Western Bulldogs and their partnership with Ballarat a success

[Pugz89]

Well ... they are Fairfax

So am I, but I can tell the different between a social community ride and an official Cycling Australia championship event. lol

 

[Leviticus]

Love it that we are playing Gold Coast in Ballarat in 2018. Should be an absolute ritual slaughter. 100+ for WB.

The Next Step: replace the PA game with another vs. plastic fantastic game. I'm thinking: GWS. Imagine those soft, overpaid GWS w***ers having to front up in Ballarat in Winter. We'll cream them, everytime.

 

[Bemoreboyddog]

Love it that we are playing Gold Coast in Ballarat in 2018. Should be an absolute ritual slaughter. 100+ for WB.

The Next Step: replace the PA game with another vs. plastic fantastic game. I'm thinking: GWS. Imagine those soft, overpaid GWS ******s having to front up in Ballarat in Winter. We'll cream them, everytime.

We have a good rivalry with GWS. I wouldn’t bury that in Ballarat. I’d guess that our group of opponents for Ballarat will mainly feature GC, Port, Freo and maybe Adelaide at a pinch. I’m not against playing Brisbane there but club would have to consider the amount of ex-Fitzroy fans that would come to watch the Lions at Etihad.

 

[gangsta deluxe]

Fair few Port people actually drove over for the game, remember being very surprised at the turnout.

Makes sense if you think about it - it's slightly closer to them than Melb so has a bit of a road trip vibe.

Reckon we should lock in one SA team there at least.

 

[MYOB]

Fair few Port people actually drove over for the game, remember being very surprised at the turnout.

Makes sense if you think about it - it's slightly closer to them than Melb so has a bit of a road trip vibe.

Reckon we should lock in one SA team there at least.

That is the exact reason why it shouldn't be a SA team.
We want it to be 99.99% bulldog supporters. Make it a fortress.

 

[gangsta deluxe]

That is the exact reason why it shouldn't be a SA team.
We want it to be 99.99% bulldog supporters. Make it a fortress.

Please, if we are good enough we win. We needn't be so cynical in the way we want our fixture to be delivered. Hardly enough fans there to make a difference anyway. The oval is also basically the exact dimensions of Etihad which is the most pertinent advantage.

It was a good atmosphere at the game last year. Would've been s**t against GCS... Empty but for our mob making it no different than Etihad. If we want the game to grow there for us AND Ballarat we should want an SA team that makes the festival atmosphere come alive. It also brings people into the town for whom "the rat" is a novelty. For me I turn off the freeway past the town into the oval and no way am I going into the town (seriously, * that) and I'm sure most of us feel the same.

There simply aren't enough suns to make the trip down as there are who'd go to Cairns. That's the only place where that game works and I'm not sure we should continue investing that effort there either.

I'd be interested in seeing a town in SA were I to drive there. You drive that long and to an area which you aren't familiar with then you'd stop off. I'd stop off in Mclaren Vale, the Barossa, Eden Valley on a road trip to SA! Maybe with a designated driver!!

 

[gangsta deluxe]

Would love to see a game vs the crows in Ballarat

 

[BallaratBulldog]

Gold Coast and Fremantle would make the most sense for non drawing sides at Ethiad but Port are not much better.

Dogs vs GWS was around 32k on the Friday night and with the dislike you don't move it away. Adelaide and to a lesser extent West Coast do pretty well to Melbourne games actually. Sydney and Brisbane obviously have supporters here from heritage.

 

[JEDi 44]

Fair few Port people actually drove over for the game, remember being very surprised at the turnout.

Makes sense if you think about it - it's slightly closer to them than Melb so has a bit of a road trip vibe.

Reckon we should lock in one SA team there at least.

eg. 3 1/2 hours to mount Gambier

 

[Mattdougie]

Would love to see a game vs the crows in Ballarat

Would cost us money

Some Crows fans actually turn up to Etihad so need to make those games as big a crowd as possible

These irrelevant games should be Pre season or the suns and freo(love to know what those teams actually think about playing there, guarantee they aren’t happy) until they get crowds and hopefully by then we can scrap this garbage and play every game in Melbourne where we belong.

People are now paying memberships for home games that only get them 9 games guaranteed. I cannot tell you how much I hate this playing games away from home and especially in a sub standard local country oval in a freezing cold city that fits 45 people.

I’m more than happy to say I’m actively hoping this fails and Norf can have it. It suits them coz it’s destined to fail

 

[Pugz89]

We have a good rivalry with GWS. I wouldn’t bury that in Ballarat. I’d guess that our group of opponents for Ballarat will mainly feature GC, Port, Freo and maybe Adelaide at a pinch. I’m not against playing Brisbane there but club would have to consider the amount of ex-Fitzroy fans that would come to watch the Lions at Etihad.

