Anatomy of a membership tally: Full breakdown of every one of the Tigers’ 100,000 members

Every time a membership record is broken, punters claim it’s inflated, or using pets memberships. Richmond’s membership guru Dino Imbriano opens the Tigers’ books for JON RALPH to split fact from fiction.

The Tigers have some 15,000 junior members included as part of its 100,000 plus strong membership tally. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

Richmond’s membership guru Dino Imbriano chuckles and he answers the question he knows has been coming all along.

The answer is 526.

The question is how many cats and dogs did the Tigers sign up last year to their $50 pet membership, which also promises $30 of “Richmond member rewards”.

Richmond’s official membership figures — last year just over 101,000 paid-up fans — are just as real as the scepticism from football fans about the spate of competition records broken by the season.

Like the sun rising in the east, the yearly flood of press releases spruiking new membership records is an annual football tradition.

The AFL shouted those figures again recently as it announced one in 21 Australians was an AFL club member.

Records?

The AFL has them by the bucketful.

Fifteen clubs broke membership records last year as the league claimed a 30th competition-wide record membership figure in 32 years.

Only Covid in 2020 and the Sydney Olympics stopped the league from year-on-year growth across three decades.

And yet how many of them are actually real memberships instead of giveaway deals or fans signing up cats and dogs to boost club tallies?

The Tigers have some 15,000 junior members included as part of its 100,000 plus strong membership tally. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

Richmond consumer general manager Imbriano is happy to disclose that figure, aware it is at the heart of so many raised eyebrows over the actual makeup of AFL memberships.

Imbriano today lifts the lid on the true breakdown of Richmond’s membership as the Tigers attempt to hit the 100,000-mark once more after being the first AFL club to reach that goal in 2018.

Imbriano can account for every single membership Richmond has in those 38 categories — and not one of them are false.

Yes, the rise in three-game memberships has represented a huge part of the explosion in growth for all AFL clubs.

Yes, the old-fashioned 11-game membership is increasingly dying breed in an era of tailored packages that can include all manner of reserved seat, blockbuster game and Grand Final options.

Yet Richmond is proud of the fact its hard-earned membership gains have not come through creative accounting.

As it turns out those cats and dogs are not included in Richmond’s tally as Richmond attempts to again hit a six-figure tally despite tough economic conditions and a potentially challenging season on-field.

“We were the first club to get to 100,000 members and we have maintained that number since,’’ says Imbriano, who has worked in membership at the Western Bulldogs (2006-2008), Collingwood (2008-2010), North Melbourne (2010-2018) and Richmond since January 2018.

Dion Prestia of the Tigers high fives fans after a win last season. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

“We have always been absolutely categoric that we are not going to inflate the numbers in any way. The most important reason is you create a rod for your own back. If you keep your numbers real, the members know where you are.

“If you don’t do things the right way, it catches up with you in the long run. If you inflate members then maybe members who are sitting on the fence think they don’t need to be a member.”

“This year we are slightly down on last year but if you inflate the numbers, it is never the real picture. We always call it how it is. We can get to 100,000 members but it will take a lot of hard work. It is something we want to be proud of and something we have done through the help of the entire supporter base.”

Clubs desperate to maximise their official season-ending tallies can try a variety of techniques.

They can hand sponsors memberships for gratis, they can hand out vast numbers of memberships through community programs or they can include hospitality clients who attend a single function as rusted-on members in their tallies.

Richmond’s strict definition of a member — accounted for in official AFL figures released each September — is a member taking up a $55 or more package that has access to at least one AFL game.

So the cats and dogs definitely do not count.

Every category above the $55 price point is included in Richmond’s tally, including the $260 digital membership (including Kayo) even though it strictly doesn’t have game access.

Richmond has 38 membership categories, many of which combine varying combinations of three or 11 game memberships and either allow the fans general admission, reserved bay or reserved seat membership.

Imbriano says of the Richmond membership base last year — 101,349 — there are 11 rough categories.

This season as cost pressures hit the Tigers are pushing the message to fans that there are multiple options for supporters who are sitting on the fence

A new blockbuster membership category for $160 locks in reserved seats to Anzac Eve against Melbourne and Dreamtime at the ‘G against Essendon and also allows access to three other 2024 Richmond home games.

And the Tiger Insider category ($99, access to three home-and-away games) is a far superior option for fans battling cost-of-living pressures than dropping high-value memberships altogether.

Imbriano says about 60 per cent of AFL memberships still come from 11-game general admission and reserved seat memberships but says clubs have moved with the times.

With membership still accounting for about a third of club revenue, it has never been more important.

“There are so many options these days with what people do with their leisure dollar and we need a package for everyone,” he said.

“In some ways we have moved away from the 11-game memberships when I started 18 years ago. We introduced three-game memberships at Collingwood when I was there in 2009 and it gives clubs the capacity to engage fans and slowly put incentives in front of them to get to a higher package. You might have more on field success or there are other drivers that help them upgrade.”

Those difficult early years at the financially strapped Dogs, desperately trying to sign up the entire membership base each year, were filled with stresses as clubs signed up vast numbers of members at games in early rounds.

Richmond would be lucky to sign 100 members on game day now, with annual direct debit arrangements and payment plans helping clubs retain members year to year.

Having watched in awe as Richmond’s membership stuck fat through the Covid years of 2020 and 2021, at times effectively donating their membership fees, makes him value the fanbase more than ever.

“Being a member involves a financial contribution but there is also a sense of belonging and connection to the place,” he says.