Match day experience - an open letter

[MarkT2]

what about if members or corporates and other freeloaders who arent going to use their seats, get to register online and, if their seats are onsold, then they get a percentage of the sale. It might only get them back $5 of a $60 seat but it might generate some freeing up of the better seats in the house. Too many times there are areas in the ground in the better seating areas, which are sparsely populated.

This is a good idea. There probably isn't much in it financially for the AFL or the club though. I've had 4 seats vacant quite a bit this year. Some incentive to open them to the public is a great idea. Would have to be Pie fans though though given they are in the Ponsford.

 

[Throw]

I want to preface my post by saying that I have read Bigfooty for 3+ years and NEVER posted before. I have just joined Bigfooty now because on seeing this post I realised that THIS ISSUE has caused me so much angst and I am writing in the hope this is read by the club.

I have spoken to MANY SUPPORTERS about this issue and the vast majority agree that attending a football match has become much less enjoyable, some even say intolerable, because of the constant advertising, american style rev ups and intrusive voiceovers and superimposed spectacle at the games. Regardless of how one might feel about the ongoing commercialisation of the game, all I've spoken to agreed that the current experience of watching a game was so intrusive that we all felt we as supporters were being treated with CONTEMPT. Others have described the experience as infantilising, alienating and exploitative.

Many people I know have already started going to the football less because of these factors.

Agree with all of this, and I've used those words (treated with contempt/exploitation/imposition) in earlier posts. The Holden ad exemplifies it best.
Whatever Holden's paying, I doubt it's worth the long term cost of insulting people who have been loyal to the club.

I think the decision makers at the club needs to reassess whether the money is worth it. If it's a long term agreement with Holden then whoever approved it should have their performance managed for exposing the club in this way.

 

[Markfs]

I severely doubt that the money that the corporates provide a worthwhile income. Collingwood gets $10 million in 5 YEARS from that airline. Two lousy million dollars a year. I think that would buy you a handful of commercials on Channel 7 that no one would even bother watching. Yet Collingwood bends over backwards and basically gives its gonads to that airline for a lousy 2 million. If the whole membership paid $30 bucks each extra, we could march those ungrateful tight fisted horse loving ships of the desert right back to where they came from. This club put that airline on the map in this country for a lousy coupla million bucks a year. And I wouldnt like to think about all the corporate seats we've thrown at those freeloaders.... and free meals and drinks....ooops no drinks...

 

[MyManLynch]

I severely doubt that the money that the corporates provide a worthwhile income. Collingwood gets $10 million in 5 YEARS from that airline. Two lousy million dollars a year. I think that would buy you a handful of commercials on Channel 7 that no one would even bother watching. Yet Collingwood bends over backwards and basically gives its gonads to that airline for a lousy 2 million. If the whole membership paid $30 bucks each extra, we could march those ungrateful tight fisted horse loving ships of the desert right back to where they came from. This club put that airline on the map in this country for a lousy coupla million bucks a year. And I wouldnt like to think about all the corporate seats we've thrown at those freeloaders.... and free meals and drinks....ooops no drinks...

Dodgy post.

 

[Markfs]

Dodgy post.

dodgier post...

 

[Throw]

As a follow up to my opening post, I understand Eddie mentioned at the fan forum that the club was listening, conceded that the match day experience was "shit", and that there will be no more artificial crowd noise (the Holden ad) among other things.

My first reaction was "that's great, the problem will be addressed, the club listens to its members". However on reflection, a club that is truly interested in its members shouldn't need a fan forum of angry members and a substantial drop off in crowds to tell it that f***ing the members of the club in the ear is a bad idea. True accountability means moving the people on who let it happen in the first place for showing such poor judgement on something which has the potential to turn people off turning up.

However it is a start. It is encouraging that the club has identified the issue and is making the match day experience a priority but really the members should expect nothing less.

Harry O moving on, Paddy Ryder leaving the Bombers and no more Holden ads. Bring on 2015.

 

[Gone Critical]

As a follow up to my opening post, I understand Eddie mentioned at the fan forum that the club was listening, conceded that the match day experience was "shit", and that there will be no more artificial crowd noise (the Holden ad) among other things.

