Western Bulldogs and their partnership with Ballarat a success

[Roogal]

Ready for the last big game of the season, good luck today guys and ladies

 

[BallaratBulldog]

Our record in Ballarat is now positive and our first clean sweep in a year

 

[dergert]

If youre a team that is winning and playing strongly, the supporters will follow. Go dogs. Looked beautiful on the tv.

 

[Snarls Barkley]

Should play every game at Ballarat. It’s like our Kardinia Park but more effective.

 

[MYOB]

Well done to everyone that went today. It looked great on TV.

Would to love hear some feedback of how things went from a ground perspective.

 

[Roogal]

Well done to everyone that went today. It looked great on TV.

Would to love hear some feedback of how things went from a ground perspective.

It was a great day all round, a fair few empty seats despite the "sell out", but I suspect that many of those empty seats were from pre-bookings from Adelaide Crows supporters who had already resigned themselves that they had no chance, because at least 80% of the crowd were WB supporters and the noise from them was tangible. It was the loudest and consistently vocal crowd that I have ever heard at that ground.

 

[Royale]

Great day out. Weather held off just long enough. Loving the rat!

 

[Prince Imperial]

The $6.5m the state government allocated to improve facilities like more toilets hasn't been spent yet, I noticed during my visit today. Hopefully these will be in place for our first match there next year.

 

[dogwatch]

The $6.5m the state government allocated to improve facilities like more toilets hasn't been spent yet, I noticed during my visit today. Hopefully these will be in place for our first match there next year.

Time to spend a penny.

 

[Cadillac]

Two huge wins against two good teams this year in Ballarat. A great day at the footy for fans = a riveting success. That playing surface is fantastic. Good to get the boys off the marvel stadium surface before finals.

 

[Bont2Bruce]

Like others have posted, was surprised by the "sellout" because there was still room on the grass on the outer wing where I watched from today. Guess there were some folks who purchased a ticket but chose not to come? Think they could have easily fitted another 1k in without any issues.

On the drive along the Western Highway to get to the game, was great to see the army of red-white-and-blue vehicles taking over the road.

The majority Bulldog crowd where I was took me back to the old outer at the Whitten (Western when I went there) Oval vibe, haven't experienced that for a while and it was great.

 

[LondonBulldog]

Great day, any time making the finals is a great day. Been before, seemed the same as last time, wouldn't take much to improve the outer and the capacity to 20k yet maybe the market is not there.

As I've said before, 1 game a year and a preseason is enough. Just don't think they are capturing "new" supporters, likely just people driving to Ballarat.

Then it becomes a fine line between alienating your Marvel reserve seat holders vs Ballarat games.

Yet there is nothing wrong with the ground, I will follow the dogs anywhere. Its feel like a slighter bigger local game, like the whitten oval days just with portable toilets.

 

[Doggy Dan]

Great day, any time making the finals is a great day. Been before, seemed the same as last time, wouldn't take much to improve the outer and the capacity to 20k yet maybe the market is not there.

As I've said before, 1 game a year and a preseason is enough. Just don't think they are capturing "new" supporters, likely just people driving to Ballarat.

Then it becomes a fine line between alienating your Marvel reserve seat holders vs Ballarat games.

Yet there is nothing wrong with the ground, I will follow the dogs anywhere. Its feel like a slighter bigger local game, like the whitten oval days just with portable toilets.

Playing the long game surely. We are not going to have adults switch sides nor would we want a bunch of lousy side-swappers.

This is the happy meal approach at getting to the kids!

 

[lachy]

Playing the long game surely. We are not going to have adults switch sides nor would we want a bunch of lousy side-swappers.

This is the happy meal approach at getting to the kids!

There is no long game in regards to growth, never will be.

However, if we not only want to get an additional $1million dollars plus to our bottom line than we would get playing at Marvel as well as state government funding for our Whitten oval redevelopment we will continue to play 2 regular season games at Ballarat each year.

This is funded by the State government and to justify spending the dollars on facilities in Ballarat to shore up their vote we as a club are paid to enable that.

Just think about this, we had less than 10,000 there yesterday on a good day with something pretty big at stake. That means somewhere between 35,000 to 45,000 members and supporters were unable to attend. Do this on a regular basis and you really think there will be net growth in our support base?

However, IF the WO development goes through over $100,000,000 of the funds would come from the State Government. If we have to sell 2 games a year to get that would you do it?

Even if it doesn't the board would have to find $1 million from other sources to be equal financially that can be funding directly into our football department. Do we have the resources to knock back that government offer?

Obviously I am not a supporter of the move on the basis of growing our base as it is a nonsense. However for the club and Ballarat would you knock back these funds?

The government do need to bring the venue up to AFL standard for spectators and should develop the railway line across the road from the stadium for match days to give both the city of Ballarat and Bulldogs supporters the best possible experience

On SM-G975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[dogwatch]

There is no long game in regards to growth, never will be.

...

Sorry lachy but this is just a defeatist attitude. Club membership and support profiles do change. It's not usually something that happens quickly but they have certainly changed in my lifetime.

We have to believe in ourselves and persist, even if it's a big ask. Whether or not Ballarat is a part of that is a reasonable subject for debate but I don't accept we always be bottom of the dungheap and that there's no point in planning long term growth ... if that's what you're saying. I don't think the Board does either.

 

[lachy]

Sorry lachy but this is just a defeatist attitude. Club membership and support profiles do change. It's not usually something that happens quickly but they have certainly changed in my lifetime.

We have to believe in ourselves and persist, even if it's a big ask. Whether or not Ballarat is a part of that is a reasonable subject for debate but I don't accept we always be bottom of the dungheap and that there's no point in planning long term growth ... if that's what you're saying. I don't think the Board does either.

