Roast Lack of marquee game

So im sitting here watching melbourne play richmond in front of 80k plus at the MCG

Then it hits me. Are we the only melbourne club now that does not have a marque game. Yet we are playing better football then alot of melbourne teams have done so for a decade or more

Season opener: carlton vs richmond
Good friday: north melbourne vs western bulldogs
Easter monday: hawthorn vs geelong
Anzac eve: melbourne vs richmond
Anzac day: collingwood vs essendon
Indigineous round: richmond vs essendon
Queens birthday: melbourne vs collingwood

It seems to me that if you're an Etihad tenant you get forgotten about. Then they do the dogs and norf a solid despite us having a bigger supporter base

We literally have nothing in terms of a marquee game and you wonder why we struggle for sponsorship compared to other clubs
 
I said this in the other thread, but we need to find a day to make our own. Can't see the AFL changing any of the current ones any time soon.
The one that really hurts is the good Friday game. We've contributed to Etihad more than any other club. Youd think we would get priority given that.

We are literally worse off than any other victorian club right now. We have the 2nd longest drought. We didn't get games in tassie like norf did. We have no marquee games.

It's just mental how badly we are being treated now
 
AFL really needs to take the season opener off Richmond and Carltank.The whole Judd-Cousins thing is long gone, now it's just a crap game to start the year.

Closest we've got is the pride game, we really need to lock in another team and make it an event, even if it means alternating who hosts and gets the gate. Roo's also tried his darndest with the Maddie's Vision game
 
May 31, 2008
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I reckon we should seriously look at trying to sell a home game to one of wce or Freo under the proviso that we don't have a revenue stream from a marquee game. We could collect a good 1m from it annually. Plus wed save money from hosting wce or Freo.

Would much rather us return to NZ or Tassie than sell games over there. Shocking for travel and couldn't see us winning too many either. Cairns might be an option now that the Bulldogs have Ballarat.
 

Mikka84

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I reckon we should seriously look at trying to sell a home game to one of wce or Freo under the proviso that we don't have a revenue stream from a marquee game. We could collect a good 1m from it annually. Plus wed save money from hosting wce or Freo.
Na, should play NYE on the proviso Fev has to line up a FF each year.
 

RWBlyf

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Sep 23, 2016
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So dissapointing for our club and supporters to not have the opportunity on a night or day where it is a public holiday to put bums on seats and have players gain experience in such an environment.
 
Is that what we are relying on now for a marquee game

A game against a low drawing interstate team on a date of no significance. It's pretty much like any other round and pales in comparison to the exclusivity of the public holiday marquee games or the season opener or the more relevant Indigineous round game

Its an extremely important game and issue but it's not going to attract anyone. It should be seen as one of our fixture highlights but it's not a marquee game

We've got to stop accepting such mediocre crap
 

NeXus Nick

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ANZAC day in Auckland is our only hope. Does anyone know if the ground is being reconfigured for AFL? With a population of over 1Million it's a much better opportunity than Wellington.
 
Surely Saints vs Demons on Good Friday makes all the sense in the world..
Nah makes more sense to give north even more of a prop after the afl gifted them tasmania even though they literally have no connection to that state what's so ever

We are in dangerous territory of having the 2nd largest drought, significant amount of debt, a long period of heart break and no main stream exposure

I mean if you're selling our fixture to a potential member what do you use as the bells and whistles? The pride game against an interstate side with traditionally poor attendance in what feels like an empty soulless concrete stadium

Now we are trying to invent one sided rivalry games like the battle of the bay

We have to demand better than that
 

austinnn

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We will never get a blockbuster until we start getting better gate numbers. Even better TV numbers would be a step in the right direction. The Pies Blues Tigers and Dons are more or less irrelevant except they make loads of money for the league. We don't.

Our club is making the effort but either right now, there just aren't enough Saints fans or they are not as able to get to games as those of the Big Four.

It'll take a bit of sustained success for that to happen I think.
 
May 31, 2008
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We will never get a blockbuster until we start getting better gate numbers. Even better TV numbers would be a step in the right direction. The Pies Blues Tigers and Dons are more or less irrelevant except they make loads of money for the league. We don't.

Our club is making the effort but either right now, there just aren't enough Saints fans or they are not as able to get to games as those of the Big Four.

It'll take a bit of sustained success for that to happen I think.
This argument might be fine if we weren't the only Victorian club without a marquee game. We have more support than at least the Bulldogs and North and arguably also Melbourne.

It's also worth remembering that the "big four" clubs' crowds are perpetuated by these marquee fixtures. ANZAC Day always draws 80,000+ despite how the two teams are travelling because of the event. Us not having a marquee match limits our ability to grow as a club and challenge the status quo.
 

#gosaintas

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This argument might be fine if we weren't the only Victorian club without a marquee game. We have more support than at least the Bulldogs and North and arguably also Melbourne.

It's also worth remembering that the "big four" clubs' crowds are perpetuated by these marquee fixtures. ANZAC Day always draws 80,000+ despite how the two teams are travelling because of the event. Us not having a marquee match limits our ability to grow as a club and challenge the status quo.

It sure limits sponsorship
 
We will never get a blockbuster until we start getting better gate numbers. Even better TV numbers would be a step in the right direction. The Pies Blues Tigers and Dons are more or less irrelevant except they make loads of money for the league. We don't.

Our club is making the effort but either right now, there just aren't enough Saints fans or they are not as able to get to games as those of the Big Four.

It'll take a bit of sustained success for that to happen I think.
Weren't we one of the best performed clubs in prime time tv slots like Friday night games?
 
The other issue I have is the benefit players get from playing in marquee games with a lot of exposure in front of a big crowd. It's the only preparation similar to finals in the H&A season

We don't have a game like that anymore. So the first time the players experience that will be when they play a final
 
I said this in the other thread, but we need to find a day to make our own. Can't see the AFL changing any of the current ones any time soon.

I would like to get together with the Blues/Pies and make the Easter Thursday night game a marquee match.

Or whore out to the AFL and play the Giants with the venue swapping each year for home/away. Pitching it as a way to build bigger crowds for a marquee game against the Giants could get a lock in deal done.
 
May 31, 2008
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I would like to get together with the Blues/Pies and make the Easter Thursday night game a marquee match.

Or whore out to the AFL and play the Giants with the venue swapping each year for home/away. Pitching it as a way to build bigger crowds for a marquee game against the Giants could get a lock in deal done.

Easter Thursday would be a possibility. For the last few years I think the AFL has generally given that fixture to a non-Victorian club though (unless Easter has fallen on Round 1), so not sure how open to the idea they'd be.

Collingwood in particular already has enough in the way of marquee matches that I doubt that their fans would see it as a big game. Carlton might be a better chance of appealing to both sets of supporters. I would say the closest thing we have to a genuine, two-way rivalry is probably against the Bulldogs, but they would be unavailable that weekend because of Good Friday.

The other difficulty is that now with Good Friday, as well as Easter Monday, the Easter weekend is pretty stacked regarding marquee matches. I'm not sure the AFL would be keen in locking in another non-flexible fixture in Melbourne that week. Nevertheless it's an idea that could work if the AFL supported it.
 
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