Brisbane will play there before Adelaide does. Crows are one of few clubs that their fans travel in droves. Ballarat would be too small.

 

[Sentinel]

Would cost us money

Some Crows fans actually turn up to Etihad so need to make those games as big a crowd as possible

These irrelevant games should be Pre season or the suns and freo(love to know what those teams actually think about playing there, guarantee they aren’t happy) until they get crowds and hopefully by then we can scrap this garbage and play every game in Melbourne where we belong.

People are now paying memberships for home games that only get them 9 games guaranteed. I cannot tell you how much I hate this playing games away from home and especially in a sub standard local country oval in a freezing cold city that fits 45 people.

I’m more than happy to say I’m actively hoping this fails and Norf can have it. It suits them coz it’s destined to fail

Are you sure about that? Our last 5 games at Etihad vs Adelaide have had crowds of 26984, 19915, 17404, 17159 and 19363. That's an average of 20k. The existing Etihad deal required us to get somewhere between 25-26k through the gates before we broke even.

I'm not sure how much the Ballarat games generate for us, but I'd wager it's more than the loss we've made over the last 5 years in our games vs Adelaide at Etihad.

 

[Pugz89]

Are you sure about that? Our last 5 games at Etihad vs Adelaide have had crowds of 26984, 19915, 17404, 17159 and 19363. That's an average of 20k. The existing Etihad deal required us to get somewhere between 25-26k through the gates before we broke even.

I'm not sure how much the Ballarat games generate for us, but I'd wager it's more than the loss we've made over the last 5 years in our games vs Adelaide at Etihad.

Three of those were when we were rebuilding, so we would not have drawn a lot of our own fans to games. Ballarat holds 15k, so all those are still significantly more than what Mars Stadium holds anyway. Just can't see it happening tbh, but if it does then i'd embrace it.

 

[LondonBulldog]

Three of those were when we were rebuilding, so we would not have drawn a lot of our own fans to games. Ballarat holds 15k, so all those are still significantly more than what Mars Stadium holds anyway. Just can't see it happening tbh, but if it does then i'd embrace it.

Actually the sell out crowd is at 11k, so even less again. The outer needs to be increased immediately if this is ever to work.

 

[Pugz89]

Actually the sell out crowd is at 11k, so even less again. The outer needs to be increased immediately if this is ever to work.

I think once the next stand is done, it'll be 15k - my bad.

 

[Mattdougie]

Are you sure about that? Our last 5 games at Etihad vs Adelaide have had crowds of 26984, 19915, 17404, 17159 and 19363. That's an average of 20k. The existing Etihad deal required us to get somewhere between 25-26k through the gates before we broke even.

I'm not sure how much the Ballarat games generate for us, but I'd wager it's more than the loss we've made over the last 5 years in our games vs Adelaide at Etihad.

Yes because we are getting paid by Ballarat and if we can’t fill that tiny joint against any team we should just give up.

Adelaide at Etihad will get us better crowds than Suns Freo and GWS.

 

[Roogal]

Don't under-estimate the depth of Adelaide Crows support in Ballarat and the amount of AC fans who travel. I used to be in the Army Reserve years ago in Geelong and we used to have a bus-load of fellow Reservists travel across and make a weekend of it in Geelong at our depot (ahhh great weekends, and terrific guys). The SA fans will travel and they make a weekend of it.

Last year Ballarat built a s**t-load of brownie points with the AC supporters during the Grand Final by putting on a Grand Final breaky at the Morshead Park Soccer Facility for about 10 bus loads of AC fans who were travelling to Melbourne. The organisers charged them all $5 for a bacon and egg breaky with coffee and toast. It was warmly appreciated and nobody left hungry. Plus Ballarat has advertised itself with clear signage on the freeway in both directions as a AC and Power friendly stop-over for travelling PA and AC members offering dining, hotel and motel discounts for the last 20 years.

Now the local tourism industry should ramp up and offer the same to all non-Ballarat Western Bulldogs members. If they're not, then ask your club why this isn't happening? If you don't ask, you definitely won't receive.

 

[Pugz89]

Don't under-estimate the depth of Adelaide Crows support in Ballarat and the amount of AC fans who travel. I used to be in the Army Reserve years ago in Geelong and we used to have a bus-load of fellow Reservists travel across and make a weekend of it in Geelong at our depot (ahhh great weekends, and terrific guys). The SA fans will travel and they make a weekend of it.

Last year Ballarat built a s**t-load of brownie points with the AC supporters during the Grand Final by putting on a Grand Final breaky at the Morshead Park Soccer Facility for about 10 bus loads of AC fans who were travelling to Melbourne. The organisers charged them all $5 for a bacon and egg breaky with coffee and toast. It was warmly appreciated and nobody left hungry. Plus Ballarat has advertised itself with clear signage on the freeway in both directions as a AC and Power friendly stop-over for travelling PA and AC members offering dining, hotel and motel discounts for the last 20 years.

