Western Bulldogs and their partnership with Ballarat a success

[Roogal]

Will it eventually have grandstands right around the ground after stage 3?

This is the original concept vision for a Stage 3 developed ground. Of course the shape of the roof has been changed and the roof-line covering the East Terrace to the bottom of the picture is very different, but that smaller terrace is designed to be extended rearward if needed. Also note that the original concept had the scoreboard placed on the Eastern side of the ground. It appears that it will eventually be built in as part of the Southern stand. This would allow for the seamless extension of the stand to encircle most of the ground except for the main pavilion.

 

[mackem]

The only thing i don't like about this is that with the 2 games we are selling out of Etihad there is a chance that if locked out i won't get compensated properly for the 2 reserved seats i pay for in my yearly membership. It should be discounted as replacement games involve me forking out more case if i still want to sit on level 2.

You will find that you only pay for reserved seats at Etihad home games so if we have 9 home games at Etihad you only pay for those seats.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

People are getting confused with what the different reasons we sell home games for.

Cairns buys a home game from us because as a city council they want the winter tourism, and if the fact that a AFL game is ongoing in Cairns convinces a few thousand Melburnians to travel to Cairns for their winter school holidays with their kids as opposed to the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast or whatever, then it pays for itself for the Cairns city council when they pay for us to move a game up there.

Ballarat is more of a strategic engagement with a region of Melbourne, in terms of converting supporters long-term over generations, which is why we do community camps up there, we have Brett Goodes in his role of Ballarat (something) Officer, engaging with the community through women's football, the men's health programme, selling regional sponsorship (which is why the city of Ballarat sponsors us, we've had Sovereign Hill as game-day sponsors before etc.) and expanding our supporter base so when people associate "Western" with our clubs they know it means not only the whole of Western Melbourne but also Western Victoria.

There's a real opportunity to connect with a very large population base of Victoria through Ballarat, if you consider the very large sub group of "places that are closer to Ballarat than they are to any other AFL venue". For example, we might not associate Bendigo with Ballarat, but it's roughly a similar distance drive from Bendigo to Ballarat as it is to Melbourne. The 3 hours that it takes to drive from Warrnambool to Melbourne gets reduced to 2 hours when you reduce it to Ballarat. Ararat, Stawell, Hamilton, Horsham etc. are all reasonably large towns that are not only within about 2 hours drive of Ballarat, but that's from about a 3-4 hour drive to Melbourne. It's the engagement of this entire region and not just Ballarat itself (which is why North Ballarat Rebels renamed themselves to Greater Western Victoria Rebels in the TAC cup to better represent this region that's their U/18 catchment area) that makes it better than simply selling a home game to Cairns for $$$ reasons.

 

[Pugz89]

People are getting confused with what the different reasons we sell home games for.

Cairns buys a home game from us because as a city council they want the winter tourism, and if the fact that a AFL game is ongoing in Cairns convinces a few thousand Melburnians to travel to Cairns for their winter school holidays with their kids as opposed to the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast or whatever, then it pays for itself for the Cairns city council when they pay for us to move a game up there.

Ballarat is more of a strategic engagement with a region of Melbourne, in terms of converting supporters long-term over generations, which is why we do community camps up there, we have Brett Goodes in his role of Ballarat (something) Officer, engaging with the community through women's football, the men's health programme, selling regional sponsorship (which is why the city of Ballarat sponsors us, we've had Sovereign Hill as game-day sponsors before etc.) and expanding our supporter base so when people associate "Western" with our clubs they know it means not only the whole of Western Melbourne but also Western Victoria.

There's a real opportunity to connect with a very large population base of Victoria through Ballarat, if you consider the very large sub group of "places that are closer to Ballarat than they are to any other AFL venue". For example, we might not associate Bendigo with Ballarat, but it's roughly a similar distance drive from Bendigo to Ballarat as it is to Melbourne. The 3 hours that it takes to drive from Warrnambool to Melbourne gets reduced to 2 hours when you reduce it to Ballarat. Ararat, Stawell, Hamilton, Horsham etc. are all reasonably large towns that are not only within about 2 hours drive of Ballarat, but that's from about a 3-4 hour drive to Melbourne. It's the engagement of this entire region and not just Ballarat itself (which is why North Ballarat Rebels renamed themselves to Greater Western Victoria Rebels in the TAC cup to better represent this region that's their U/18 catchment area) that makes it better than simply selling a home game to Cairns for $$$ reasons.

