2010 Memberships

[buster bunny]

It is a bit counter-productive discounting a good or service to people who will pay the full amount. And it is the members who will pay the full amount.

It could be argued that the per-game price for diehard members should actually be more expensive than for the nonchalant public who need to be convinced to actually go to a game.

I realise that the argument does work both ways - we need to create more 'diehard members' so make their tickets cheaper.

Our club has, this year, removed the 10% merchandise discount for members and no longer gives a double pass to a home game with the basic entry-level membership. This really makes a lot of sense. Why discount merchandise to the people who are going to buy it anyway and why give out a free pass to people who are likely to only attend a couple of games each year (which they would happily pay for).

I would argue that rather than giving out these kind of discounts or freebies, it would be better to value add by throwing in low cost extras (which some clubs are doing) such as tours of dressing sheds after games or posters by players (cheap and won't stop people actually buying anything)

While some of your points make sense there are some things that could backfire. While most die hards will buy merchandise without a discount there is no guarentee they will buy it directly from the club which offers more to the club than people buying their stuff from other sports stores. Also it is a big assumption to think that all members are die hards and would go to every game for full price. I would say most season ticket holders sign up because they find it better than having to pay full price. As well as this the club would like having more season ticket holders even at a discounted price since they know they will have guarenteed income regardless of problems such as poor weather or poor performance by the team on the field.

 

[boo_boo]

I've read this forum for a while but couldnt resist signing up to post on this topic.

To the St George Illawarra fan wondering where all the Souths fans were in the 80's and 90's i'd ask him/her the same question about their clubs fans. Over the course of the 80's and 90's the total average crowd figure differnence between Souths and the Dragons was 600 people. St George had an average crowd of 9,967 per game over those 2 decades while Souths had an average crowd of 9,369.

You might not like to remember it but St George had their share of dark times too in that period. In 1988 the mighty Dragons could only draw 5700 people to their home games each week.

You'll also note that Souths didnt have to merge to stay part of the league... And are doing fine today under the same banner they have used for the past 102 years.

You'll also note no one marched to keep St George from merging thus ending their 42 year stint as part of the ARL.

It's been 39 years since Souths won a premiership. Thats not good... But i''ll take the 20 we won previous to that over the 0 that St George Illawarra have won. Concentrate on your own problems.

PS: The year before we were kicked out we were getting over 12,000 people per game to the SFS. Look it up.

And in 1999 who could forget that magnificent South Sydney victory over Rugby Leagues first franchise, St George Illawarra on the sacred turf of the SCG where we nailed them 25-24 in what can only be described as a classic game of Rugby League.
It was a game fitting of a Grand Final but i have to admit getting just as much enjoyment seeing STGI go down to Melbourne in the GF proper.
That was a real shame.

 

[MTK]

...I would say most season ticket holders sign up because they find it better than having to pay full price....

You raise an interesting idea there, Buster.

I originally signed up because I went to a majority of home games and liked to have decent seats with a reasonable view guaranteed (whereas Ticketek were a bit of a lottery - sometimes the salesperson would let you look at their map and pick seats, other times they wouldn't). Now, I am a ticketed member as form of charity and 'to do my bit'. I now live too far away to be able to attend many games.

Maybe the discount is a big thing to lure people as members. If so, I stand corrected. I think I narrowly assumed that my reasons for joining were the same as everybody else's.

 

[buster bunny]

You raise an interesting idea there, Buster.

I originally signed up because I went to a majority of home games and liked to have decent seats with a reasonable view guaranteed (whereas Ticketek were a bit of a lottery - sometimes the salesperson would let you look at their map and pick seats, other times they wouldn't). Now, I am a ticketed member as form of charity and 'to do my bit'. I now live too far away to be able to attend many games.

Maybe the discount is a big thing to lure people as members. If so, I stand corrected. I think I narrowly assumed that my reasons for joining were the same as everybody else's.

I actually think people buy season tickets for a combination of the reasons you and I mentioned. I think it also depends on the clubs situation. For example since souths play at anz which holds 80 000 many people probably don't consider joining for priority seating since on most occassions you can sit in most bays. While at other clubs that have smaller stadiums priority seating is important. Keeping the price low therefore offers people an extra reason to sign up. Also it would be intersting to have stats on how many of the games season ticket holders attend. I think in many cases ticket holders would probably miss some of the games they have payed for thereby making the discounted price even more worthwile than hoping people buy tickets at full price from the ground.

 

[yakstorm]

One thing I think you'll find, particularly with the Sydney clubs, is that it is usually the diehards who are the ones who aren't buying memberships.

Whilst there is a core who will, a lot of clubs memberships are usually made up of fans from the following groups:
- Fans who want to guarantee that when they attend they are always in a good seat.
- Fans who want to financially support their club
- Fans who work out it is cheaper for them to have a membership if they attend their usual X number of games.

Clubs often find the diehards will buy a leagues club membership and say they are a member of their club, or for some reason are ignorant of the advantages of being a member, so I don't think the clubs are missing out by discounting or giving out freebies to games.