No worries Dogwatch, you have an alternative opinion.

Never said this would leave us at the bottom of the dungheap. Merely net growth from Ballarat will never be anything more than negligible.

However, investing the funds we get from Ballarat wisely will lead to success. Consistent success will grow our brand as it did significantly in 2016, so the funds are critical for the long term success and viability, not the actual playing games there. Therefore, we will not be getting out of there anytime soon, so need to make sure we do not alienate the current support base. It is more than likely we will extend for another 5 years minimum.

We made more than double what we make in a year from Ballarat in merchandise after winning the flag, had a membership spike and grew above the bottom rung. Success grows the base for clubs that historically have not had much. Sustained success grows it generationally, look at Hawthorn v Carlton over the last 15 years.

 

[dogwatch]

...

Just think about this, we had less than 10,000 there yesterday on a good day with something pretty big at stake. That means somewhere between 35,000 to 45,000 members and supporters were unable to attend. Do this on a regular basis and you really think there will be net growth in our support base?

...

Hawthorn played FOUR home games (not two) at York Park this year. Average attendance was a little under 14,000. Its capacity is 21,000. Hawthorn's membership in 2019 was a record 81,000.

Seems to work for them.

 

[Northernsoul74]

Great day out. Well done to Ballarat for putting on a great event.

 

[maddog37]

Hawthorn played FOUR home games (not two) at York Park this year. Average attendance was a little under 14,000. Its capacity is 21,000. Hawthorn's membership in 2019 was a record 81,000.

Seems to work for them.

Wasting your breath. Some people can’t see the forest for the trees.

 

[lachy]

Hawthorn played FOUR home games (not two) at York Park this year. Average attendance was a little under 14,000. Its capacity is 21,000. Hawthorn's membership in 2019 was a record 81,000.

Seems to work for them.

Hawthron are a different case.

They are playing 4 games at York in a state desperate for football with no AFL teams located there, makes membership growth potential significantly higher than 1 hour away from 9 teams home grounds as Ballarat is for us, so there is a marked difference in opportunity for positive membership growth there.

However, winning three flags in a row, 4 in under 10 years after a another period of sustained success a generation ago would probably have a greater impact on their record membership than their York Park games and attendances.

 

[Sharkey66]

Would be interested to know how many tickets are allocated to the opposition club at Ballarat.

 

[dogwatch]

Hawthron are a different case.

They are playing 4 games at York in a state desperate for football with no AFL teams located there, makes membership growth potential significantly higher than 1 hour away from 9 teams home grounds as Ballarat is for us, so there is a marked difference in opportunity for positive membership growth there.

However, winning three flags in a row, 4 in under 10 years after a another period of sustained success a generation ago would probably have a greater impact on their record membership than their York Park games and attendances.

No doubting the value of winning flags.

I was more referring to the fact that they seem to disenfranchise 65,000 or more of their members (a minimum 60,000 due to ground capacity).

Any idea how many Tassy members they have? I'd expect it would be 5-10k but I really don't know. Mind you, they've been at York Park much longer than we've been at Ballarat.

 

[lachy]

No doubting the value of winning flags.

I was more referring to the fact that they seem to disenfranchise 65,000 or more of their members (a minimum 60,000 due to ground capacity).

Any idea how many Tassy members they have? I'd expect it would be 5-10k but I really don't know. Mind you, they've been at York Park much longer than we've been at Ballarat.

Last time I checked it was around 10,000.

They do seem to have more of a fickle supporter base than us given some of their MCG attendances this year. Not use to the hard yards i guess.

Like us though the reason they went there in truth was money. They were in a bit of financial trouble. They did invest the money well in the football department and success with growth has followed.

There probably is too much money involved now, given what is required for the WO development, for us to either drop back regular season games in Ballarat. there is messaging that can not only work but would not come across as disingenuous that would benefit both the city of Ballarat and the club at the same time

We do need to make it more comfortable for our supporters to travel there as the reality is for this to be of value to Ballarat it is the travelling supporters which provide the benefits not locals signing up and growing our membership down there. Facilities and public transport do need to be approved and when we pay the games needs to be better negotiated with the AFL. The other thing is a replacement game against an Essendon which allows for limited numbers of our supporters to attend is also something that needs to be addressed to not disenfranchise our supporters.

If the message was changed to our home away from home with the benefits clearly explained, and actions and voice from the club reflecting the message, there is no reason this cannot be a good revenue stream for a long time, most supporters would be accepting of this though not necessarily supporting it, and our club can grow from a period of sustained success.

 

[dogwatch]

All good comments lachy .

However I'd say there IS some benefit to Ballarat beyond having visiting fans, and that's the civic pride and confidence in where the City of Ballarat is heading. It helps make Ballarat look like a worthwhile place to live, work and raise a family, and for businesses/franchises to start operation there. It helps make the residents of the Ballarat region proud of their city and where they live.

There's a fair bit of civic pride in having your own AFL stadium and regular AFL/pre-season games there (even though it's only 3 games a year). It's the biggest sport in the land, after all.

It's not easy to put a commercial value on such an intangible but there's no doubt in my mind that there IS a commercial value (as well as the inherent non-commercial value of it). The WB/AFL presence is only a small part of the picture for Ballarat, but an important one nonetheless.

 

[Roogal]

The $6.5m the state government allocated to improve facilities like more toilets hasn't been spent yet, I noticed during my visit today. Hopefully these will be in place for our first match there next year.

Can't build those amenities quick enough. It's been budgeted for I suppose that the Council are just waiting for the government to release the money.