My first reaction was "that's great, the problem will be addressed, the club listens to its members". However on reflection, a club that is truly interested in its members shouldn't need a fan forum of angry members and a substantial drop off in crowds to tell it that f***ing the members of the club in the ear is a bad idea. True accountability means moving the people on who let it happen in the first place for showing such poor judgement on something which has the potential to turn people off turning up.

However it is a start. It is encouraging that the club has identified the issue and is making the match day experience a priority but really the members should expect nothing less.

Harry O moving on, Paddy Ryder leaving the Bombers and no more Holden ads. Bring on 2015.

Little harsh Throw. Surely not a sackable offence, especially without a knowledge of what other work those people do. Your suggestion could also possibly involve Eddie sacking himself.

 

[BoxMatrix]

what about if members or corporates and other freeloaders who arent going to use their seats, get to register online and, if their seats are onsold, then they get a percentage of the sale. It might only get them back $5 of a $60 seat but it might generate some freeing up of the better seats in the house. Too many times there are areas in the ground in the better seating areas, which are sparsely populated.

Essendon do this. If you can't make it to the game you ring the club in advance, you get a refund and your seat is sold to the public for that game.

 

[Markfs]

Essendon do this. If you can't make it to the game you ring the club in advance, you get a refund and your seat is sold to the public for that game.

well you have to be suspicious if essendon do it but maybe they made a mistake and actually did something right this time..

 

[MyManLynch]

"Geelong president Colin Carter and Brisbane Lions chief executive Greg Swann said club bosses had largely not broached the issue during the 90-minute meeting, while Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said improving the match-day experience for supporters next season was the key topic of discussion."

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...a-drags-on-20140922-10kj0r.html#ixzz3E3WuOosd

The above is an extract from an article re the AFL Presidents/CEO meeting held today before the Brownlow.
Eddies got the message.

 

[frizzle]

Little harsh Throw. Surely not a sackable offence, especially without a knowledge of what other work those people do. Your suggestion could also possibly involve Eddie sacking himself.

I disagree. I think Throw has a valid point. If your position at the club is to make the match day experience as good as it can possibly be, you would think the first thing you would do is get fans feedback about what they want. Instead they implemented smile cam, kiss cam, hug cam & loud o'meter. All they did was copy the american example & hoped it would take off here. Then we have the match day dancers.[sarcasm] Boy what a brain wave. Can't understand how all clubs didn't follow this move. [/sarcasm] The people in charge of the match day experience have proved time & time again they have no idea what the fans want, but never thought to ask in the first place. They decided instead that they would tell us what we want & the fans have rebelled.
Many people have stayed away from games in my opinion, because they made the experience far worse than it ever was. When you cost your club money instead of bringing money to the club then you have failed & your position should be on the line.

 

[regpies]

Match day experience? If you want to fix the match day experience how about win the game of footy.

Any money spent wasted on marketing BS for 'match day experience' should immediately stop and be spent on recruiting and the footy department.

If Port had only won 4 games this year do you reckon their match day experience would be any good? If they were shit there would be 20k people at their games and they wouldn't want to sing when they are getting beat by 100pts.

Winning = match day experience

 

[BlackWhiteBlood]

AFL is a non-stop affair. 30 minute quarters interjected by 2 5minute breaks and 1 15minute break. Unlike the American sports which are stop start affairs or so boring you need loud music playing the entire time. We do not need all these extras to keep us excited. Fan involvement is not really required, playing good football is good enough me for.
- But please turn the volume DOWN, at the breaks I can barely hear my self think with the volume of all the ads and crap cam etc. Oh yeah get rid of the crap cam sponsor ad's as well.

 

[makethat2]

Unfortunately I'm pretty sure Eddie said the Holden noise meter was seen as a success. As well as the dance troops!

 

[dansa]

Unfortunately I'm pretty sure Eddie said the Holden noise meter was seen as a success. As well as the dance troops!

If that is true, I think Ed is really out of touch with the ordinary supporter.

 

[swiftdog]

I agree with the general sentiments of the thread re: Holden ads suck, as do the dance troupe's, kiss cam is horrible and intrusive etc etc but the hyperbole is so damn over the top and is overkill.

Holden ads "****ing members in the ears"
Gambling ads corrupting today's youth

You think having to explain gambling ads to the kids is bad? My first days of going to the footy were at Vic Park (damn I miss it). Spare a thought for my old man who had to explain some of the shit that came from our own supporters mouths to my brother and I while we were barely in primary school.