It's a deadset pain in the ass driving home to Ararat after a night game. Sometimes get home at 2am.

 

[Pugz89]

Geez, the grey looks so bland, similar to Simmonds Stadium colours it seems.

 

[Roogal]

People are getting confused with what the different reasons we sell home games for.

Cairns buys a home game from us because as a city council they want the winter tourism, and if the fact that a AFL game is ongoing in Cairns convinces a few thousand Melburnians to travel to Cairns for their winter school holidays with their kids as opposed to the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast or whatever, then it pays for itself for the Cairns city council when they pay for us to move a game up there.

Ballarat is more of a strategic engagement with a region of Melbourne, in terms of converting supporters long-term over generations, which is why we do community camps up there, we have Brett Goodes in his role of Ballarat (something) Officer, engaging with the community through women's football, the men's health programme, selling regional sponsorship (which is why the city of Ballarat sponsors us, we've had Sovereign Hill as game-day sponsors before etc.) and expanding our supporter base so when people associate "Western" with our clubs they know it means not only the whole of Western Melbourne but also Western Victoria.

There's a real opportunity to connect with a very large population base of Victoria through Ballarat, if you consider the very large sub group of "places that are closer to Ballarat than they are to any other AFL venue". For example, we might not associate Bendigo with Ballarat, but it's roughly a similar distance drive from Bendigo to Ballarat as it is to Melbourne. The 3 hours that it takes to drive from Warrnambool to Melbourne gets reduced to 2 hours when you reduce it to Ballarat. Ararat, Stawell, Hamilton, Horsham etc. are all reasonably large towns that are not only within about 2 hours drive of Ballarat, but that's from about a 3-4 hour drive to Melbourne. It's the engagement of this entire region and not just Ballarat itself (which is why North Ballarat Rebels renamed themselves to Greater Western Victoria Rebels in the TAC cup to better represent this region that's their U/18 catchment area) that makes it better than simply selling a home game to Cairns for $$$ reasons.

Beautifully summed up.

 

[Roogal]

Geez, the grey looks so bland, similar to Simonds Stadium colours it seems.

You have to see it in its entirety once all of the other fittings go in (lighting, signage, yellow strips on pathways and stairs etc.). Also, I was of the impression that there is a third and more vivid colour going into the mix.

Note that there are only two colours in this photo, they did say in one of the promotional videos that a more vivid sapphire blue was also to be included. The sapphire blue may still be in the mix because when you look closer at the photo there are still blank spaces spread out among the seats that have been installed so far. Perhaps the soft pastel grey colours of the seats installed so far are deliberately that way to soften the bolder sapphire blue which appears may be interspersed to add a bit of character.

 

[TiAn_]

Am I the only one who doesn't want to keep givin home games away?

Especially to places we will get next to zero membership numbers from

Id rather get money off the government and build up Whitten Oval to 10000 and play there

Jesus another one

I know we sell memberships to Ballarat but how many have we sold?? I'd wager less than 500 in total. People from Mars can buy away memberships also but I'm guessing those numbers aren't huge either.

Really? You actually have to ask what this means? I guess CD ratings don't have a stat for it so you wouldn't understand.

Build Whitten oval up to 10000 in comfort and with the facilities to cope.

I went to a VFL against Collingwood and the facilities couldn't handle that.

Lemmings everywhere

Build Whitten Oval up with what money? Whose money? That would cost tens of millions.

There's no chance that the AFL is going to let us take away revenue from the stadium that they now own by playing ~5km away in a local ground that would have 1/4 capacity in a tapped out heartland suburb.

On top of that, how are we going to recover the lost gate receipts if no one pays us to play there? How would it promote any membership/supporter growth when it would just be full of existing Melbourne-based members?

If you think Ballarat is pointless for the club then you need to educate yourself about how clubs like Richmond expand their membership base by targeting outer suburbs for training camps, etc. It sounds like you don't have a clue and you're just spouting off at people.

 

[Mattdougie]

Build Whitten Oval up with what money? Whose money? That would cost tens of millions.

There's no chance that the AFL is going to let us take away revenue from the stadium that they now own by playing ~5km away in a local ground that would have 1/4 capacity in a tapped out heartland suburb.

On top of that, how are we going to recover the lost gate receipts if no one pays us to play there? How would it promote any membership/supporter growth when it would just be full of existing Melbourne-based members?

