35 minutes ago, george_on_the_outer said:

Rubbish statistics........Average is because clubs play other sides.

Play Collingwood twice and your average goes up, without a single extra Melbourne supporter turning up.

Loss of members in a year = higher average, because of simple arithmetic.

Why is Geelong so low?.....lack of seating at their ground.

Why is WCE so low? High membership numbers compared to what they can fit in the ground. Same as Geelong.

I tend to agree. More important for the club should be the revenue per member.

How many of those St Kilda "members" joined after the NAS signing? I believe they had an special membership.

Ditto pet memberships.

On home attendance, again it is a moot point. Even if Jeelong was a sellout crowd every week, there is no way they could match their membership number (GMHBA is 40k capacity).

It should be based on attendance/venue capacity. However, with teams playing "home" games interstate or in different venues (see Marvel) it all becomes very disingenuous.

22 hours ago, praha said:

I know we have had trouble on field and in the lockroom but I would immediately be gutting the marketing and membership departments. To lose that amount only four years after a flag... that is just absolutely shocking. Really reminds me of 90s Melbourne, run like an amateur club that hasn't moved into the professional era.

I imagine signing Buckley won't prompt a bump in membership but nothing short of a trip back to finals would help. We are at real risk of falling behind North next year.

Don't worry about North, we're at risk of falling behind GWS and the Suns in the next decade.

20 hours ago, whatwhat say what said:

is anyone actually surprised?

also, i would be more curious to see revenue from membership vs total membership - the latter is very rubbery in terms of calculated figures

we're a small club with the team towards the bottom of the ladder; we might be at the bottom of the ladder for membership totals, but we are mid-table for crowd attendance:

Blockbuster MCG home games against Tigers and Pies help that. If Carlton and Essendon played more games at the G instead of Docklands their numbers would be far better.

Measure crowd numbers against interstate clubs instead when opposition supporters don't beef up the numbers for a true reflection.

2 hours ago, whatwhat say what said:

If we can just lose another 10k members we'll be top of the pile 😉🤣

I got sent this by a friend today and while the data doesn't allow for ground capacity as part of the %, it does reflect well on us and should be dragged out every time we get bashed for low crowds.

Also - GWS with 37k members?!?

21 minutes ago, D Rev said:

Also - GWS with 37k members?!?

Yeah apparently their membership numbers soared when the AFL decided to allow imaginary people in the count.

Couple of things in this. Playing at the MCG no doubt skews this a bit. Small membership in a big stadium means we get bigger numbers to our home games especially against other victorian teams. 80k in a home game against the Pies does not mean the game had 130% attendence by Melbourne supporters

Another issue, Freo are top of the pop because they sell out Optus every week. But so do West Coast who end up 16th because they are a much bigger club. Means the rankings aren't particularly useful.

A better way to work out how well our members represent themselves would be by looking at our home crowds against non-victorian teams, especially teams like Freo, GWS, West Coast, Port Adelaide and Gold Coast who tend to have low interstate attendence.

From that group this year we had home games against GWS, Gold Coast, Freo and West Coast. Our average against those teams was 22,345

1 minute ago, KozzyCan said:

Couple of things in this. Playing at the MCG no doubt skews this a bit. Small membership in a big stadium means we get bigger numbers to our home games especially against other victorian teams. 80k in a home game against the Pies does not mean the game had 130% attendence by Melbourne supporters

Another issue, Freo are top of the pop because they sell out Optus every week. But so do West Coast who end up 16th because they are a much bigger club. Means the rankings aren't particularly useful.

A better way to work out how well our members represent themselves would be by looking at our home crowds against non-victorian teams, especially teams like Freo, GWS, West Coast, Port Adelaide and Gold Coast who tend to have low interstate attendence.

From that group this year we had home games against GWS, Gold Coast, Freo and West Coast. Our average against those teams was 22,345

Please let’s just enjoy being second on a ladder, any ladder. 😜

22 minutes ago, D Rev said:

Also - GWS with 37k members?!?

I suspect they give out a truck load of memberships to the local community.

Just like St Kilda offer a free 3 game membership to every kid in the SMJFL.

5 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

Please let’s just enjoy being second on a ladder, any ladder. 😜

We've already got the AFLW ladder for that!

31 minutes ago, D Rev said:

I got sent this by a friend today and while the data doesn't allow for ground capacity as part of the %, it does reflect well on us and should be dragged out every time we get bashed for low crowds.

Also - GWS with 37k members?!?

Those membership numbers are damning. No doubt there is funny numbers in these stats but to be essentially a bees [censored] in front of North, who have failed for the last decade and behind the Doggies and Saints despite winning a premiership only 4 years ago is a worrying sign. For WC to get over 100K members despite being a failure for the past 5 years is amazing.