Not happy with the atmosphere at the ground? Instead of 100% blaming the club and the AFL get up off your seat and create a bit of atmosphere yourself (I'm not saying that the club and AFL haven't made mistakes in this regard though). It's so damn easy to sit behind a computer and whinge about your grievances but in today's society there seems to be a select few that are actually willing to put in some real effort to make a difference. Basically, maybe the problem is with us as a supporter base as well? Rather than cheer, people would rather sit in their seats and whine about this or that instead (and I stress, I'm also extremely happy that the Holden meter is going). Are people seriously considering boycotting matches because of the "match-day experience"? I'm sorry but to me that is just weak. At the end of the day, you're still going to see a game of footy, just like you did 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. Why do the ads bother people so much when there is still a game of footy being played (I'll agree that they're loud and can get annoying but is it really enough to abandon your club)?

Don't understand the digs at Europeans or Americans and their sports either. Like us, they go to sporting events to entertain themselves, how they do that is engrained in their culture and is completely up to them. Unfortunately though we get the typical responses of, and I paraphrase, "socca supporters sing songs because they don't even watch the game lolz", "American sportz are so boring and stop start and suck lol". This sort of crap just comes across as so damn arrogant, conceited and judgemental (like nothing could ever even remotely compare to what a 'Strayan could produce, right?). Not to mention that many AFL players are right into these sports anyway. Anything that Australian sport borrows from American or European is about 1/10th of the actual size of what the home country does anyway. There's plenty of youtube footage of the "experience" provided by other sports, if the AFL continues to go down this route then they shouldn't continue to half-arse it (again, check youtube). Personally though I'd prefer to strip it back and play VFL or TAC cup games beforehand.

Got to remember that it's normal to feel flat after coming down from being on top, there's no doubt in my mind that on-field performances are affecting this also. I was pretty flat throughout 04 and 05 after the grand final losses. I still went to every game I could but there was that small element of not caring if we won or lost and it had nothing to do with the "match-day experience". It's different than in 99 as we really hadn't had any recent success preceding that wooden spoon season (although my memories of the mid to late nineties aren't that strong).

While I don't like things like the Holden ads, Dance troupe, kiss cam etc I feel that some of the buck should stop with us as supporters also. At the end of the day, our attendances were relatively poor as the year came to a close and that is only due to us not getting up and going to the games. Collingwood can't force attendances to rise so therefore the responsibility falls to us. The club is listening to our concerns as far as I can tell so it's up to us to meet them in the middle in 2015 and beyond. It just seems to me that there are too many people willing to pot the club and expect them to change everything they don't like about the footy while doing nothing themselves. Sitting back, watching games on TV and then complaining that you don't like this or that isn't going to get anyone anywhere.

 

[Scodog10]

Match day experience? If you want to fix the match day experience how about win the game of footy.

Any money spent wasted on marketing BS for 'match day experience' should immediately stop and be spent on recruiting and the footy department.

If Port had only won 4 games this year do you reckon their match day experience would be any good? If they were shit there would be 20k people at their games and they wouldn't want to sing when they are getting beat by 100pts.

Winning = match day experience

Bloody oath! Eddie's taking his eyes off the prize with this one.

Get the senior team playing an attractive brand of footy that wins games (ala Port) and the fans will have all the positive match day experiences they need!

 

[MyManLynch]

Don't the AFL & MCG have more of a say about match day entertainment?
Collingwood must lobby to change some aspects. We obviously control dancers & Holden ads?
This issue was raised by Collingwood members at the recent feedback session.
Hence Eddie is following up as promised.
Naturally, football performance is the priority for all clubs. Doesn't mean you cannot tackle non football issues simultaneously.

 

[DrDavoren]

I just miss being able to rock up and watch the under19's and reserves before the match.
Even the old guy with peanuts
I haven't been for a year and a half now as it costs too much to take the family
Now I am limited to radio and iPad when we get those shit twilight games, I think the game is geared for prime time tv and the supporters are starting to show their feelings by turning away.
I actually have taken more interest in the local footy and I forgot how good grass roots is.

Love the Pies but becoming disenfranchised in the last 5 years with too much tinkering