Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide membership price freeze part of major challenge to win back the fans
Season 2020 will be dedicated to the fans at both the Adelaide and Port Adelaide football clubs. The charm offensive has begun with a freeze on membership pricing - but will the fans feel the love?
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Port Adelaide and Crows members are finding in their letter boxes and email in boxes renewals for their AFL club memberships. The Power also sent out its member satisfaction survey on Friday.
At Alberton and West Lakes respectively, there is unease with both SA-based AFL clubs facing the prospect of the biggest “churn” rate among their members since the move to Adelaide Oval in 2014 - and both clubs need to develop eager sales pitches to win back faith.
Both the Power and Crows have decided against any price increase to their memberships. Clearly, neither AFL club can ask for more when they are considered to have under-delivered in 2019, particularly the 11th-ranked Crows.
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Both clubs have major challenges in winning back the faith of their frustrated and agitated fans.
And both the Power and Crows are somewhat powerless to deal with the Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority undermining the goodwill created by the Crows and Power freezing the cost of season tickets. The prospect of increased food and drink prices at Adelaide Oval works against the charm offensive the AFL clubs are making to their supporters.
Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas has promised to listen more - and talk less. More importantly, he has vowed to honour the members’ wishes - particularly on the captaincy question.
The message has been been noted loud and clear at Alberton to the point the captaincy debate does not feature in the members’ survey.
After breaking with 148 years of tradition by opting for co-captains this year (Tom Jonas and Ollie Wines), the Power will revert to having one skipper in the No. 1 jumper for Port Adelaide’s 150th anniversary season. Nothing could be more certain next year.
Thomas also will answer the “Bring Back The Bars” campaign by having Port Adelaide wear the club’s much-loved black-and-white jumper at least once in the Showdowns with the Crows and twice in the 150th season.
Adelaide chief executive Andrew Fagan has promised to break down the “insular” and “secretive” image of the Crows who thought they could touch their 700,000 fans with their controlled messages on the club’s website, weekly television show and social media presentations that clearly have failed to hit the mark.
Fagan is taking the Crows back to the themes of the past - the ones adopted by coach Phil Walsh in 2015 and foolishly ignored by his successor Don Pyke.
“We will,” said Fagan, “soon launch details of a rolling series of member forums where you will have the opportunity to visit the club, receive presentations from key administration and football staff on a range of topics while also being provided with ample opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback on topics that are important to you.”
Port Adelaide and the Crows are eager to stay connected - perhaps reconnect in many cases - with their uneasy fan bases and members threatening to thow back their season tickets.
Adelaide still has the luxury of demand exceeding supply for its season tickets, although it might be a fine margin after two consecutive years of missing AFL finals.
Port Adelaide is not so fortunate. The anger in some Power members - the same crew who sang the club anthem of ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ but will do more damage from the inside than any outside barbarians - is concerning for a club wanting to celebrate its 150th anniversary with unity rather than rebels.
Those frustrated members who want to turn their back on the Port Adelaide Football Club - to make a protest - will need to consider what they might find when they seek to return to the fold at Alberton. Debt has put the Power under AFL watch. Increased debt inevitably will put Port Adelaide under AFL control - with the AFL appointing key people who create a franchise with no interest in the one-captaincy tradition, the black-and-white bars jumper and even renewing the five-figure annual licensing agreement for the NTUA anthem.
Careful what you wish for ...
And then there is the SMA, the authority charged with managing the food and beverage outlets at Adelaide Oval - and under state government order to invest in the venue to ensure it does not become rundown in the way that turned the fans away from Football Park at West Lakes.
The SMA is dealing with falling attendances to AFL games at Adelaide Oval. With the Crows, the average attendance was 44,514 this season - down almost 1000 on 2018 figures and almost 3500 short on the 48,046 mark from the opening season in 2014.
With the Power, the average crowd to Port Adelaide AFL games this season was 33,950 - down almost 4500 on 2018 figures and significantly down on the 44,086 from 2014.
All up, the SMA - which pays a $2.40 catering kickback to the Crows and Power for each fan who comes through the turnstiles - is dealing with a 57,000 drop in AFL crowds at Adelaide Oval this year (from 920,087 in 2018 to 863,105 this season).
That hole - which cannot be filled with selling naming rights to the venue - hurts the flow of money to the SANFL and grassroots development programs and the investment in Oval upgrades.
Covering this hole with price increases in beer and food, hurts the Crows and Power in drawing fans to the Oval - and selling season tickets as fans deal with limited disposal income in their wallets and purses. The SMA is creating a vicious circle with the prospect of price rises at the Oval.
Fagan vows to keep “applying as much pressure we possibly can to keep price increases to a minimum” at Adelaide Oval.
“But we understand some of this is out of the SMA’s control as they are obligated (to meet commitments) from legislation and other agreements,” Fagan said. “But they have a very clear understanding of how we feel about (any price increases to food and drink at the Oval next year).”
So do the fans.
Edition No. 13 of the Roast will be delivered to your inboxes on Tuesday. This week, we look at the fall-out of Adelaide putting away its bid to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games - and review the 2019 AFL football season.
In Reality Bites, are the Crows building a war chest to make major plays in the AFL trade period in October? And who was planning to boycott the SANFL grand final as a protest against AFL reserves teams in the State league?
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