If you think Ballarat is pointless for the club then you need to educate yourself about how clubs like Richmond expand their membership base by targeting outer suburbs for training camps, etc. It sounds like you don't have a clue and you're just spouting off at people.

ahhhhhhhh diddums I really upset you didn't I?????

How about you just don't respond to me because now your on the lemming list and I don't read what lemmings write

Hahahha have a great day

 

[TiAn_]

ahhhhhhhh diddums I really upset you didn't I?????

How about you just don't respond to me because now your on the lemming list and I don't read what lemmings write

Hahahha have a great day

This response only confirms you were spouting off at people over a topic you're utterly clueless about.

 

[Mattdougie]

People are getting confused with what the different reasons we sell home games for.

Cairns buys a home game from us because as a city council they want the winter tourism, and if the fact that a AFL game is ongoing in Cairns convinces a few thousand Melburnians to travel to Cairns for their winter school holidays with their kids as opposed to the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast or whatever, then it pays for itself for the Cairns city council when they pay for us to move a game up there.

Ballarat is more of a strategic engagement with a region of Melbourne, in terms of converting supporters long-term over generations, which is why we do community camps up there, we have Brett Goodes in his role of Ballarat (something) Officer, engaging with the community through women's football, the men's health programme, selling regional sponsorship (which is why the city of Ballarat sponsors us, we've had Sovereign Hill as game-day sponsors before etc.) and expanding our supporter base so when people associate "Western" with our clubs they know it means not only the whole of Western Melbourne but also Western Victoria.

There's a real opportunity to connect with a very large population base of Victoria through Ballarat, if you consider the very large sub group of "places that are closer to Ballarat than they are to any other AFL venue". For example, we might not associate Bendigo with Ballarat, but it's roughly a similar distance drive from Bendigo to Ballarat as it is to Melbourne. The 3 hours that it takes to drive from Warrnambool to Melbourne gets reduced to 2 hours when you reduce it to Ballarat. Ararat, Stawell, Hamilton, Horsham etc. are all reasonably large towns that are not only within about 2 hours drive of Ballarat, but that's from about a 3-4 hour drive to Melbourne. It's the engagement of this entire region and not just Ballarat itself (which is why North Ballarat Rebels renamed themselves to Greater Western Victoria Rebels in the TAC cup to better represent this region that's their U/18 catchment area) that makes it better than simply selling a home game to Cairns for $$$ reasons.

I think most understand the reason why some just disagree with them.

Cairns is purely a financial decision by the club that I hope we cease ASAP. We don't need the money and IF we must play games in Ballarat then we have no reason to go up there anymore.

Personally think the Ballarat thing won't do much even long term. It can't be compared to tassie and the Hawks/Roos as they can't just jump in a car and 90 mins late be at the AFL any week they choose to. Their memberships allow them to see the only games they pretty much can unlike people from Ballarat that can drive to any game any week they choose really.

Ballarat isn't that far away and playing one real footy game there a year IMO will do next to f$ck all and terms of members and support. We will probably have to expand it to 2-3 games and that I am firmly against. I do not want us selling home games ANYWHERE especially to a stadium as small as Eureka. If this happens and we end up with 7-8 actual home games in melebourne you think that won't effect membership sales in Melbourne itself?

We play 15 games in Melbourne this year and one in Geelong. Add another 2 Ballarat games to that and we are down to 12-13 games in Melbourne and if people think that won't effect numbers they are delusional. Of course this is the extreme but that's what will happen if we are rubbish again and our fixture isn't good.

 

[Mattdougie]

This response only confirms you were spouting off at people over a topic you're utterly clueless about.

Squeak

 

[TiAn_]

I think most understand the reason why some just disagree with them.

Cairns is purely a financial decision by the club that I hope we cease ASAP. We don't need the money and IF we must play games in Ballarat then we have no reason to go up there anymore.

Personally think the Ballarat thing won't do much even long term. It can't be compared to tassie and the Hawks/Roos as they can't just jump in a car and 90 mins late be at the AFL any week they choose to.

Ballarat isn't that far away and playing one real footy game there a year IMO will do next to f$ck all and terms of members and support. We will probably have to expand it to 2-3 games and that I am firmly against. I do not want us selling home games ANYWHERE especially to a stadium as small as Eureka. If this happens and we end up with 7-8 actual home games in melebourne you think that won't effect membership sales in Melbourne itself?

Yeah, playing in Tassie for years has really killed off Hawthorn's membership drive...

We play around 16-17 games in Melbourne and when it grows to 2-3 games in Ballarat we would get replacement games just like Hawks and North members.