Now the local tourism industry should ramp up and offer the same to all non-Ballarat Western Bulldogs members. If they're not, then ask your club why this isn't happening? If you don't ask, you definitely won't receive.

Also helps that Beaufort is the Crows in the CHFL which is only just down the road as well, where the Crouch brothers are from.

 

[Roogal]

The official figures from last years August game in Ballarat are in:

A total of 10,087 attended the game with 4,500 visitors having travelled from interstate specifically for the game contributing an extra $907,000 into Ballarat's local economy over the weekend. Considering that the ground was used to host three TAC Cup finals with out of town teams, it hosted a three day Indigenous Football Festival in October where 3,000 indigenous players and families visited the city and hosted both the BFL and CHFL grand finals (each GF featured non-Ballarat teams and drew crowds of about 7,000 each). It has been money well spent to redevelop it. In 2017 the total economic spinoff has been $2.1 million.

This year the ground will host an AFLW practice game this Saturday night, a JLT game in early March which is already anticipated will pack the ground to capacity, and two AFL seasonal games. All signs are good for 2018.

 

[Mattdougie]

So now apparently 40% of the crowd came from interstate even though most said the crowd was 90/10 Bulldogs fans and the seats sold prove this.

So 30% of bulldog fans that went to the game came from outside Victoria even though we have the lowest outside vic membership of all the vic teams except Melbourne.

And the income made from the games does not include the costs to run the games or the sponsorship deal we have with Ballarat means the games themselves ran at a lose and the town made less in income than the sponsorship paid out.

Lol but I talk bullshit !!!

As I said this deal has DUD all over it and practice natches and AFLW games won’t help coz hardly no one goes or pays to see them

 

[Roogal]

AFLW Match Information: Western Bulldogs v Carlton
westernbulldogs.com.au

Mars Stadium, Ballarat
Saturday, January 20
Gates open: 6pm
Bouncedown: 7pm

Entry: Free & via Gate 1 off Creswick Road.

Merchandise. Merchandise available for purchase from Gate 1 include new 2018 AFLW range, Asics range and The Outsiders DVD. Open from 5pm to 7pm.

Memberships. 2018 Memberships will be available to purchase at Gate 1. AFLW memberships can be purchased and redeemed at the game in time for the start of the season. All other 2018 Memberships, including Ballarat Memberships, can also be bought or renewed at the game.

Food, drink & activities

• Catering available at Gate 1.
• North Ballarat Sports Bar will be open.
• No BYO alcohol
• Woofer and Butch will be helping to run fun games and activities on the netball court near Gate 3.
• Kick to kick after the game available

North Ballarat Sports Bar

​

 

[Roogal]

Actually the sell out crowd is at 11k, so even less again. The outer needs to be increased immediately if this is ever to work.

Perhaps think of it as a colony and not as a Home Ground . It's never meant to be their main Home Ground and is only being used twice per season to host smaller crowd drawing teams where the Bulldogs have lost money playing against in the past at Etihad. The ground is eventually being planned for expansion to about 20,000 but this will happen over time. We are all anticipating that the State Government are going to make a series of announcements in this election year WRT the completion of GMHBA Stadium (Kardinia Park); major redevelopment at Etihad Stadium; the long term upgrade and enhancement of the MCG; and the next stages of development of Mars Stadium (Ballarat).

Mars Stadium still has a lot of scope and work to be done to develop it over time. It isn't just a matter of building new stands to lift capacity. The ground's lighting will need to be upgraded in time. The adjacent access roads need to be rebuilt and widened. Pedestrian access around the ground needs significant upgrading. Permanent bus drop points need to be established. An events day train station/platform needs to be built, and car parking is probably a high priority as very little established sealed parking areas exist around the ground. All of this will take time and money, and much of what needs to be built outside the ground itself will need to be funded by Council and the Federal Government. When you consider where the money will be coming from to fund further development, the breakdown is pretty much as follows:

• Stage 2 and 3 Grandstands - State Government
• Events Day train station/platform - State Government
• Lighting upgrade - State Government or Council
• Non-highway roads and pedestrian pathways - Council
• Bus drop points - Council
• Carparks - Council
• Widening of Midland Highway (Creswick Road) between Howitt Street and the Western Highway to a dual carriageway - Federal Government

 

[TBOW]

So now apparently 40% of the crowd came from interstate even though most said the crowd was 90/10 Bulldogs fans and the seats sold prove this.

So 30% of bulldog fans that went to the game came from outside Victoria even though we have the lowest outside vic membership of all the vic teams except Melbourne.

