Connection to Fans

This is all kinda pointless because I can’t be bothered analysing it just now but here’s a few home game attendance charts


Season average Essendon home game attendances by venue 2000 - 2019





All home games at docklands 2000 - 2019 (red = interstate team, black = Victorian)

(of the 5 games against interstate teams to get over 45,000 fans only the first one - Sydney in 2001 was the only one where the interstate team was not the reigning premier)



And just for fun, MCG home games 2010 - 2019 coloured by weather. Size by temperature (smaller the circle, colder the forecast)

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Adding one more…for the teams we’ve played at both venues between 2010 -2019

So MCG draws a bigger crowd in all cases

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I know there’s an ideal world argument where you want to maximise attendance but there comes a point where fans need to do their part. I’m not convinced that you’ve offered a good reason as to why these particular MCC members should be pandered to simply because they prefer the ease of the MCG.

I travel in from Ballarat and it’s a hell of a lot easier to get to Docklands than it is to the MCG. Ample parking, doesn’t have the same traffic jams that the MCG does around the ground, far more direct on public transport (this is particularly important for night games). If it’s a night game I’m far, far, more likely to go if it’s at Docklands than at the MCG and I’d say there’s plenty others out west who are the same.

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Match day for me:
No pre-booking, always best seat on my couch, no ground announcer/dj twats subjecting me to inane babbling at top volume, no stinking urinals, no packed trains, freedom to express my thoughts about umpiring, opposition & Essendon

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Love your work. Now you’re going down a road that I’m passionate about!

Just on >45,000 crowds at Marvel against interstate teams, without harping on about it, there’s plenty of crowds in that 42-44,500 bracket over the years thst have been sellouts to GA with crowd kept within this range by Essendon season reserved seats / Medallion Club etc. Conversely, many of those same crowds would’ve been likely ~50,000+ crowds at the MCG. Just as they were 1996-99 / 2019.

Example 1, that Swans game in 2019. A typical 42-44,000 type Marvel crowd that drew casuals, neutral AFL and MCC members who combined to swell the crowd to 61,000.

Example 2. That Lions game at MCG in 2019. That round 4 game saw Essendon enter the match at 1-3 record… A typical 40-43,000 Marvel crowd that for same reasons above drew 48,000+.

There were several others in recent times too that crowds were held down by the Marvel ‘barriers’. The Round 1 game against the Crows (2018), that last round against Dockers (2018) finals spot on the line come straight to mind. There were several in that short Hird coaching era surge around 2012 as well. Swabs, Eagles my memory recalls. Before about 2010, Essendon sold fewer season seats and therefore there was a larger GA component that could be sold match-day. Thus crowds in that 47-50,000 area were achievable.

As I said. Well done. And if this period was a more successful period, the gap would be wider.

Drivers - Marvel barriers:

  • MCC members reluctant to travel
  • Lack of AFL members seating bays
  • Requirement to plan early / pre book
  • Difficulty going with friends in groups
  • Lack of GA seating
  • Empty EFC member seats restrict ‘capacity’

they aren’t excluding part of the supporter base, you say it very succinctly in your post

“growing” the supporter base comes and goes based on performance. Keeping your supporter base healthy is the main goal, and again they’ve chosen to rely a 50k odd strong base who they can charge exponentially more than most clubs for a similar membership than needing to fill the mcg at 60k plus to make the same or similar amount of money.

but again If people CHOOSE to not want to go somewhere that is not the club “excluding” them, that is THEM making a personal choice, and again if they are willing to pay how much for an MCC membership every year, and can’t be ■■■■■■ “dealing” with a slight inconvenience of going to another ground to support the club, they aren’t really in it for the club’s sake, they are in it to be apart of the MCC wankery and supposed status that brings, which they are obviously allowed to do, but don’t sit here and say the club excludes them, esp when the whole premise of an mcc membership is exclusion.

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Won’t somebody think of the MCC members?

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The principle for me is I want Essendon back playing at the biggest and best stadium in the country, playing in front of the big crowds… Where Essendon is a club any Bomber fan can come and see play any week. I want the Essendon match-day experience of that late 1990’s period. I’m envious of Richmond. Envious of Collingwood. I see those clubs drawing 50,000+ against smaller Victorian and interstate clubs and remember what it was like when Essendon were doing that. That’s why those 2019 interstate fixtures against the Lions / Swans and last years Swans games were so good. They reminded me of what it was like playing back at the G.

