I hope you're right. I was saying that based on nothing but my own humble opinion.

Part of why I think you may be right is that currently the club is making 3 fifths of five eighths of the square root of SFA effort to make membership an attractive thing to interstate Blues, and have yet to tap into a potentially huge market.

I live in Sydney, and I'm a member. Other than the beautiful hat and keyring, and a car sticker, what does that membership get me? Not a whole lot this year, and even less in other years when Carlton don't play in Sydney.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Carlton have to capitalise more on their Sydney supporter base. We have a large base in Perth who get 2 games a year but I think the last time we played in Sydney was Rd1 2003.
I'd be happy to sell our games against Port and Freo to Sydney.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

Exactly. Is it too much to ask for one match every second year at the very worst-case scenario? The reason Sydney support/membership isn't great is that our market is ignored.

Compare that with the way Sydney is treated by Collingwood and Essendon*.

And even this year, when we do play, what do we get in terms of trying to get supporters to turn their support into mambership? Nothing.

Like I said, it's tied in pretty closely with the marketing department, and the gripes there.

Sorry if I'm taking this off the original thread idea.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Would anybody object to perhaps Carlton seeling of two home games, at least for a couple of years?

Could sell a game in Perth..............so WA fans could get us there three times a year,

We got a strong market in Brisbane too!

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

I'd have a huge problem with the concept of selling a match to Perth in order to sacrifice a trip to Sydney.

Get real.

Madness.

We have a strong market in Qld? You wouldn't know it given how few matches we play there.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

How many of us AFL carlton Club support bought 2 memberships over the years and this year have only bought 1 per person?
Could this be the missing figures

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Stay tuned We're in for a BUMPY ride

KK, you are right, huge support base up here, should be capitalising for sure. Don't get to games as I live too far away, but will always be a member. Something to do with supporting the club I love to death, and don't wanna see go down the gurgler.

never a member in the good times - MCC membership got me through and paid at the door at PP.

First year of membership 2003.

Bought two gold seats, and maintained them ever since.

I can understand how people aren't buying them now - there just isn't the on field improvement happening. This year i've been to see us against Collingwood, the Saints, Hawthorn, and watched the rest on telly, and we just continue to get beat up.

When we start to look like we can win, people will re-focus.

Until then, for most, its easier (less painful) not to think about it...

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"Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

For the next 2 years (07-08) it would be a good idea to sell the WA games.

The next 2 years I'm sure will continue to be developing years for our team, and I can't see the eagles losing too much form over the next two. So they are likely to be losses for us anyway. In addition, the travel would give our kids a good grounding with demands of travelling interstate; particularly the longest trip. This should hold them in good stead in the following years when we would need everything going our way when we become more competitive, in our quest for a finals berth.

One thing for sure is that the WA games would attract far bigger crowds than in Sydney or Brisbane, resulting in more $$$$.

It will also cater for the huge WA following Carlton has and no doubt would attract more members outside the traditional scope.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

re: WA games. Pretty sure theres no sharing going on, so all the $ generated by these games is retained by those in the West. Same for their games over here, of course we get the $, but its a different thing - Victorians dont come out to watch the teams from the West.

I've been sayiong this for a while. You have to look at the motivation people have for buying a membership. Some look at it as a cost effective way to pre-purchase admission to games. Others look at it as support to the club they love, others might have all sorts of reasons.

If the club was serious they'd have a look into what the motivation is for people. I got the Melbourne Victory member's pack in the post 2 nights ago. Looks great and i'd love to join up but I dont reckon I'd get to 2 games. I love my football and I'd love to support the Victory but is it worth $160 for me if I cant get to the games.

I have the same situation with the Blues but memories of a duffle coat with Ken 9 Hunter on the back, that tram ride up Elizabeth St from the station, all the champions over the years, GF wins etc etc etc. I feel that the blues are in my blood and you dont desert the ones you love when they are in trouble. Entry into the games and 'Club Lifestyle' etc dont really make much difference to me. I'm happy to stump up the $$ just to be a member for emotional reasons.

I might well be in the minority but it would be interesting to see what was the clincher to get folks to sign that cheque in February. If you knew what the 3 top things that would get folks to sign up were, you could tweak the balance of memberships around that market research.

I know you are limited on how you offer games packages etc, but there might be people motivated by all sorts of stuff. How about an Uber Silver membership where you toss in a few extra shekels, just get entry to the same # of games, but get some kind of emotional value adds like maybe one of those social club style functions per season at the filth game where sticks or Jezza or somebody gets up and speaks about belting the filth etc. How about a tour of the inner sanctum. How about a special member's Polo Shirt etc, I dunno!! I stump up for the Silver and I buy my son the squadron every year and we get to maybe 2 or 3 games if we're lucky! Sometimes we get into the MCC members (with a friend) so we dont even use the CFC membership.

Games entry is a minor consideration for me and I am probably in the overwhwelming majority. But if there are folks out there like me, possibly even interstate folks, then if there are enough of us to make indulging us worthwhile, then why not!!

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"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly

Selling home games to interstaters will definitely increase membership.
Good call people, then they wonder why we are in this much shit.
I just wish people would stop looking after there own interests and put the club first.

The reason for moving the games to WA would be twofold; $ and membership drive, which translates to more $. If there isn't any sharing in the gates there must be an incentive for teams to relocate their home games elsewhere.

How much is Melbourne guaranteed for playing their home game in Brisbane? Is it something like 300K?

How much did the Doggies receive for doing the same in Sydney?

How much do the Kangas receive from their games at Manuka?

Granted there may be an incentive in WA for more members to join. But it would be interesting to do the due dilligence and find out if there would be an immediate benefit in terms of playing the game there, just for the short term?

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I love your style 2nd effort.

People like you give me so much belief in this team and in our ability to get through the dark times.

You make significant contribution in terms of food for thought for the CFC. All worth exploring and all worth the effort. The club needs to seek to understand.

Cheers and good luck to your family of blues. They have a great dad.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue