Time to reduce MCC members by 5,000

[Chism]

They pay their money, they can show up if they want to or not.

This^^^^ /Thread.

I am an MCC member and have the luxury to be able to decide at the last minute if i want to attend a game or not knowing i will allways gain entry and have decent if not the best seats available.

There is a reason the waiting list for entry is in excess of 20+ years.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

This^^^^ /Thread.

I am an MCC member and have the luxury to be able to decide at the last minute if i want to attend a game or not knowing i will allways gain entry and have decent if not the best seats available.

There is a reason the waiting list for entry is in excess of 20+ years.

There are 571 reasons. Per annum. And theres 98,000 Members who have to stump up those 571 reasons every year, rain hail or shine. Plus joining fee.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

This^^^^ /Thread.

I am an MCC member and have the luxury to be able to decide at the last minute if i want to attend a game or not knowing i will allways gain entry and have decent if not the best seats available.

There is a reason the waiting list for entry is in excess of 20+ years.

Yep, me too. I went last night (and took four non-MCC members into the members with me on visitors passes). I waited a couple of decades to become a full member. I'll pay my membership fee during years when I'm overseas/interstate, so I don't lose it and go back on the waiting list.

If you want a seat, find an MCC member (there's lots of them) and ask them to buy you a visitor's pass. I'm sure you know at least one MCC member.

 

[chardonnay]

The problem is the failure by the grounds owner (the MCG Trust aka the Victorian taxpayer) to tender the ground management rights.
Whilst the MCC have the political patronage of the Vic Govt & access to taxpayers money & State Govt borrowing facilities, this suburban cricket club will continue to treat footy fans with contempt.
Its the peoples ground SO like it ...

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

No, the problem is that there is no problem.

Why do people never complain because they cant get into Etihad or Subi?

 

[magic_johnson!]

Well when the old farts cark it, the afl will own it. They make 90% of it's money anyway

There are more than 200,000 people currently on the waiting list. I'm sure these people will be very happy if some of the 100,000 current members "cark it"...

 

[chardonnay]

No, the problem is that there is no problem.

Why do people never complain because they cant get into Etihad or Subi?

Lots of complaints about Subi being sold out ... are you trying to derail criticism of the unrepresentative swill that run the peoples ground propaganda?

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Lots of complaints about Subi being sold out ... are you trying to derail criticism of the unrepresentative swill that run the peoples ground propaganda?

Yes I am because its the criticism is built on false assumptions. There are more than enough seats in the MCG for the general public. That cant be said about any other ground in the country. If 22,000 seats are reserved for the 98,000 Members (and their guests, probably 3-4000 a game at a guess) who funded the stadium's redevelopment , then so be it. Theres still 78,000 seats available to everybody else.

 

[Godzke]

Mad by name, mad by nature

 

[Vampire013]

Hence, break up mcc memberships into afl and cricket catergories

I agree with you but it can't be done.
Lots of MCC Members get the memberships for prestige.
They don't give a rats about going to the events.
However, that is why an AFL Membership exits if you wants to go to football only.
You get access to 40 H&A games at Etihad or MCC, cheap finals tickets and entrance to all NAB cup games for free. Even good seats to the cricket at a discounted rate.
If you have full membership you get a Grand Final seat guaranteed if your club is playing. You will most likely get a seat even if your club is not playing if you want one.
What's more, you don't have to wait 20 years to become and AFL Member.

 

[Scared]

I would love to see something done about the members. It is horrible to see the ground at absolute capacity...besides the section in the members. It just looks horrible.

They should make it opt in and if AFL/MCC haven't opted in for their ticket 1 day before the game then they should be able to sell off the seat for the night so that it isn't empty and making the ground look poor. Although you will get into the problem of some people opting to get their tickets every week and never turning up, but it has to improve it.

I hate going to a capacity game and seeing the exact same section complete empty. Every single time (except grand final of course).

 

[catters05]

No, you still don't get it

Its their 'Club' they get to decide what their membership gets them and how it will be structured, and the other thing they decided is that you don't have a clue.

Here I'll say it again;
The AFL don't run the MCG or the MCC

Once you get your head around that, it should all start to fall in place for you

Would like to see how MCC would go without AFL.

AFL at least still have Etihad.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I would love to see something done about the members. It is horrible to see the ground at absolute capacity...besides the section in the members.

So would you rather see Etihad full to capacity and have 20,000 people unable to get in?

Because thats what happens every second week. This obsession with "full capacity" is becoming tiresome. If people were really concerned about punters getting to the footy they'd be asking for more games at the MCG rather than complaining about a few thousand empty seats that the Members have paid for and have a right to sit or not sit in as they see fit.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Would like to see how MCC would go without AFL.

AFL at least still have Etihad.

Would love to see how the AFL would go without the MCG, which was built with money raised by the MCC.

AFL would only have Etihad.