I have no doubt that the last 2-3 years of poor governance and leadership and constant media scrutiny has done massive damage to our club. Steve Smith and Paul Guerra have a mammoth task not only to make us successful on the field, but also make us somewhat relevant again.

No wonder why every media personality doesnt think twice before they come around and take a dump on our club.

I've still got a bitter taste in my mouth about this when I saw last month the Dogs and Saints had more members. I know for certain we have more supporters than those 2 clubs. In 2023 I honestly thought we were going to overtake Hawthorn in the next year or two and even get close to Essendon.

Instead we've gone backwards fast. If that rabble of the Saints can sell more hope than us then something is drastically wrong. Our whole membership department, marketing and strategy needs to be reviewed.

Edited Thursday at 10:582 days by At the break of Gawn

13 hours ago, At the break of Gawn said:

I've still got a bitter taste in my mouth about this when I saw last month the Dogs and Saints had more members. I know for certain we have more supporters than those 2 clubs. In 2023 I honestly thought we were going to overtake Hawthorn in the next year or two and even get close to Essendon.

Instead we've gone backwards fast. If that rabble of the Saints can sell more hope than us then something is drastically wrong. Our whole membership department, marketing and strategy needs to be reviewed.

Interesting thread this and some good points made. I'm sure it is out there and I'd love to see the survey data around how and why members sign up - or more importantly don't - and what percentage of each factor impacts the total block of members (and members who haven't re-signed).

Another interesting factor would be to see what % of club members also have MCC or AFL membership. More specifically still, and I know itd be hard to get, how many MCC members support MFC but don't take out the MFC membership option.

I reckon earlier points on 'free 3 game' memberships cannot be discounted, along with the other '3 game' and mixed lolly bag memberships other (mostly Marvel) clubs offer.

I seem to remember we hit 70k members in 2023 (but could be wrong). To be down at 58k would represent a 17% loss, which is probably understandable due to the last 2 years and off-field issues. Again, would be good to see comparable data sets to other clubs.

Just on the Dogs and Saints, Doggies had deals like $1 memberships on the proviso thst the following year was full price and St Kilda had $7 3 game packages for 2026 recently.

I would be curious what each club's full home adult membership numbers are? 🤔 Too often its a case of comparing apples with oranges.

Alarm bells time.

17 minutes ago, No. 31 said:

Just on the Dogs and Saints, Doggies had deals like $1 memberships on the proviso thst the following year was full price and St Kilda had $7 3 game packages for 2026 recently.

I would be curious what each club's full home adult membership numbers are? 🤔 Too often its a case of comparing apples with oranges.

But good on them for getting away with that. Why aren't we using the same tactics?

I can't think of any other team dropping 17% of members in 2 years in my whole time following footy. The trend is usually always upwards. It's an absolute disaster and probably the most pressing issue after finding a coach and the home base.

Edited Friday at 01:132 days by At the break of Gawn

1 hour ago, D Rev said:

Another interesting factor would be to see what % of club members also have MCC or AFL membership. More specifically still, and I know itd be hard to get, how many MCC members support MFC but don't take out the MFC membership option.

The percentage of MCC members that are MFC supporters is I suspect falling year by year. By length of tenure and number of supporters you'd expect Richmond to be well up there and for Collingwood and Essendon to be on the rise.

I know among my children's group about ten MCC members and none follow MFC. (MCC membership almost doubled to fund the Northern Stand so it's now biased towards 30 somethings.)

45 minutes ago, At the break of Gawn said:

But good on them for getting away with that. Why aren't we using the same tactics?

We have in the past.

We had $13 3 game memberships when Clarry re-signed, and I think we did the same with Kosi.

A good way to bump our member numbers is to get a better digital membership deal for fans. Dogs got loads of members because their digital membership with Kayo was cheaper than anyone else, and cheaper than taking out a Kayo subscription.

It also feels like as members we get very little back from the club, and I am not talking wins and losses. We get a few 'events' for 10/20/50 year members etc, but those events are mostly some training sessions nobody can attend if they have a job.

Doing something like having exclusive online content for fans, maybe insights from the coaches, or more stats available for paid up members, pre game events with players etc. Perhaps exclusive merch, better discounts with sponsors etc.

In this cost of living crisis, a lot of people can't justify the price of a membership. If we aren't winning, and you don't think finals are on the cards, then what other value do you get from your membership? This is something the club has to work on, increasing value adding to the members, and making memberships appear to be better value for money than they currently are.

This is what happens when you become unwatchable.

You have looked at the wood and not the trees.

It’s not this area of the membership that is the chief worry.

