Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
LIVE: Richmond v Melbourne - 7:25PM Wed
Squiggle tips Demons at 77% chance -- What's your tip? -- Team line-ups »
150k members. Barely 10% turned up excluding guest passes. Extremely big cultural problems within the club if only 10% of members turn up. Compare this to the AFL members, who sell out tickets in 30 minutes.
Something needs to change.
Logical choice. Why was this not enforced for the past 50 years?
This is what they did, changed the rules for the 2019 season. They agreed to more actively manage the reserve for public sell outs when the reserve looks like it won't fill up. Firstly by allowing more vistor tickets, then if needed allowing provisional members in and as a last resort the public.If the rules are to change so drastically, the sensible time to announce it is between October and March. Not a couple of days before the finals. For now, it feels like if the members is the only part of the stadium that is going to have empty seats and if that actually is an issue (I'm certainly not convinced that it is), the appropriate first step would be to offer more guest tickets to members, before just throwing the gates open to anyone who feels like they deserve a seat.
This is what they did, changed the rules for the 2019 season. They agreed to more actively manage the reserve for public sell outs when the reserve looks like it won't fill up. Firstly by allowing more vistor tickets, then if needed allowing provisional members in and as a last resort the public.
Thread bump is a bit premature, the match hasn't sold out yet.So will the MCC implement their new blockbuster policy for Friday night's Pies/Cats game and let the public in?
With AFL/public seats sold out and some inclement weather on the cards, there's a real possibility of a repeat of last year's prelim fiasco with large portions of walk up seats going unused. MCC promised that if this looked like happening they would open it up to provisional members and then the public.
If they do then when/how do they do it? Do they sneak a tweet out at 7:49pm not giving people enough time?
Indeed, the new policy makes sense. If it's pissing down all afternoon then walkup demand will be lower and I reckon they may open it up for provisional members 30 min before.Then I fail to see what the problem is. My Dad is in his first year as a provisional (doubling as an AFL member until he becomes a full MCC member). He wants a ticket and can't get one.
Only standing room available.Thread bump is a bit premature, the match hasn't sold out yet.
Collingwood have more MCC members, so it's likely the MCC would be more cautious with any attempt to open their doors to Provisional/more guest passes.
150k members. Barely 10% turned up excluding guest passes. Extremely big cultural problems within the club if only 10% of members turn up. Compare this to the AFL members, who sell out tickets in 30 minutes.
Something needs to change.
As a member I just found out that the entire L4 of the MCC reserve is unavailable for walk ups this week. You have to have spent $10 to purchase a ticket.
As offensive as this is to full members (paying >$700 a year) it's clear they don't want to be in a position where they have to open up L4 to the rank and file.
This can be applied to any club membership. I assume thousands of Collingwood members are overseas or live interstate, yet we always get more than 10% of our members turning up to not only the biggest games of our season, but also the smallest games of the season. And that's not only Collingwood, it applies to smaller clubs like GWS as well.
The major problem with the MCC is this stupid walkup system. People dont want to wait in line for hours just to get a seat, so they'll just stay home instead. Make every seat available for reservation, and I can guarantee you, the 2018 prelim incident wont happen again.
AFL members also has 90,000 less members. To add to this, they also have plenty of interstate and overseas members. Yet they still sellout, with tons of supporters missing out.
The AFL members is chockers how often?
The MCC members chockers how often?
Just the GF, not even then?
The problem with the last 2 Prelims were how fast they sold out.Only standing room available.
Yes Pies have big numbers, but look what happened in the prelim last year, rows and rows of empty seats. It all comes down to the weather. MCC won't want any visible empty areas, they made a commitment as part of the 2057 GF deal.
AFL members dont have to buy a ticket to get into finals, if there are seats left over from the reserve sale, they can scan in. This happens very rarely. Think the last time it happened was the Cats-Swans semi in 2017.Don't AFL members have to buy tickets to finals? You're comparing apples with oranges.
I feel like those who are just hoping to he outraged by this are going to be disappointed, since it's the only game in Melbourne this weekend. Nevertheless, the club has restricted the number of guests that can come in on Friday (maximum one guest ticket per member, two has previously been the norm).
Everyone knows the deal. You wait 25 years and pay $700 odd a year to turn up when you want. If you don't pay one year, you're back to the end of the waiting list. That's not something that should be changed overnight and certainly not because of a vocal group of people whose opinion on how the MCC should allocate its seating is arguably irrelevant.
I'm only going on Friday because Geelong's playing. There's no way that I'd go to watch anyone else. Some people may only go to the grand final and only if their team is playing. Some people may not use their membership at all. That's their right. That's what they wait decades for and pay an annual subscription for.
If the rules are to change so drastically, the sensible time to announce it is between October and March. Not a couple of days before the finals. For now, it feels like if the members is the only part of the stadium that is going to have empty seats and if that actually is an issue (I'm certainly not convinced that it is), the appropriate first step would be to offer more guest tickets to members, before just throwing the gates open to anyone who feels like they deserve a seat.
MCC members can do what they like they pay for the stadium not the AFL members or spectators who come along occasionally. Pay subscriptions and don’t use is their problem.
