Crows CEO defends '104,066 members' claimBy Nic Negrepontis
SEN
3 March 2020Adelaide CEO Andrew Fagan has defended his club’s stance that they have 104,066 members after Kane Cornes called them out on the number on Twitter.
Official AFL numbers have the Crows at 64,000 members, as Cornes pointed out on Twitter, saying: “Well done to Adelaide on its profit but 104k members can’t be right. That’s Richmond territory. ‘Free’ digital memberships shouldn’t be included in official figures”.
However, Fagan says that all clubs have varying ways of counting their membership numbers and the AFL should go to greater lengths to clarify what kind of members each team has.
“I have previously suggested to the AFL that when they report on their numbers, they should list them out by category,” he told SEN SA Breakfast.
“Like, the number of 11-game members or three-game members and list them out by category and then you will see how each club has them made up.
“I think on that count, if we are not first, we’re in the first couple in 11-game members, so full season members, along with perhaps West Coast.
“Other clubs have thousands of these other types of members. I think that would help with transparency.
“I’m completely comfortable with that number (104,066), we’re not trying to suggest that doesn’t exist, we equally will continue to engage with our 700,000 fans and have them step up a level that then enables us to try and develop the health of the football club.”
On the extra 40,000 members that the Crows are counting, Fagan said they are just as engaged as the more traditional card holders.
“I know it is an interesting topic. The facts are, when you get in behind the details with club membership numbers, the way in which they are counted these days, it is really different across clubs,” he said.
“Some (clubs) have sampling programs where they effectively have a sponsor going into community groups or schools and giving them a one-game membership. They effectively pay them they just have to sign up for them and they get to go to a game.
“Other (clubs) have family memberships that are larger in size and different clubs, depending on capacity at their venue, it really is quite different.
“For us, with some capacity issues we have had in our reserved seating at the stadium, above the 64,000, we wanted to continue to engage with fans who wanted to be represented as a member.
“A lot of those people do invest. They buy tickets to games and we have the details of them going to games. They buy merchandise at games.
“The comment I made at the forum last night was, I just think it is inevitable that there will be a period down the track where the AFL will use technology and data and insights to recognise people’s investments into the club and the engagement you have with them.
“So if it is Kane Cornes who buys three tickets to our games and also buys a jumper and is regularly engaging in our digital platforms and he has signed up to be a member, then how is he less of a member than someone who has paid for a $30 international membership?
“That’s kind of the problem at the moment. We are completely comfortable with the AFL’s count, that’s great, and then we equally say we are recognising these other people who want to be recognised as members.
“We equally recognise by national research that we conduct every year and the AFL conducts every year or two that there’s 700,000 plus fans of the football club.”
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2020/03/03/crows-ceo-defends-104-066-members-claim/
