.

The other option is selling more games interstate which is obviously anathema to the supporters.

My understanding at MCG  and Etihad the stadium sell the corporate boxes, MFC did have their own box a few years back but I'm not sure if we still do.

Unfortunately we sit in the bottom third for most key revenue streams, this won't change we need to accept that no point comparing us to bigger clubs we will never compete financially with them.

 

10 minutes ago, drdrake said:

 

Unfortunately we sit in the bottom third for most key revenue streams, this won't change we need to accept that no point comparing us to bigger clubs we will never compete financially with them.

 

Absolute Bollocks. 

We were sitting at the top of the pile 50-60  years ago, and got lazy

and then people got your attitude

”oh it’s all too hard”

the worst decision was not taking the Lexus Centre. That put us back years. 

11 hours ago, TGR said:

Wattsy's 150k is the antithesis of stabilisation I would have thought.  What's that.  300-400 memberships?

and the savings of 850k is equivalent of about 1700-2300 memberships (based on your estimates)

so watt?

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

So the AFL are going to cut all their sponsorships with TAB, Sportsbet, Crownbet, Crown Casino etc? I doubt it very much 

We are talking about losing Pokies profits - you know the issue you were not aware existed according to one of your earlier posts in this thread. You are talking on other issues and clearly getting the two confused. AFL corporate sponsors have very, very little to do with MFC revenues.

 

58 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The main avenues of extra revenue are sponsorship and selling reserve seat and corporate box packages to home games. This is why getting to 50k and above members is a must as it creates a scarcity which means members must buy reserve seat packages. Having a lot of MCC members hurts us in this regard as they obviously have the MCC reserve so don't need to reserve a seat.

Reserve seat and corporate packages are where the interstate clubs thrive and where clubs like Collingwood, Essendon and the Cats make a packet.

The other option is selling more games interstate which is obviously anathema to the supporters.

Sponsors and corporates are attracted by positive, vibrant, energetic, willing to embrace new ideas and the ability to make changes quickly and efficiently with the minimum of fuss. 

Think its called demographics matching - I sometimes wonder what the demographics of our community would be? 

 

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Sports psychologist is a must too

Cost money which I'm sure you are aware.