The tickers are disappearing, just when we kind of hope for final membership figures for the season? :/

Luckily MikeDude posted the last Victory update and good old Heart's 'ticker' is still keeping on - probably boosted by their increased prospects via the new ownership and even improved play on the field.

7307 Heart are, at latest count.

A-League's 'known' total should now be at around 95k now - amazing effort and that's ofcourse the 'known' amounts, some of those including limited game packs but others clearly don't or haven't added/announced... Another couple thousand added to that total (from 'the rest') is entirely plausible!

Hopefully pushing this mark and even 100k is 'realistic' for next season, especially for the likes of Sydney FC, who did really well - Let's hope their poor season and ADP's likely departure, doesn't dent their membership progress too much. Same with Glory here, though this club has a steady membership base, due to history I guess, somehow despite all the drama and disappointment

Edited by GloryPerth: 20/3/2014 05:00:45 PM

Its been a dour albeit higher quality season. Entertainment is more important than quality for crowds imo so its been good growth considering

I hope A-League expansion to 12 can come a little sooner, like within the end of this TV deal (Expansion process from middle of 2016 or so?) - Many, many people around here have brought up the strong point over fixturing and how, with 10 or how it is now, teams playing each other more than twice a season, including Glory hosting Wanderers twice within a month-ish, can have a counter productive effect for viewer interest and even diminish perceived quality and value of such fixtures. 'Ideally' it would be playing two teams facing each other twice, each at each other's home venues, once. Premium value then rests, lies, with that one game or chance to see that visiting team, at your home venue. So if you are keen to watch Glory take on the star-studded Sydney FC for instance, then you need to set aside your schedule for that one game in the season that they host them or you miss out! Same with wanting to catch 'Heskey's Jets', 'Entertaining Roar', 'SA Rivals Adelaide', 'Muscunt's Victorian Tards', 'Distance Derby with Phoenix' or what not - only one chance! Greater intensity and interest on each of those home games, with each being more unique and exclusive. It's a varied experience for the home team fans, each time. Less familiarity, deja vu and/or boredom. It's a less 'Mickey Mouse' kind of stigma to the league too, if it feels too fish-bowl with it seeming like the same teams are constantly facing each other!

So the sooner they can address that, if that involves expansion to 12 and an increase in rounds (Or maybe not latter?) or some adjustment as many fans have analysed, hopefully the expansion to 12 can and will provide that and the wider access to markets (Like Canberra and re-entry with vigour in Townsville) should be an added boon.

At present it's easy to see how some fans can become jaded because their team is facing the same team for the third time in the season, second time hosting them - some times within rounds of hosting them previous! With 2 more teams, hopefully that will relieve the need for those extra games to extend the season to a healthy length?

Edited by GloryPerth: 24/3/2014 06:58:21 AM

It's tempting. I've always sided with the idea of consolidating the comp during this tv deal (which is what the FFA has said more or less anyway), but slipping in some new teams, or atleast announcing it, might help to spark the interest of some fence-sitting fans.

But the question is, will they bring in 2 simultaneously? Or would they do it one at a time like other codes?

An email from Wanderers just received indicates that Wanderers final membership total for the season was 16,904.

:cool: Though shame about their slight drop off late this season- fan fatigue could be finally catching up, but I hope that's all it is. The same vigour as earlier this season will hopefully return come finals and next season.

BTW Gyfox, what do you think of the overall figures, how they measure? What's your sum up and what do you think we could realistically expect next season - is 100k possible?

On the latter I become a little less optimistic - I think it would be wonderful if we could just surpass 90-95k fans again! I just hope clubs can keep up the enthusiasm on their end too, in regards to their membership drives and especially in regards to the reporting... eventually at some points.. of their member numbers. Because on that - this league could be a couple thousand closer to 100k already, given the likes of AU, Roar, some others and especially Glory's figures are very old.

I hope Roar can pursue that '$10kfor10k' initiative or similar next season - atleast 7k reached is fantastic, but still 3k short - which isn't THAT much short of the goal, but certainly beyond their own record - so hopefully they can exceed 8-9k next season! I'm worried about the likes of SFC and Jets though - their ability to follow up (Esp if ADP is gone, his 'effect' diminishing anyway - Tinkler's troubles ever on-going/evolving it seems too). :/.