It’s undoubtedly the normal rank and file Dees fans.

The MCC can always join when they want but basically are a bonus to our total.

Any Club that loses 10,000 members like we did vs GWS and Power late in 2024 to two games the first when we still mathematically had Finals chance should be worried how dedicated they are when the chips are down.

our actual attendances at the G in 2025 with the 23,000 being the least ( admittedly early in the year but vs GWS and rainy and cold day) stood up reasonably.

Only the near 17,000 at Marvel ( after the Saints debacle the round earlier ) was under 20,000.

Many can point to the more family friendly Sat arvo and twilight fixtures and similar on Sundays as proof that The evening prime fixtures are not popular.

Proof of our away negativity is patently obvious with not many Dees fans on the Blues and pies nights the Hawks not do much as CB it was a home game replacement game.

The lowest Queens/Kings Birthday crowd of 77,000 only would be our numbers no doubt Esther than Pies. Anzac Eve held up but really plenty of Tigers away fans still attended.

We are now back as second last as a Vic membership but still in the top 9 hanging on in front of many Clubs that would relish the G as a home base.

We can only hope that with a new Coach that the football is more attractive plus our W and K ration improves and that we start by getting that not rusted on 10,000 fans straight back.

All the boost from 2015 in the decade due to our success is eroded really with 2,years of Goody’s style and the failure to keep fair weather fragile “fans”Engaged.

50 minutes ago, 1858 said:

This is what happens when you become unwatchable.

Not true. Look at other clubs who are playing rubbish football while simultaneously keeping or even growing their base.

16 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Not true. Look at other clubs who are playing rubbish football while simultaneously keeping or even growing their base.

Absolutely true.

Performing poorly and being unwatchable aren't necessarily the same thing. Our game day attendances have also dropped off significantly. We've played a frustrating, over defensive, counter-productive, energy sapping game style for too long and it has caught up with us. So much wasted effort for so little reward on the score board. Nobody wants to watch that [censored] anymore and I dare say the players have had enough of it too.

The age of the 'expected score' is hopefully over.

33 minutes ago, 1858 said:

Absolutely true.

Performing poorly and being unwatchable aren't necessarily the same thing. Our game day attendances have also dropped off significantly. We've played a frustrating, over defensive, counter-productive, energy sapping game style for too long and it has caught up with us. So much wasted effort for so little reward on the score board. Nobody wants to watch that [censored] anymore and I dare say the players have had enough of it too.

The age of the 'expected score' is hopefully over.

So West Coast, Carlton, Essendon and North are better to watch than we are? I think not

14 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

In this cost of living crisis, a lot of people can't justify the price of a membership. If we aren't winning, and you don't think finals are on the cards, then what other value do you get from your membership? This is something the club has to work on, increasing value adding to the members, and making memberships appear to be better value for money than they currently are.

I get very little out of my MCC/MFC Dual membership, its more of a donation.
I pay the Premium and aside from supporting the club, I get very little direct benefit - GA Access or MCC Guest Pass benefit a pal if i bring one, i don't have a kid so the junior membership goes to someone else's kid. The Premium is the only way to get the GFG but that's gone to waste last few seasons. I could easily get away with the Exclusive package, so do not follow me for financial advice.

MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB/MCC EXCLUSIVE - $89

Benefits include:

• MFC/MCC Member Merchandise Pack (Opt In) - Including a scarf and bumper sticker

• General admission access to 2 home games in Melbourne including Marvel Stadium

• Access to one complimentary Gather Round Category 3 Reserved Seat or General Admission on The Hill - Standing ticket or option to upgrade to a discounted Reserved Seat in Category 1 or Category 2

• Priority access to purchase tickets in the general public for Weeks 1-3 of the finals in which Melbourne participates

• Discounted tickets to Melbourne Football Club/MCC match day luncheons

MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB/MCC PREMIUM - $239

Benefits include:

• MFC/MCC Member Merchandise Pack (Opt In) - Including a scarf and bumper sticker

• Three game guest pass into MCC Reserve for specific home matches

• Free junior membership for a child under 15 years (as at 1/1/26)

• General admission public reserve access to all home games in Melbourne including Marvel Stadium

• Access to one complimentary Gather Round Category 3 Reserved Seat or General Admission on The Hill - Standing ticket or option to upgrade to a discounted Reserved Seat in Category 1 or Category 2

• Priority access to purchase tickets in the general public for Weeks 1-3 of the finals in which Melbourne participates

• Discounted tickets to Melbourne Football Club/MCC match day luncheons

The membership numbers are rubbish

The Tigers average 40K but have 92K members? so more than half of their members don't attend any games?

Not saying we haven't gone down but it would be better to discuss actual member numbers