You're jumping at shadows, and clearly don't understand the issue.

 

[Golden_6]

I think most understand the reason why some just disagree with them.

Cairns is purely a financial decision by the club that I hope we cease ASAP. We don't need the money and IF we must play games in Ballarat then we have no reason to go up there anymore.

Personally think the Ballarat thing won't do much even long term. It can't be compared to tassie and the Hawks/Roos as they can't just jump in a car and 90 mins late be at the AFL any week they choose to.

Ballarat isn't that far away and playing one real footy game there a year IMO will do next to f$ck all and terms of members and support. We will probably have to expand it to 2-3 games and that I am firmly against. I do not want us selling home games ANYWHERE especially to a stadium as small as Eureka. If this happens and we end up with 7-8 actual home games in melebourne you think that won't effect membership sales in Melbourne itself?

We absolutely need the money and growth for long term financial stability. We still on rely on the most handouts in the comp bar GWS and the Saints. This is not about some short term cash grab like Darwin or even Cairns, this is about opening up a new gateway of supporters for the club.

The plan is to absolutely play 3 games there in a couple of years once the project takes off, not just 1. I'm unsure about how Melbourne based membership sales will be affected but Hawks and North do similar with their Tassie ventures, so you'd have to look at that to see how they treat it.

 

[Mattdougie]

We absolutely need the money and growth for long term financial stability. We still on rely on the most handouts in the comp bar GWS and the Saints. This is not about some short term cash grab like Darwin or even Cairns, this is about opening up a new gateway of supporters for the club.

The plan is to absolutely play 3 games there in a couple of years once the project takes off, not just 1. I'm unsure about how Melbourne based membership sales will be affected but Hawks and North do similar with their Tassie ventures, so you'd have to look at that to see how they treat it.

If we sell 3 games to Ballarat that is just awful IMO.

We sell games to a tiny stadium f$ck all people can get into that will be at least 45 full of people from Melbourne Coz it's only 90 mins away.

I get the Hawks/Roos thing but agin I saw Tassie people cannot get in a car and drive 90 mins ANY weekend to see AFL. They are stuck with what they get mate.

IMO it won't work but time will tell.

GWS allow us to continue to accept handouts due to the fixture and I'm more than happy with that

 

[threenewpadlocks]

If we sell 3 games to Ballarat that is just awful IMO.

We sell games to a tiny stadium f$ck all people can get into that will be at least 45 full of people from Melbourne Coz it's only 90 mins away.

I get the Hawks/Roos thing but agin I saw Tassie people cannot get in a car and drive 90 mins ANY weekend to see AFL. They are stuck with what they get mate.

IMO it won't work but time will tell.

GWS allow us to continue to accept handouts due to the fixture and I'm more than happy with that

Please tell me how the good people of Warrnambool, Hamilton, Horsham etc. can get to an AFL game in Melbourne in 90 minutes. Please do.

 

[Mattdougie]

Please tell me how the good people of Warrnambool, Hamilton, Horsham etc. can get to an AFL game in Melbourne in 90 minutes. Please do.

And please tell me how many of those people you ACTUALLY think will travel 2.5 hours to go to a game for a team they probably as yet dont barrack for and have basically no access to a ticket if they aren't members? And they Can't just show up and get in.

So you suggest people from these areas will buy memberships just in case they decide to go to the game and even then they aren't guaranteed a ticket to get in!!

Lol ok brilliant planning and foresight. Yeah I can't see how this can possibly not make billions

 

[TiAn_]

If we sell 3 games to Ballarat that is just awful IMO.

We sell games to a tiny stadium f$ck all people can get into that will be at least 45 full of people from Melbourne Coz it's only 90 mins away.

I get the Hawks/Roos thing but agin I saw Tassie people cannot get in a car and drive 90 mins ANY weekend to see AFL. They are stuck with what they get mate.

IMO it won't work but time will tell.

GWS allow us to continue to accept handouts due to the fixture and I'm more than happy with that

Even based on your wild guesses, if the Ballarat stadium is half full of people from Melbourne, that's still 5,000 people from Ballarat and surrounding areas at the first games.

Then the stadium expands to 20,000. We might have 10,000 people from Ballarat and surrounding areas attending.

5,000 to 10,000 extra 3+ game memberships every year on top of what the Federal government is paying us to play there is good business.