AU and especially Heart could be good 'areas for growth' next season, as too perhaps Roar even, given their terrific follow up success again this season?

Glory are forever the mystery of the cosmos, dark horse, spanner, who knows?!

Edited by GloryPerth: 1/4/2014 12:05:35 AM

I'm not sure where you get the idea that Wanderers crowds have dropped because of fan fatigue. Attendances have reacted exactly how you would expect in Sydney. When you have a venue where 65% of fans are sitting in the open and it rains then you get about 25% reduction in attendance, Against Newcastle there was 15mm of rain in the lead up to the game. Against Adelaide it was 17mm and the start of the game was delayed and against Perth the forecasts all Saturday and all Sunday were for a large rain storm, lightning and hail. The storm on Saturday and Sunday swung past the venue and hit other areas but the Monday one didn't. I'm not sure if you have been in a February/March storm in Sydney but the headlines below from the Monday storm will give you an idea of what it can be like.



http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/a-man-who-was-swept-into-a-drain-by-flash-flood-waters-from-sydneys-storm-has-died-this-afternoon/story-fni0cx4q-1226863091506

I haven't been following the weather or even the A-League games over East that closely recent times - only read weather talk for latest Wanderers game or so. Impressive to see then that the drop off was not as drastic as could've been despite the weather then!

Your thoughts on the membership numbers of other clubs, the rest of the league, for this season and for next?

Edited by GloryPerth: 2/4/2014 03:01:07 AM

Not sure if it is 100% up-to-date, but my final table shows:

Adelaide United: 6,415
Brisbane Roar: 7,000
Central Coast Mariners: 5,600
Melbourne Heart: 7,307
Melbourne Victory: 22,021
Newcastle Jets: 10,115
Perth Glory   : 5,000
Sydney FC: 10,658
Wellington Phoenix: 3,500
Western Sydney Wanderers: 16,904

TOTAL: 94,520

I think next season we can hit 100k, and the main reason I say that is because of the Man City/Heart purchase. If they bring a big name marquee with them it'll have a huge effect. While existing fans may not like the change in name and colour, it might also bring about a wave of new fans as they 'reinvent themselves', so to be speak. This, combined with Man City's other long-term promises, might see a drive in Heart memberships.

If Brisbane take out the Championship, and become the most successful A-League club, then I'm assuming that will push the memberships above 7k for them.

Adelaide and Sydney also have a fair bit more room for growth. An exciting finals campaign for both might help.

As for Victory, I'm pretty impressed with 22k! It's only one thousand short of their goal, which is a huge effort. If they take out the Championship, it might just push that figure higher next season.

But at this stage, I think everything is on track to win over the extra 6,000 members for the 2014-15 season.

@gloryperth

Im personally a fan of going to 11 team comp first and giving the new team all the same attention as the wsw got then going to a 12 team comp

the extra team plus the ffa cup should alleviate the problems you raised

Thanks MikeDude - I'm hoping for all that too - Let's hope Heart really is the true spanner in the works that we all hope! ...but still, Sydney already grew alot in terms of memberships, for this season - already well beyond their previous record of around 8k members. That MAY reflect that their 'base' is now definitely larger, for the proper, but ADP's diminishing effect and likely exit combined with another below par SFC season and a segment of support disaffected with Farina's appointment/staying on - I'm normally an optimist, but I just hope in terms of member growth short-med term this isn't as good as it gets for SFC aka they haven't 'peaked' given the factors I've mentioned. SFC certainly could/'should' be one of THE A-League teams with a big member base (15k+ territory with Wanderers and Victory) - they are getting there now, albeit it's taken a while - hopefully the fans get back on-board with renewed enthusiasm and, IF need be and opportunity arises, SFC can find an optimum ADP replacement in that marquee possie, to keep up momentum and the competitiveness of the team - there seem to be a few notable International stars about 'the market' these days - maybe not quite 'ADP-esque' but the likes of Gallas and Heskey also hitting these shores, as too some 'talk' of Xavi linked with the Roar or what not.