 

[you idiot sheehan]

The problem is the failure by the grounds owner (the MCG Trust aka the Victorian taxpayer) to tender the ground management rights.
Whilst the MCC have the political patronage of the Vic Govt & access to taxpayers money & State Govt borrowing facilities, this suburban cricket club will continue to treat footy fans with contempt.
Its the peoples ground SO like it ...

The MCG is on Crown land, hence the existence of the MCG trust. But the MCC own the stadium and carry the debt on it. The Trust has transferred the management of the Grounds and the Trust's duties to the MCC.

This annual antiquated class conscious anti MCC tirade on bigfooty is tiring and ill informed. The OP seems to think the AFL have anything to do with the fact that not all MCC members feel inclined to turn up to a poorly fixtured R19 match - a sat avo would have got a bigger crowd, and it's the average footy punter's god given right to speak about the MCC like it's a government.

One thing people forget about the MCC. It's the only thing standing between Andrew D and his outright footy imperialism. I mean could you imagine if the AFL controlled the MCG - the footy public would come last.

 

[Magpieee]

Yeah, I pay $250 a year. If I want to show up to 1 game of footy each year then so be it.

Over the past 4 years I have been to 3 games of footy, 2 days of the boxing day test and a couple of 20/20's. Due to sporting commitments, living 2 hours from melbourne and work thats all I can make.. and im sure alot of MCC members are the same.

 

[yodellinhank]

Why not reduce club entry entitlements while we're at it? I sometimes sit in the reserved seat section for Essendon members on level 1 at the MCG, and there is always plenty of spare seats either side of me and my friends. Even on ANZAC day.

Yet, when I take my partner, I can't even buy her a seat in that area so that we can all sit together without sneaking somebody in.

Stupid club members are making the big games less of a spectacle?

 

[Ricmel]

The same 5,000 who show up to only 1 game a year and don't deserve to be there. Time to make those 2 bays of light green seats at the top level (to the left of the dark green area) public seating and we solve the problem of not getting 90,000 as much as we should

Cough up your $560 every year and you can go and sit in one of those empty seats. Otherwise, bugger off.

 

[BlueTouchPaper]

Ticketek's moronic strategy for selling tickets is more of a farce than this.

At least the MCC have some historical claim to the ground, or at least that wing in particular.

Ticketek apply the same means of generating interest in medium sized games (ie Carlton v. Essendon) as they do with big games (ie Collingwood v. Geelong).

Why do they not realise that the complete availability of all tickets for a game the size of 85k+ will serve to augment the crowd, rather than keep fans 'on their toes' by releasing tickets bay-by-bay?

I couldn't use my AFL membership to purchase tickets at the start of the week, but could purchase them the day of the game.

Ticketek in general (although far better than Ticketmaster) is still a complete joke, and trying to buy in person is like having a monkey perform surgery, only more painful.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Cough up your $560 every year and you can go and sit in one of those empty seats. Otherwise, bugger off.

Totally incorrect.


Its $571.


Apart from that, spot on!

 

[Barwick17]

I would love to see something done about the members. It is horrible to see the ground at absolute capacity...besides the section in the members. It just looks horrible.

They should make it opt in and if AFL/MCC haven't opted in for their ticket 1 day before the game then they should be able to sell off the seat for the night so that it isn't empty and making the ground look poor. Although you will get into the problem of some people opting to get their tickets every week and never turning up, but it has to improve it.

I hate going to a capacity game and seeing the exact same section complete empty. Every single time (except grand final of course).

So your whole argument is because it 'looks poor?'

It is their club hence they choose how it works. Do you think we should be able to sell North to China because they look bad, even though we are not members?

 

[jonbe54]

So your whole argument is because it 'looks poor?'

It is their club hence they choose how it works. Do you think we should be able to sell North to China because they look bad, even though we are not members?

I don't have a problem with it looking poor - though it does - my problem is with the fact that there are available seats going to waste through 'dillatante' Melbourne members who are not even interested in going to the footy having their seats 'held'.

Agree that if you can't be bothered to go to the Grand Final as a member then your seat should be up for grabs by those who want to participate as spectators rather than posers who want the prestige of MCC membership.

 

[Rob]

If there are always empty seats in the MCC reserve, shouldn't they be increasing the number of members? Especially given there's a 200 year waiting list.

Seriously, why don't they sell an extra 5,000 memberships?

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

So 98,000 MCC Members who pay up to $570 every year without fail should have to give up their seats to theatre-goers who only go once or twice a year to games like this and ANZAC Day?

Thats the thing I always find amusing - claims that the Members should give up their seats to the "real fans". Where are the real fans every other week when its not a blockbuster game?

 

[jonbe54]

If there are always empty seats in the MCC reserve, shouldn't they be increasing the number of members? Especially given there's a 200 year waiting list.

Seriously, why don't they sell an extra 5,000 memberships?

The trouble is mate that there is a certain percentage of Melbourne members who don't go to the footy, it's the cache of membership in the MCC that they're interested in, not the footy