It has nothing to do with privillage or of MCC members as such. It just happens to be their absence from Marvel fixtures is a key reason why theirs a disparity in crowds at each venue as you pointed out. And they’re a factor in why we drew big crowds at the G between 1994-1999.

We can go round in circles all day.

Simply, if and when Essendon becomes successful again, most Marvel games will be sold out before match starts with crowds no more than 46,000. That means many thousands of fans can’t go and won’t get in.

Why do you think clubs originally started selling 3 game memberships? To get them to experience going to the footy. The theory being they would enjoy the experience and in future years upgrade their membership to 11 games… Why do clubs have all sorts of discounts like ‘buy last 3 games and get 3 games free next year’? To ensure they lock you into future games. Because they know that if you enjoy the experience you’ll go more often… Yes wins makes all the difference etc etc etc… And yes there’s an element of swelling membership numbers too. But the original premise is the trial / repeat purchase / renewal concept…

Reason why I say this. If you play at the MCG, where most Essendon fans prefer to play (80%), more Essendon fans will enjoy the experience more, be more inclined to go to more matches, buy memberships or upgrade to higher packages levels.

Hence why I say playing at Marvel in my opinion doesn’t appropriately align with the Clubs Strategic Report which clearly states it wants to grow membership to 125,000 and grow its supporter base. And it also contradicts its recent External Review which states it wants to listen and be more engaged with its fans.

Beyond that, it’s semantics and we could go down a rabbit Warren forever.

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There is the f*cking problem. The club shouldn’t be seeking people with business and marketing qualifications to lead fan engagement.

They should be seeking community development, community services, Arts degree…… aswell as Sport and Recreation qualifications.

Selling sh*t to people doesn’t build community or brand loyalty. Business & Marketing quals, also doesn’t train you to run kids activities.

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Completely agree. A mate of mine went for a membership role there once and has a good history of sport and community roles and the feedback he got from just missing out on the role was “try not to be too much of a fan”. It’s ■■■■■■■ football club you have to know what the fans want and have a finger on the pulse so to speak.

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Looking at the role, my colleagues or myself would look at the coordinator role (all with Social work qualifications) who run community, youth and kids programs and events in our sleep…… yet we’d likely be turned away because we don’t have marketing backgrounds.

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Essendon is the second most supported club among MCC members. Close to 15% barrack for Essendon, around 20% I think barrack for Melbourne. It’s always busy in there when we play at the G. And the home team gets money from the MCC for every person who attends the MCC reserve at each game.

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Nah, the club is right, you don’t want super fans working there. Far too biased and clouded.

Imagine if BomberBlitz ran the club? We’d be erecting a fkn grandstand at Tullamarine, trying to get Nubrik back as a sponsor and still playing Will Hams and Nick O’Brien.

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Also I reckon there’s a massive ‘don’t meet your heroes’ vibe about working for your footy team or the AFL.

yes that’s the whole point, if they become successful and can only get 46 k into the stadium, they can charge more, that is the whole point of it.

at a guess i’d say clubs started selling 3 game memberships to artificially pump up their membership numbers on the whole, as in on a spreedsheet one person could potentially buy 7 memberships of 3 games instead of one membership with 18 game home and vic away games.
it’s not about getting people to experience the game, it’s about money and bullshit games about bigger fan bases.

but yes you’re right we will go around in circles. because you want the club to run things to your way, which is based on as you keep saying “expanding the supporter base”. they will continue to make decisions based on what will best make them money, you can keep going around in circles all you like, but that is what they are and will continue to do.

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Not necessarily. You do have to have some people who genuinely care beyond making an living after a marketing degree. Some big fans are already there that’s why they apply at clubs to begin with.

I agree about Blitz but definitely not suggesting that. Membership department has a high turnover so maybe they could do with some passionate fans willing to stick fat.

At the very least it’d be a refreshing change from some of the self serving types in recent years.

The club has treated its supporters like fools for longer than I care to remember. It’s why there are so many Essendon supporters who have a feeling of indifference about the club, obviously not helped by the lack of on-field success. But in truth more people would care if they felt the club valued them rather than took them for granted.

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Three game memberships actually started after Collingwood (I think it was them) did a big market research project. They looked into people all around Australia who barracked for the club but didn’t buy memberships. They then made membership products that actually appealed to people who want to go to the football sometimes but not all the time and it was a hit.

A lot of diehards pot three game memberships, but it’s a great product that makes the club money and with a good marketing plan makes your fans more invested.

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