AFAIK they are (or at least were) paying one of the higher rents in the league. I think it's just a case they're running on a shoestring.

They did their work last year and won't be back until they are threatened with expulsion again.

The top 4 membership bases are the 4 Melbourne and Sydney clubs. Yet people think more clubs in the suburbs of Melbourne or Sydney is a bad thing.

THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what the raw figures say - but there is another story.

The 2 Sydney teams have membership base that represent 0.54% of the population. The 2 Melbourne teams fare slightly better at 0.63%. The regional teams of CCM and the Jets both have a membership around 1.45% of their population - something they still want to improve. WSW who represent a distinct area of Sydney when looking just at Western Sydney (around 1.8 million people) improve to 1.02%.

CMM and the Jets (the regional teams) membership bases represents a higher level participation than even WSW on its own. i.e. they are more parochial or tribal. Their problem lies in the fact is that they have relatively low populations. The point of having more teams in Sydney and Melbourne will be moot if they simply cannibalise what is in effect poor penetration rates in the largest 2 markets. Any new teams need to be tapping into new markets or exploiting a parochial area of Sydney or Melbourne that feel they are not represented by existing teams. This would not only help them attract memberships but also focus the 'identity; of the existing clubs 

We need more teams in the large cities - but it is not as simple as some make out.     


  

I really hate the whole per capita argument. Effectively u are trying to argue that ccm and the jets are a better supported team and that people in that area are clearly more interested in football based on per capita basis. This is a poor argument.

Of course in big cities the per capita support rate is going to be smaller, however that doesnt mean people in those cities dont watch the games on tv etc. Why else are the biggest sponsorships in the big cities for those clubs rather than out in the regional areas.

Following on with that argument if my suburb had 1000 people and 50 were members of our local football club, should that suburb have an aleague team based on the 5% per capita support? Obviously not. You have to look at the raw numbers.

Big cities qith multiple clubs from each city will grow football more in those citities that have millions of people. Derbies are huge and play a vital role. Its a much more interesting match up than regional clubs. Want more expansion? The stats prove it that the big cities is where the support is. We need a 3rd sydney and melbourne team, but they need to come from the right geographical area of the city itself.

That's not my point at all. In fact I think we are in violent agreement.  WSW is tribal - it has a greater penetration because it is tribal. We need more teams in the city but we need the introduction to be growing the pie not just dividing the existing pie. My point was you need to identify areas that are not represented in the city, that feel they need representation and will have a separate identity to current major city teams. That's why WSW is a success and by its success it has also meant that SFC has become more focussed on where it represents instead of pretending it was the team of all of Sydney. The danger to be avoided is that the new teams will just cannibalise existing city memberships. There needs to be a reason to follow the new teams, they may take some members from existing clubs, but as long as they are growing the pie that is not a problem.   

Not saying that regional areas shouldn't be looked at, as I'm all for them, the point I was trying to make was around how some rubbish the league/FFA complaining that its too Melbourne/Sydney centric, even though Melbourne/Sydney have a proven track record, without them the A-League would struggle. I am confident that a Melbourne west or south east and a Sydney south, even Wollongong which isn't too far needs to be looked at for the next side. 

My preferences are still Wollongong, Canberra and a third Melbourne (south east or west).

The more we wait the more I can only see the next two teams coming from Melbourne and Sydney. If Cronulla get one and make a good go of it then good on them. In terms of Melbourne I would like to see the Southern Cross bid get up if they can get the cash for an extra 5k seats at Lakeside, it would be a key difference from the other sides in Melbourne. 

They would be my next two though the Cronulla one would need to be looking at representing more than just the Shire - ideally taking in the St George districts as well. Gorman says a team at Cronulla could be ready for next year and you wouldn't bet against him with his record. I'm sure SMFC would also be able to make it.

Still I would love to see Wollongong back and its weird having Wellington in the HAL without having Canberra 

As much as this isn't a popular opinion with some, I really don't see a viable business plan for a Canberra team.

A market of 400k with 2 full-time professional football clubs (RU Brumbies & RL Raiders). Along with a part presence of another (AFL GWS) really doesn't leave much room to move.

Markets like Wollongong and Geelong may also appear to have some promise but there's many challenges there too.

What's likely the best option?

As much as some people will hate it expansion in Sydney and Melbourne may well be the only viable options at this stage. Their catchments, corporate and broadcaster value would all likely be more compelling reading.

What's an ideal but unlikely outcome?

2 teams in both Perth (WA derby) and Brisbane / Ipswich / Logan /Gold Coast (SEQ derby), along with a new club in Auckland (NZ derby) could offer strategic value but all have just as many challenges to face also for varying reasons.

Huge jump from victory, supposedly after the open day.

23,728

Anyone know what they were round 1 last year? All of a sudden then might surpass last season...?

I think since that time, due to those circumstances they were able to re-negotiate for a better, slightly fairer stadium deal? I don't remember if, like the Roar's stadium scenario at the time, the FFA got involved to help with negotiating for a better deal. If I remember correctly, in the past they needed a crowd of 12k or so to break even - so it may be a bit lower now. Infact, I think I remember it may be more around the 10k now and that's achievable as the Mariners were hovering in the high 9k range during the Arnie era.

Are you for real?

I think 30k is a very, very ambitious - but achievable target, especially after last year's numbers.

Says where we are that we shrug our shoulders at a football club in aus closing in on 25k members, two weeks before they've even played their first game at home. 