Honestly if a club can get to a scenario where it is selling outs its home games regularly (or getting massive crowds), then this encourages more people to sign up to become a member so they don't miss out. More members, equals more sell outs, until the membership base is equal to the ground capacity. Then clubs can start pushing up the price and earning potentially more than they would if everyone only bought on game day, because now there is no game day price.

Also regardless of if the club never quite makes the above scenario, memberships have a lot of financial benefits for a club. First off its guarenteed money, signed up before the club even kicks off. So this takes out performance, weather, competing entertainment. Even the most diehard of fan would possibly be reluctant to attend all 12 home games if their team is being touched up each week... but with memberships the club knows it has that money.

It also brings in cost savings advantages. If you know you'll have 10K at every game from memberships alone, it makes it cheaper (per person) to get security, catering, staff and so on for the ground.

So there are plenty of fiscal benefits that the clubs get from membership, so its understandable why they can afford to discount.

Anyway good to see where some of the clubs are standing membership numbers wise:

Raiders: 3,433
Sharks: 2,934
Sea Eagles: 3,250
Rabbitohs: 13,000+
Bulldogs: 7,472

 

[thommo4pm]

I just got back from the Drgaons fan day at Wollongong / Big Dell's farewell bash.

The events started at 12.00pm, I got there at 12.30pm.
But apparently it was announced before I got there that the Dragons have got to 9,850 members(ticketed I am lead to believe).
Another person has posted this in the Dragons sub-forum that it was announced today.

 

[thommo4pm]

It's been confirmed by some other posters in the Dragons forums that the figure of 9,850 members was stated today.

 

[Jankuloski]

That being before or after the fan day event?

 

[S.S.T.I.D]

Well done St. George-Illawarra. But then again, if two clubs can't arouse more members than one it would be a bit of an embarrassment.

 

[thommo4pm]

That being before or after the fan day event?

It was announced at the start of the day, so I would assume it does not include any memberships that may have been taken up today.

 

[thommo4pm]

Well done St. George-Illawarra. But then again, if two clubs can't arouse more members than one it would be a bit of an embarrassment.

That's a pretty silly thing to say.
We've been St George Illawarra since 1999.

Would you call the Tigers an embarassment then?

 

[innsaneink]

Well done St. George-Illawarra. But then again, if two clubs can't arouse more members than one it would be a bit of an embarrassment.

Cant even win this thing. :lol:

 

[RedVee]

And in 1999 who could forget that magnificent South Sydney victory over Rugby Leagues first franchise, St George Illawarra on the sacred turf of the SCG where we nailed them 25-24 in what can only be described as a classic game of Rugby League.
It was a game fitting of a Grand Final but i have to admit getting just as much enjoyment seeing STGI go down to Melbourne in the GF proper.
That was a real shame.

Thanks mate, and here I was hoping you guys would have a good year. What was i thinking?
First franchise? surely that was the Brisbane Broncos.

to pplspoet.
Yep we formed a joint venture, no argument. You sold 75% of your club to private investors. thats purity?
The old "thousands marched" story? I marched for you guys to be returned to the comp, along with a huge number of people wearing red vees. not to mention North Sydney, Wests and Newtown supporters, hell I even saw an Easts supporter marching - only 1 but what the hey.

It'd be nice if once in a while a Souths supporter would recognise that people from all over the league heartland marched to protest the treatment that Souths & Norths received and the influence of News Ltd.

 

[thommo4pm]

Cant even win this thing. :lol:

Aren't you a Tigers supporter?
If so, then I think he may well have been having a go at your club also about the number of members.....given Saints aren't the only joint venture in the NRL.

 

[Sonic Star]

That's a pretty silly thing to say.
We've been St George Illawarra since 1999.

Would you call the Tigers an embarassment then?

Yes the Tigers are a embarrassment.

 

[SuperSoward]

Well yeah I really look up to souths supporters thinking they're the real deal winning trial games.

Woodenspoon:
-souths 8
-dragons 0

 

[Jono1987]

Hahaha Souffs fans. Everyone knew you idiots would make such a big deal about your membership numbers only (like always) to be eventually beaten by another club. To then follow that up with every excuse in the book was also widely expected. Better luck next year.

 

[_Johnsy]

I am amazed at how souths supporters manage to reach a new level of patheticness each year, they never fail to disappoint.

Why do they have the inability to be happy that a club has a great number of members, I for one would be happy to see all other clubs reach new membership levels, I guess this shows that souths fans actually think they are bigger than the game. As I said truly pathetic.

 

[Ziggy the God]

Clearly, only Saints fans are allowed to respond to people putting shiate on their club, and all the rest have to just cop it. Johnsy says so.

 

[thommo4pm]

Clearly, only Saints fans are allowed to respond to people putting shiate on their club, and all the rest have to just cop it. Johnsy says so.

I haven't put any crap on any club buddy, and I know you & I think the same way about League in general (given posts we've both made in the fight club).
It was one of the Souths supporters though who had a go at a comment I made regarding the membership number I posted from our fan day yesterday.

Earlier in this thread I said it would be great if Souths, The Dogs & Saints all got over 10K. I stand by that, the more numbers each club gets the better. It will help kill off that other garbage called AFL in Sydney.