Hawks made their wealth off having a lot of pokies and keeping them for as long as possible. They only just got out of them, but have a massive war chest because of it.
I honestly don’t know why clubs feel the need to get out of pokies, it’s legal and the responsibility should be on government to regulate it if they see an issue. I see it not much different to serving alcohol.
Nothing is anywhere near as profitable. To give you an idea, if you look across all Australian sport, clubs like the Penrith Panthers and Canterbury bulldogs in the nrl are two of the richest, but they make less money from football operations (members, attendance) than the AFL’s lowest club the gws giants do. Their gaming brings in 65 mill and 80 mill alone. Their football money 1.5 to 3 mill. We bring in 20 mill from football, yet these clubs are richer than us
On another note, even St Kilda made a profit this year, how we are making losses with our fan base is pretty confusing.
That’s not necessarily the approach I’d be going after.
Essendon should be referencing its crowds in the late 1990’s at the MCG and further supporting this with the Marvel crowds it achieved in good on field years at Marvel for the basis of its pitch. A successful Essendon on field is the reference point when looking at crowds.
Go back to the stronger years around 2000-4, 2007, 2009 etc and look at what a successful Essendon was drawing at Marvel against interstate sides. It regularly drew 43-50K against the Lions, Swans, Eagles for instance. You can’t even get that sort of crowd in there now.
So, the reference point on crowds based on the expectation and emotion in future, it’s not referencing what a perpetual sh.t Essendon looks like.
A reference point. In 2019, Essendon drew 60K to the G against the Swans (Ess 10th Vs Swans 9th). It drew 49K against the Lions (Ess 10th Vs Lions 4th).
Essendon will be successful again. It will win finals. It might be less than 12 months away. Essendon’s crowds will grow strongly, it will draw much more casual Essendon followers back to games and neutrals will want to see a good team play. Supporters will become members again and go to more games accordingly as game day ‘show rates’ escalate. Thats the reference point. Essendon needs to be negotiating based on the future, not the past.
Agree to disagree.
You start laying the groundwork, but I don’t think anything materialises until you actually prove those points.
When we come good, we will sell out MCG games as well as Marvel games. And the attendance by reserved seat members will be increased as well. That’s a certainty. It’s just unsure when that happens (for all we know that won’t happen for another 5 years). Winning is the X factor. Not when we play nor where we play.
You reference isolated MCG games that drew well. I can also reference isolated MCG games that could have been played at Marvel. This year, the Port game (against a top 4 team when we weren’t too far away from them) reached 38k at the MCG. This could have been held at Marvel.
In 2022 we played Sydney at the MCG in front of 43k. This could have been played at Marvel.
The Bulldogs games warrant being at the MCG. Especially when they have actually been competitive. But if we remain to be average and they turn crap, the games will warrant being at Marvel.
We are not the same team as we were in the 1990s nor the 2000s. Yes, when we return to that level of competitiveness, we will have more data to warrant more games at the G. Until then, it’ll just be prodding until that time comes.
So that year when we do jump from a middle of the road team to a top 4 or finals winning team will have Marvel sellouts. I’d then expect the following year to be the one where we start getting more MCG games.
Failed promises will just screw up the relationship even further with the AFL and MCG. I’m sure we projected a far better showing against Carlton in 2022 for our ‘150 year anniversary’ than a measly 65k turnout. It still warrants an MCG game, but we would have insisting we’d get 85k that night.
We will get more games at MCG when we earn them.
Not by using our marketing convincing rubbish to show how much better we are than we actually are.
When we do that, teams like Collingwood, Richmond and Carlton will be playing more games against Gold Coast, GWS and Fremantle at Marvel because it will make sense for both the AFL and us.
I’ve voted. Roberts/Evans.
Best of luck to all. I don’t think Blitz has as much clout as it used to. Twitter & other social media platforms are where the engagement with members works best.
Do the results get announced at the AGM or prior to it?
I have always thought that EFC Elections are poorly run and not actually democratic. To have 80000 eligible voters and have about 8% actually bother to vote is appalling and shows the process is flawed.
Did you get to campaign in any other way than by your Candidate Statement and on Blitz ?
I would argue the Club should provide email, postal and phone details to all Candidates to make it a fairer outcome. Pretty hard to campaign if you have limited access to the Voters.
All polls say that around 60% of Victorians support tougher actions on gambling and poker machine. May not be as radical as your policy but should give a solid base in the 80000, if you could contact them.
I feel that during the Raptor era we were sent text confirming that voting is open/ closed and the information was also sent via email, but aside from that if you’re not on blitz, I’d have no idea how you are meant to know whether you can/ can’t vote, and how you are meant to do so.
The candidate statement is restricted to 200 words including my contact details so that doesn’t leave much space to give my background, thoughts and policies. Ideally the club arranges a video chat room where the candidates have some time to present themselves and take questions. It would be an excellent way engage the members. I spoke to some journalists but didn’t get any traction on that front. I had a quite a few members contact me via my email which was great and some found me on facebook and Linkedin but it was difficult to reach the members without resorting to a scatter gun approach.
I don’t consider my policy radical. I will be asking the club to commit to the exit of poker machines and understand that this will take planning and time. As it turns out the pending restrictions about to be brought in by the state government may force the hand of the club in getting out of the poker machine industry. Costs of running venues are sky rocketing and revenues are about to be slashed. Not a great model to be involved in.
I do not want to argue with you about pokies. My view is well known and I think your approach is poor on many levels. I agree with the new State Government rules and while it may reduce pokie income, it will be minor. The sums at Melton Club have been done and reduced hours will have more effect on alcohol sales than gambling income.
My interest is about fair elections and being in a contest with a well known ex player, coach or even sitting Director without any direct access to voters is unfair.
All local government, state and federal government and union elections, candidates receive the voting roles as part of the process. Still means you have to spend money, but at least you can get access to all voters if you want.
Going to go the way of smoking. A known social harm that while legal, will continue to be subject to more and more government regulations and policies which will continue to drive its profitability down.
That’s enough reason alone to exit them asap, even if you don’t object morally to being involved in a grubby industry
Actually it would exist without gambling but it would not offer the same activities and services.
The problem with many of these places is that the organisation is geared to gambling revenue, and in my view it is a faulty business model to have gambling as a core business rather than creating extra profits. Many golf clubs are now in deep pain as pokie revenue falls and Government charges rise, so Members fees rise or they go broke.
NRL Clubs all have sprawling Leagues Clubs operations. They’re all very powerful and sustain their clubs. Why are pokies such a pox in Victoria yet part of cultural roots north of Murray?