I have to disagree.
Canberra has a vibrant football community and local competition. Extremely strong clubs which would provide a local feeder system to start with. The support for the game is quite large, and probably at a higher penetration rate than the major cities. Watch how many turn out for Canberra Olympic v Sydney FC for the FFA cup match. They'll fill Viking Park ( 8K ). Belconnen, Tuggeranong, Canberra United et al, all very strong clubs with large supporter bases themselves.

As for a commercial business plan, the key is FTA TV. Major sponsors do not have to be local, as all they want is the TV exposure. However lower tier corporates ( ie boxes ) are perfect for Canberra businesses. $20K to wine and dine your clients and staff for a year, plus to have the prestige and perception among'st rival businesses, and clients alike, that your'e successful enough to be a corporate sponsor of a national comp team.

I agree with the sentiment that the larger cities offer greater corporate support, but don't discount Canberra on urban myths.
Most comments come from those who haven't lived in Canberra. You have 400K people, with a much higher disposable income than average Australia. A large multi cultural population, overseas students as well as diplomats and their staff. I think you all may be surprised by the level of interest for football, in Canberra. 

Wanderers 18,461 this afternoon which is only 248 below their record and about 1,800 ahead of where it was last year immediately before round 1.

Adelaide over 8000 members.

Good job!
If they can get closer to 10,000 it would be a great outcome. Hindmarsh is a brilliant stadium and hopefully the Reds can get the joint rocking with 12k plus most weeks.

Jump of 600+ in the last week, big effort.

Membership drive on SEN for Victory today so I expect we'll pass 24,000.

SYD 10,276

I will wait for Davo's mint tables.... really appreciate them btw mate!

But have just done some quick calcs, and we are now at 95,437 (expect to be around 96k, as i cannot find trackers for Roar, Nix, CCM).

I think we are an outside chance to hit 100k by round 1... given a) the growth we have seen in the past couple of weeks and b) advertising finally ramping up.

15/16 = 109,377 ........ as of round 1 2015 membership count was:   89,437
14/15 = 114,521 ........ as of Round 1 2014 membership count was:  97,252 
13/14 =   94,520 ........ as of Round 1 2013 membership count was:  86,352

I would assume that at bare minimum we will beat our best membership drive of 2014/15 - Only 1-2k to go. Great stuff. 

Speaking of which, the ABC are running quite a few of their well produced ads for their streaming and Grandstand match commentaries.

Sorry for the poor post... on the phone. 

As per Davo's posts:

15/16 = 109,377 ........ as of round 1 2015 membership count was:   89,437
14/15 = 114,521 ........ as of Round 1 2014 membership count was:  97,252 
13/14 =   94,520 ........ as of Round 1 2013 membership count was:  86,352

Adjustments per the individual club sites:

Jets up 200
Sydney up 100

= We have equalled our best ever membership count as at Rd 1. 

8k above last year at this stage, of an increase of almost 10%. 

With some of the bigger clubs like Victory, Sydney, Adelaide and City not having home games this first week, we could still see large growths. Watch this space!

Club Total 2016/17       [%] (Total 15/16) (Total 14/15)

1) Melbourne Victory:   23,728  [87.7%]    (27,054) (24,200) 
2) Western Sydney Wanderers:  18,522  [100.94%] (18,349) (18,706) 
3) Sydney FC:    10,414  [79.1%]    (13,153) (11,510)
4) Melbourne City:   9,871  [106.4%]  (9,298) (11,759)
5) Adelaide United:  8,351  [95.8%]   (8,720) (9,505)
6) Newcastle Jets:    7,608  [82.1%] (9,264) (10,003)
7) Perth Glory :   6,312  [88.8%]   (7,109) (6,298)
8) Central Coast Mariners:   4,626 [76.5%] (6,048) (6,242)
9) Brisbane Roar:  4,596 [86.0%]  (5,347) (12,113)
10) Wellington Phoenix:  3,161  [62.8%]  (5,035) (4,185)

TOTAL:  97,189   (109,377) (114,521)

15/16 = 109,377 ........ as of round 1 2015 membership count was:   89,437
14/15 = 114,521 ........ as of Round 1 2014 membership count was:  97,252 
13/14 =   94,520 ........ as of Round 1 2013 membership count was:  86,352

Legend: #black = no change since update. #blue = change < 100 since last update, #green = 100 - 500, #violet = change > 500 since last update. 
Stats are taken from the individual club membership pages, the main a-league tally as well as directly from club representatives.

Incredible, we are barely 60 off from cracking the record as of Round 1 set back in 2014 which was our record year. Unbelievable achievement considering everything that has happened during the past 12 months. Let's hope we continue with this momentum during the season.

We are about 8k in front of last season which is fantastic. If the first few weeks go off on a bang on the park, I reckon we could be in for a great year for attendances. Fingers crossed.

A very solid week of membership uptake all round this past week. 

Season 2015-16 figures, from the A-League website, this date last year:


The latest figures, for season 2016-17, via http://www.a-league.com.au/membership:

City look set to reach 10k before their first home game.

Perth and City the only teams experiencing any growth. Great to see Glory getting some more members on board, would be great for them to hit 8k before christmas. Hopefully Brisbane doesn't continue to be an off-field basket case and we can get their numbers back up over 10k. Sydney FC, should be doing so much better than this. Some use the crowd figures as an excuse, but realistically their membership numbers should be up around 20k, 15k minimum. Disappointed only an extra 2k for City, but maybe that will increase depending on Timmys performances. Wellington....who knows what to do there. They need a significantly smaller stadium, even a 15k would do them for now, even though it wouldn't qualify. They should have explored running a temporary stadium in Hutt or wherever they played that match with the temporary grandstands.