Diamond_Jim

you can either stand in front of the train or plan how you are going to move. As the man said... "The times they are a changing"

Just putting it out there but the continued reliance upon pokies could have an adverse impact upon memberships in the future. It troubles me as I am sure it troubles others. I would like to see a long term strategy (5-10 years) for their removal. They may be legal but that does not mean that I have to support their insidious impact upon vulnerable members of the community. In reality this is only moving with community opinion. Twenty years ago concepts of ethical investment were laughed at and now they are mainstream.

Would love to know the basis for the inclusion of Weideman. Let's be honest he has shown little at VFL level and the jury is firmly out as to whether he will make it. What worries me is that a so called "expert" is so ignorant of our players strengths and weaknesses. Suggests that we are very low profile.

The dream draw ... better still easy to get tickets

Like to hear more on how it would work at AFL level and how it works in other sports I have an open mind on the subject at present.

Peter Gordon of Footscray was asked about pokies during his regular spot on 774. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable with them but said it's all about money. Sounds like motor sports and cricket during the tobacco sponsorship debate. While I am not sure how you get pokies out of the NRL or the local bowls club etc there is no excuse for the AFL in not at least having a declared say 10 year strategy to rid themselves of pokies plus the gambling ad revenue. It will only get worse.

Unfortunately we all know the answer to that one. On the other hand I do not see the match day supporter as being a vital target for sponsors. It is more about getting the brand onto national television. Imagine the difference in the sell to sponsors between us and Carlton with all their Friday night games. (Just emphasizes that winning by itself will not answer our long term concerns.)

So Ange has gone..... love him or hate him his tenure must be rated a success if for no other reason than his willingness to utilise A League players. Left field .... what about the coach of either the Italians or the Dutch Not sure what to expect at this WC but even though I like the attacking style of Ange's game plan we just don't have the players to pull it off at the WC level.

To be honest it's the NRL who are absolutely dependent upon pokies. AFL has a opening to ditch them if it has the stomach for it. Can't see it happening

only one of the Collingwood games was a home game... so that makes three games. 50k at the MCG is bare minimum ... it's not a great payday when the break even factor is around 25k You need to regularly punch into the near sell out numbers so you can sell the reserved seats (not sure why "[censored]" was censored. It refers to the punishment commonly inflicted on sailors and others in the 18/19th century)

Great to watch We really should have won the flag in 1990 but we fluffed it.

Here's another site that has the same figures but an easier and bigger break out. Adelaide tops or near tops many areas. For example its revenue from games played is 22M against ours of 7M. It's 4th in the sponsorship stakes and doubles us in that area. http://www.footyindustry.com/?page_id=2946 The revenue from pokies has the affect of skewing the figures in the sense that the profit margin relative to turn over on pokies is low. It doesn't need to be high as the real measure is return on investment not turnover. The writing is on the wall about AFL and pokies. Only takes some pressure from the big sponsors and clubs will be forced to give up that little earner. Port Adelaide only gets a small pokie revenue (probably goes to the local Magpies) but other than them no interstate club is on the pokies spiral.

how many home games do we get that attract more than 50k. Collingwood and Richmond (recently) To make money you need to create a rarity factor ... we will not get it at the MCG Love the MCG myself but financially it is not a good fit for MFC

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

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.

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.

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.

Essendon reported a record profit of $5 million today. In a few years that will probably be $20 million as they "monetise" their membership base. The AFL will try to cap football department spending in theory but that money has to go somewhere and somehow I don't suspect it's going into the suburban leagues. Perhaps they could reduce the price of their reserved seats?

Apparently these were the most popular names in 1999 .... the chances of a "jack" look high Joshua, var. Joshuah▼, .. 8 more2.Jack, var. Jacky, .. 7 more3.Lachlan4.▲2Thomas, var. Tomas▼, .. 23 more5.▲2James, var. Jaimie, .. 27 more6.▼2Matthew, var. Mathew▼, Mathieu▼, .. 32 more7.▼2Daniel, var. Danial▼, .. 19 more8.newNicholas, var. Nicholaus new, .. 60 more9.▲1William, var. Willem▼, .. 33 more10.▼1Benjamin, Read more at http://www.thinkbabynames.com/popular/1/australia/1999#Uwz1C2pyAYJsaCLl.99

Forgot it was on but I did enjoy the NRL last night

Ah ... the old Sandown races. Do they still run the Sandown Cup? I remember some of the cup horses used to run in it so as to pay their expenses etc. I hear that the old place may be sold for housing. Perhaps they could extend the place across the road. (The crematorium). Many years ago in a job I had, the people at the Springvale cemetery asked for my advice on how to make the cemetery more family friendly. They were thinking of bike rides etc to increase the cafe patronage. Even offered me a tour out the back which I politely declined.

To be honest lists were a lot bigger in those days and you could have more spec players on your list. Perhaps the AFL needs an academy in Ireland. Pity that Ireland is not a big draw country. Imagine if say Canada or France had a Gaelic tradition and were then available for growing the game. In the future I am worried that the power clubs will be able to spend money on overseas development. In return they will demand a form of exclusivity. After all there is a limit on how many local netball teams you can fund.

Some more great news. I booked for Kazan simply because it looked like a nice relatively small city and it has direct flights to Dubai. Being reported today that the Socceroos will be based in Kazan so we are odds on to see at least one of their matches. All I need is the Dees to do well next year and 2018 could be a very good year PS On closer reading they picked Kazan before qualifying so it will be just luck if they play there. Fingers crossed.

Wow......... I now have tickets for Russia for the Group stage and the round of 16 for myself and my son. Over the moon. My tickets are venue specific and are for the city of Kazan which is the Tartar capital of Russia. Never know I may be able to get to a Australian match as well. Now for the airlines and accomodation. Airbnb apartments in Russia are a little basic by the looks of things but hell the vodka is cheap.

no problem with that theory except in the "development area" You cannot carry that many "development" players