No idea about club membership but with AFL membership you can suspend it for the season and not lose it. You cannot stop your MCC without losing it and having to wait 18 or however many years it is now to get offered provisional again.
As I’ve already said the AFL members loses tickets to the Medallion Club. Have no idea how many but I know a fair bit of level 2 is used by corporates all year. Of course it’s going to sell out when you’ve got corporates and paying members who have chosen to renew their membership for the year rather than defer. All the members want to go to the footy.
Yes the walk up system can lead to the rare situation where some seats don’t get filled. That doesn’t mean the rest of the public should just be able to waltz in.
The Southern Stand cost approx $150m. The AFL tipped in $1m per year while it was being built. The rest was financed by the MCC as far as I'm aware, not sure if there were also some government grants. To claim that the AFL members paid for it is a stretch.AFL members dont have to buy a ticket to get into finals, if there are seats left over from the reserve sale, they can scan in. This happens very rarely. Think the last time it happened was the Cats-Swans semi in 2017.
I'm also not wanting to be outraged, I just know I've seen enough to know that the MCC reserve is highly unlikely to be full on Friday, whereas the rest of the ground will be 99% filled.
10% attendance rate is absolutely shocking. Like, if GWS only got 2,000 fans to their game, everyone would be calling for them to be removed from the league. Yet the MCC seems to skirt all blame, and relies on guest passes to boost the attendance The MCC needs to enforce an attendance rate over say, a five year period. If you don't turn up enough times within five years, without a good reason (Like living out of the state) then you are kicked out. Should boost the attendance nicely.
You see that big Southern stand that occupies a third of the ground? Guess who paid for that? The AFL members did. The AFL chipped in the money to build the stand, in turn for a hefty portion of it to be dedicated to the AFL members. So the AFL members do pay for the stadium. To add to this, the spectators also help pay for the stadium. They pay the gate fee, as well as food and drinks, and consume the advertisement. They also pay for the stadium. So stating that the MCC members are the only ones paying for the stadium is flat out false.
I'll have to dig for it, but the AFL members area is about 21,000 seats. Last grand Final, 14,000 seats were sold to AFL members. The rest were given to the various corporate obiligation. And that's only for the Grand Final. I believe regular finals have about 17,000 seats. But that information isn't as open as the GF is.
So only 30,000 AFL members were eligible for tickets, and the tickets sold out in about an hour.
AFL members dont have to buy a ticket to get into finals, if there are seats left over from the reserve sale, they can scan in. This happens very rarely. Think the last time it happened was the Cats-Swans semi in 2017.
I'm also not wanting to be outraged, I just know I've seen enough to know that the MCC reserve is highly unlikely to be full on Friday, whereas the rest of the ground will be 99% filled.
10% attendance rate is absolutely shocking. Like, if GWS only got 2,000 fans to their game, everyone would be calling for them to be removed from the league. Yet the MCC seems to skirt all blame, and relies on guest passes to boost the attendance The MCC needs to enforce an attendance rate over say, a five year period. If you don't turn up enough times within five years, without a good reason (Like living out of the state) then you are kicked out. Should boost the attendance nicely.
You see that big Southern stand that occupies a third of the ground? Guess who paid for that? The AFL members did. The AFL chipped in the money to build the stand, in turn for a hefty portion of it to be dedicated to the AFL members. So the AFL members do pay for the stadium. To add to this, the spectators also help pay for the stadium. They pay the gate fee, as well as food and drinks, and consume the advertisement. They also pay for the stadium. So stating that the MCC members are the only ones paying for the stadium is flat out false.
The Southern Stand cost approx $150m. The AFL tipped in $1m per year while it was being built. The rest was financed by the MCC as far as I'm aware, not sure if there were also some government grants. To claim that the AFL members paid for it is a stretch.
Yes, the club had to increase what is essentially guaranteed yearly revenue in order to secure such a large loan at a decent rate.A lot of members who entered the MCC in the early-late 90s got in at a relatively young age due to this commitment (read: the floodgates opened)
Don't AFL members have to buy tickets to finals? You're comparing apples with oranges.
I feel like those who are just hoping to he outraged by this are going to be disappointed, since it's the only game in Melbourne this weekend. Nevertheless, the club has restricted the number of guests that can come in on Friday (maximum one guest ticket per member, two has previously been the norm).
Everyone knows the deal. You wait 25 years and pay $700 odd a year to turn up when you want. If you don't pay one year, you're back to the end of the waiting list. That's not something that should be changed overnight and certainly not because of a vocal group of people whose opinion on how the MCC should allocate its seating is arguably irrelevant.
I'm only going on Friday because Geelong's playing. There's no way that I'd go to watch anyone else. Some people may only go to the grand final and only if their team is playing. Some people may not use their membership at all. That's their right. That's what they wait decades for and pay an annual subscription for.
If the rules are to change so drastically, the sensible time to announce it is between October and March. Not a couple of days before the finals. For now, it feels like if the members is the only part of the stadium that is going to have empty seats and if that actually is an issue (I'm certainly not convinced that it is), the appropriate first step would be to offer more guest tickets to members, before just throwing the gates open to anyone who feels like they deserve a seat.