And the income made from the games does not include the costs to run the games or the sponsorship deal we have with Ballarat means the games themselves ran at a lose and the town made less in income than the sponsorship paid out.

Lol but I talk bullshit !!!

As I said this deal has DUD all over it and practice natches and AFLW games won’t help coz hardly no one goes or pays to see them

Not sure how you think a club sponsor recovering the bulk of sponsorship money back in one weekend is a bad thing.
I'll give you the crowd figures though. That seems odd.

 

[gangsta deluxe]

Incompetence in data collection, rather than conspiracy is always a better explanation.

If 90% of the crowd were bulldogs supporters and 40% of the crowd came from outside Victoria, this does not necessarily mean that 30% of the fans who went to the game were bulldogs supporters from outside Victoria. If all supporters who came from outside Vic had a distribution matching the crowd 36% of the crowd who were bulldogs came from interstate. However, if all the 10% that were from interstate were Port supporters that means that the remaining 30% were dogs. However, the likely distribution is more probably 32 or 33% (there will be Port supporters in Melb who took the opportunity to attend and a minority of bulldogs who came from interstate).

I vaguely remember some data being collected about this (I went to the game). I think most likely many fans input it incorrectly due to poor wording or ignorance. More accurately, 15-20% would have been interstate with three quarters of those Port.

Does this invalidate the rest of the data? There was clearly an error.

 

[Roogal]

Not sure how you think a club sponsor recovering the bulk of sponsorship money back in one weekend is a bad thing.
I'll give you the crowd figures though. That seems odd.

I cannot read (and chose to block) the person who I assume that you are responding to. Go back over this person's history across this thread and little (if anything) is actually based on any analysis, facts, propper statistics or substance. This person disses all positive comment and discussion. If you ask him/her any questions on their rationale, he/she will accuse you of having a vested interest and hurl a barrage of insults back at you as his/her first line of defence. Hence, he/she remains blocked.

I applaud you for calmly offering to provide crowd figures, but these facts have all been offered to this person in the past and he/she just merrily continues to go on ignoring the facts and details when offered and will continually rant on about his/her personal opinion that all Bulldogs games should be played exclusively at Etihad and nowhere else. This person ignores any attempt at reason, the historical evidence and data that shows that the WBFC have lost a lot of money playing many home games at Etihad, and that they made good money playing two games per-season in Cairns. This person is not interested that Hawthorn makes $2.2 million and North Melbourne $2 million from playing a few games per-season in Tasmania. That money is definitely helping those two clubs and their bottom line.

Yes we all understand that the WBFC won the Premiership in 2016 and that the club had a great year profit-wise last year. Membership, merchandise sales and attendances were up in 2017 in anticipation of another good season. But 2016 is history and in 2017 the team mis-fired and the team didn't back up strongly as many had anticipated. Probably a good reminder to us all that good times don't last forever. 2018 will be a real test for the Bulldogs: can they sustain their 47,000 membership? Will their merchandise sales be as strong? Will attendances be as strong as early 2017? Time will tell.

Last year the crowd average attendances across all WBFC's 11 'Home' games was 31,473 (Ballarat would have dented that overall number slightly) but interestingly the "Away" attendances average for the WBFC was 34,839. If 26,000 is indeed the magic number that the WBFC has to achieve to break even at Etihad then the profit margins for the host team after that must be rather slim in consideration of the high costs associated with the running of that venue. Peter Gordon noted in July 2016 that the Western Bulldogs were making more money from playing one game in front of 10-11,000 in Cairns than what they were making at Etihad over a whole season (See link to article: Click Here). That's irrefutable. Even the mighty Hawthorn with 70,000 members only drew 33,257 as an average Home attendance figure (including their three games in Launceston which drew and average of 13,197). The overall average attendance at Etihad for all 2017 H&A Games was 32,933 which means that few (if any) teams actually made much money playing there overall.

Crowd Statistics Sourced from: AFL Crowd Tables

The simple truth is that football is a business and clubs must be run as businesses and not purely on emotion. Clubs will do what ever it takes to keep themselves afloat. My team (North Melbourne) have defied their critics and paid down some $8 million of debts, rebuilt their club facilities, doubled their membership and done it all without Poker Machine and gambling revenue (although technically a raffle is gambling). They have achieved all of this in 9 years since being read their last rites in 2008. Yes they use Tasmania as a key source of revenue, it's an important part of their business plan. Even the Hawks use Tasmania to break even. The Western Bulldogs are still not the biggest, richest or most supported club in the AFL by any means and the club's management will no doubt take what ever decisions that they need to, to keep the club afloat and to broaden its support and appeal. I hope that the Bulldogs succeed and that Ballarat and Western Victoria contribute to that success.