As for people in Tasmania not being able to drive to games in Melbourne, the counterpoint that works in the club's favour is that people in Ballarat are only a car/train ride away from watching us play at Etihad or the G. So it's basically exactly what has worked for Hawthorn, except with greater potential for new supporters to also attend our Melbourne games.

"We sell games to a tiny stadium f$ck all people can get into that will be at least 45 full of people from Melbourne Coz it's only 90 mins away.", that's exactly what you suggested we do with Whitten Oval:

Build Whitten oval up to 10000 in comfort and with the facilities to cope.

Lemmings everywhere

The only difference is your idea relies on money fairies to sprinkle gold into our club's coffers.

So you suggest people from these areas will buy memberships just in case they decide to go to the game and even then they aren't guaranteed a ticket to get in!!

Lol ok brilliant planning and foresight. Yeah I can't see how this can possibly not make billions

Except Ballarat memberships come with a reserve seat at the Ballarat game... So you're wrong again.

If members get replacement games in Melbourne, where is the downside for anyone?

You obviously just wanted to have yet another crack at other posters but chose a topic you know SFA about.

 

[Roogal]

We absolutely need the money and growth for long term financial stability. We still on rely on the most handouts in the comp bar GWS and the Saints. This is not about some short term cash grab like Darwin or even Cairns, this is about opening up a new gateway of supporters for the club.

The plan is to absolutely play 3 games there in a couple of years once the project takes off, not just 1. I'm unsure about how Melbourne based membership sales will be affected but Hawks and North do similar with their Tassie ventures, so you'd have to look at that to see how they treat it.

Pretty sure that North stated that they picked up around 7000 members last year from Tassie and Hawthorn got a similar (but slightly higher) number.

 

[Golden_6]

Pretty sure that North stated that they picked up around 7000 members last year from Tassie and Hawthorn got a similar (but slightly higher) number.

Do North's members get compensated in any way for losing those home game? Cheaper memberships, replacement games etc...?

 

[TiAn_]

Pretty sure that North stated that they picked up around 7000 members last year from Tassie and Hawthorn got a similar (but slightly higher) number.

It would be huge for the Dogs if they could replicate that in Western Vic...

 

[Mattdougie]

Pretty sure that North stated that they picked up around 7000 members last year from Tassie and Hawthorn got a similar (but slightly higher) number.

And pretty sure those numbers are inflated and of they stopped playing there they would drop off immediately leaving a hole to fill.

I get many people think it's good and that's fine I just don't see it working long term and also don't want my club selling home games anywhere.

Sorry if you are all happy to sell games all over the joint I'd rather the dogs stay in Melbourne

 

[boydsno1]

I seriously hope we don't sell 2

Yeah, playing in Tassie for years has really killed off Hawthorn's membership drive...

We play around 16-17 games in Melbourne and when it grows to 2-3 games in Ballarat we would get replacement games just like Hawks and North members.

You're jumping at shadows, and clearly don't understand the issue.

Problem with replacement games is that you don't get your ticket replaced with one to the same value. So for example i pay for a reserved seat on level 2. Replacement games are only gen admin and if i want a similar seat to what i pay for i have to pay extra therefor my membership cost increases.
Club should discount the cost by the games we miss out on.

If we sell 3 games to ballarat i will no longer find it viable and affordable to fork out for a gold membership.

 

[Mattdougie]

I seriously hope we don't sell 2


Problem with replacement games is that you don't get your ticket replaced with one to the same value. So for example i pay for a reserved seat on level 2. Replacement games are only gen admin and if i want a similar seat to what i pay for i have to pay extra therefor my membership cost increases.
Club should discount the cost by the games we miss out on.

Thats exactly what will happen and add to that a game in Ballarat you will hardly be able to get into and one in Cairns and the price and attractiveness of an membership has to fall

 

[TiAn_]

I seriously hope we don't sell 2


Problem with replacement games is that you don't get your ticket replaced with one to the same value. So for example i pay for a reserved seat on level 2. Replacement games are only gen admin and if i want a similar seat to what i pay for i have to pay extra therefor my membership cost increases.
Club should discount the cost by the games we miss out on.

I'm in same boat as you (2x premiership gold memberships), and if it happens, I would hope reserve seat members are taken care of in some way.

But, the cost of reserved seat memberships is largely arbitrary. The club can charge what people will pay. If people drop off they'll reduce the price.

The likely reality that the club would know is that I (and you, and most others) will keep those reserved seats even if there isn't a commensurate benefit conveyed at replacement games.