Are you serious that you can’t put your membership into absentee for a year or two and pay a lower fee?
So I can wait 25 years on the list, be a model member paying $700/ year for 10 years, then I have to go overseas or interstate for a year... and they tell me GFY and charge me the full whack?
You see stuff like this and you wonder who the fu** is running the MCC? How stupid are they?
Putting aside the pathetic way you’re treating your members, anybody who did a week of Year 9 economics can see how moronic their approach is.
They have a waiting list 100kms long. They don’t lose the revenue if the membership gets transferred to the next person on the list. In fact, they make more, because they get your $700 sub off the next person anyway, and they can charge you, I dunno, $200 for nothing. A keystroke on their computer to tick “absent”.
It’s the same with empty seats. How are they not aggressively managing it? Empty seats benefit nobody, least of all MCC Members. More people in the reserve means more sales of everything - food, drink, whatever.
Does anybody at the MCC have a commercial bone in their body?
Given the huge percentage of members who don’t use their membership at all, with a couple of logical changes they’d be raking in a heap more money.
What’s the point of a club if it’s not there to benefit its members?
Hey guys we made a few changes and realised xx more revenue next year. Your membership fees are actually lower than last year.
Or here’s a pile of credits for free food and beer next year when you come to the ground.
Or we’ve done a deal with Qantas, here’s a massive discount to fly to an interstate AFL game or test match.
Or we did this ten years ago and with the money we’re opening a pub across the road in a prime spot where you can chill out and have cheap drinks on matchdays.
Or we did this 30 years ago, we’ve acquired a golf resort down the peninsula where you can go and stay and pay bugger all.
I’m not sure if there’s another club in Australia that has such amazing assets - a quarter of the MCG for themselves, a massive waiting list, and a huge pile of members who they don’t even have to service, because they don’t use the place at all - and it seems like they don’t even use those assets for members.
If somebody with a brain was running the place for the last 30 years, it’d be an thoroughly awesome membership with s**tloads of benefits and continually improving. And it’d be cheaper.
Instead it’s exactly the same as it was decades ago - here, pay $700 and you can come to the MCG like anybody else can, but you sit inside a fenced off area. It’s permanently 1970!
The members should be storming head office!
So what happens when all the absentees want back in under your grand plan?Are you serious that you can’t put your membership into absentee for a year or two and pay a lower fee?
So I can wait 25 years on the list, be a model member paying $700/ year for 10 years, then I have to go overseas or interstate for a year... and they tell me GFY and charge me the full whack?
You see stuff like this and you wonder who the fu** is running the MCC? How stupid are they?
Putting aside the pathetic way you’re treating your members, anybody who did a week of Year 9 economics can see how moronic their approach is.
They have a waiting list 100kms long. They don’t lose the revenue if the membership gets transferred to the next person on the list. In fact, they make more, because they get your $700 sub off the next person anyway, and they can charge you, I dunno, $200 for nothing. A keystroke on their computer to tick “absent”.
It’s the same with empty seats. How are they not aggressively managing it? Empty seats benefit nobody, least of all MCC Members. More people in the reserve means more sales of everything - food, drink, whatever.
Does anybody at the MCC have a commercial bone in their body?
Given the huge percentage of members who don’t use their membership at all, with a couple of logical changes they’d be raking in a heap more money.
What’s the point of a club if it’s not there to benefit its members?
Hey guys we made a few changes and realised xx more revenue next year. Your membership fees are actually lower than last year.
Or here’s a pile of credits for free food and beer next year when you come to the ground.
Or we’ve done a deal with Qantas, here’s a massive discount to fly to an interstate AFL game or test match.
Or we did this ten years ago and with the money we’re opening a pub across the road in a prime spot where you can chill out and have cheap drinks on matchdays.
Or we did this 30 years ago, we’ve acquired a golf resort down the peninsula where you can go and stay and pay bugger all.
I’m not sure if there’s another club in Australia that has such amazing assets - a quarter of the MCG for themselves, a massive waiting list, and a huge pile of members who they don’t even have to service, because they don’t use the place at all - and it seems like they don’t even use those assets for members.
If somebody with a brain was running the place for the last 30 years, it’d be an thoroughly awesome membership with s**tloads of benefits and continually improving. And it’d be cheaper.
Instead it’s exactly the same as it was decades ago - here, pay $700 and you can come to the MCG like anybody else can, but you sit inside a fenced off area. It’s permanently 1970!
The members should be storming head office!
That’s because the AFL membership department don’t use photo membership cards for entry, therefore people give tickets to friends and family or scalp to gain a profit. AFL don’t care as they pocket all the cash from the full standAFL members sold out within half an hour for the Qualifying final on Friday. The MCC is yet to sell out all their reserved seats. The AFL members sells out ANZAC Day every year, as well as the big games. AFL members sold out the prelim in 20 minutes last season. The MCC couldn't even sell out the prelim final last year.
The AFL members has sold out every year since 2007 for the Grand Final. The MCC struggles to fill out if an interstate team is playing. Just look at the 2015 GF.