So hopefully, in terms of memberships, SFC can meet what they achieved this season, rather than slip back - if they can be pushing to 11-13k members next season or new record territory again, then they would be doing very, very well, truly!



Interesting Grazorblade - Hmmm interesting idea you could well be right there. It would ALSO alleviate the concerns over a stretched/diluted player pool and too temporarily weakened competition standard in the following couple seasons, if two squads of 23 (46 players) were needing to be added at once. Though, mind you, I feel the league and it's talent pool depth is already heading to a stage where it may be able to handle such an increase - especially with all the talent in Asia that could be lured back - as too a coming generation of Young Socceroos (2015 and 2017 gens), Olyroos (Rio 2016 gen) etc... seeking to break through for senior opportunities at A-League level. Infact, given that, I believe the league DEFINITELY needs atleast 1 expansion team circa 2016 or so, just for that fact alone! And not unlike Wanderers, such a team could be quite a competitive proposition right off the bat? It just goes back to funding - so hopefully the current deal, Wanderers Sale and trending towards the next deal provide the conditions for the FFA to be more confident to green light expansion again, as soon as during 2016 sometime.

Edited by GloryPerth: 3/4/2014 01:40:31 AM

Cheers Mike.

Out of curiosity, there seems to be a few clubs which have exactly 5000 (PG), or exactly 7000 (BR) or exactly 3,500 (Nix).

Is this right, or have some clubs provided projections, rounded up..?

Those clubs generally only announce milestones. I'm guessing they aren't far off since if they were 500 or 1000 higher they'd announce it.

True tbitm, though tbh some clubs, like Glory, are soo inactive/non-communicative in this area that they could be '6k something' but never announced it - especially given that announced figure is one of the oldest figures in that list - was 'announced' by Brewer/Glory circa Sept/Oct last year IIRC? Same with AU and Roar's figures - not updated in a very long time.

Infact we could/should re-list these numbers with the dates each of those numbers were last updated. I did something like that last year - that could reflect and even provide a slight 'projections' for our imaginations/estimates, for the clubs who's figures are literally almost half a year old already. I know some, philosophically, don't like to include limited game packs - but others may do and tbh why not include them?! As those spectators who do are reflecting a level of commitment/pre-commitment greater than those that may turn up to less games this season? Those packages can function as a kind of 'gateway' deal towards getting a membership too? So in terms of those packs a few of these teams will have surely seen a collective bump up entering into another thousand or so during the early to mid-season period?

I guess this blog, which is also quite dated (Joffa's latest post far more up-to-date), reflects the dating of some of the announced numbers:

http://www.fromthestandsal.com/membershiptracker/

Edited by GloryPerth: 4/4/2014 02:19:51 AM

I'm tipping a drop in WSW numbers.

Club will want 15k. We will probably get 14k.

After the huge buzz last year, I can see a further fall to be honest.

If they win the Championship they may hold up, but the main drive this year was built off the fairytale that was last season for them. This year has been far more subdued and inconsistent.

For a comparison, does anyone have the final list of memberships for the 2012/13 season?

they really needed a stadium upgrade

if they get an extra 5k at each stadium we have another powerhouse club

we now have missed that opportunity

Stadium upgrade underway. 2-4k upgrade.

Is that happening now?

Soon. To be finished in late 2015 or early 2016 iirc. A fair bit of discussion on the wsf forums. Been a bit of a push to get the 32k upgrade underway too.

David Gallop has just been quoted on the FFA website that the A-league had 96,641 members this season. That's an awesome result. Hopefully that keeps growing now.
But they're aiming for 120k members next season. A touch optimistic I reckon!

Well you can expect heart/city to grow, Brisbane I believe will get closer to the 10,000 target this season and are in for a real shot of reaching it! I think Adelaide can really improve with what seems a huge amount of support behind Josep and the style of play. Time will tell

Anyone know what the Roar ended up with this season?

Edited by RJL25: 30/4/2014 09:35:28 PM

Anyone know if they are going to give out some tickets to asian cup matches with memberships?
Obviously would only work with Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne clubs. But could be a good idea, not sure how well asian cup tickets will sell.

Mariners announced an updated figure for this season too.

Edited by GloryPerth: 5/6/2014 09:41:52 PM