A WOODEN spoon didn’t stop West Coast Eagles fans from opening their wallets during the past year, but it seemed to stop them dead in their tracks at the turnstiles.
A WOODEN spoon didn’t stop West Coast Eagles fans from opening their wallets during the past year, but it seemed to stop them dead in their tracks at the turnstiles.
Despite recording total membership of 54,875, West Coast averaged just 31,515 spectators at its games in 2010, as losses mounted and interest in the team’s on-field exploits faded.
Not since 2002, when the Eagles scraped into eighth position, have so few West Coast fans showed up to watch their heroes in action.
But that didn’t stop the Eagles notching a $2.7 million profit for the year, even after paying rent and royalty payments of more than $5.4 million to the Western Australian Football Commission.
The Eagles sold out seated memberships, grew its ‘In the Wings’ members by 5 per cent, and also filled its allotment of corporate hospitality suites.
Chief operating officer Richard Godfrey said loyalty was a big factor for West Coast’s supporters, sponsors and corporate partners.
“We’ve had three years where we haven’t made the eight, and at face value it hasn’t made a major impact,” Mr Godfrey told WA Business News.
“We’re really lucky to have that loyal, long-term support.”
Mr Godfrey said the amount of goodwill generated by the club’s three premierships could not be underestimated in terms of strengthening West Coast’s brand.
“A lot of good football in 2005-06 really built our brand strongly as well,” he said.
“I think that’s been a strong reason for our retention of members and sponsors.
“Also, we service our people really well. It’s really important so when you do go through the dips, people stick with you.
“There’s still good value there for their customers and clients and so on.”
Loyalty, however, did not seem to be the overriding factor for West Coast when it came down to selecting its new co-major sponsor.
The Eagles announced last month that Bankwest had swooped on the prominent position occupied for 25 years by Hungry Jack’s on the back of the West Coast jumper.
Eagles chief executive Trevor Nisbett said without any hint of irony that the club chose Bankwest as it offered the security of a long-term sponsorship deal.
“It was our decision and it was a tough decision to make, but having said that, we did it in the best interests of the club,” he said.
Mr Nisbett said the Eagles appreciated the support of Hungry Jack’s, and the club was hopeful of extending the relationship in some form.
Dock and rollers
Meanwhile, over at Fremantle, the resurgent Dockers seem set to smash the club’s off-field records in 2011.
In 2010, the Dockers lodged a profit of $394,749, down from the $590,861 in 2009.
But membership revenue increased from $9.7 million in 2009 to $9.9 million in 2010. And for the first time ever, the Dockers were seen by more fans than their rivals from West Coast, averaging 32,932 at all games.
It all adds up to a sparkling new era for Fremantle, which heralded it by establishing a new identity with a new playing strip, logo and brand.
Chief executive Steve Rosich said the decision to revamp the brand was not taken lightly, and it was partly driven by a landmark agreement with US-based Levi Strauss, which originally held the rights to the Dockers name.
The agreement means Fremantle can now use the name Dockers in marketing and merchandising, Mr Rosich said.
He said the establishment of the Dockers’ new brand has been helped by the strong performance on the field in 2010, and so far this year.
“In terms of off-field management, as much as you can you try and insulate your financial performance from the ebbs and flows of on-field performance,” Mr Rosich said.
“Notwithstanding that, it’s clear that on-field performance does have an impact on your financial performance.
“Pleasingly, we’ve really matured as an organisation across the board and that has also meant that our core revenue areas of membership, match day receipts, sponsorship and corporate hospitality have grown to a level that there is annual sustainability in each of them, and that does make it easier in managing our off-field operations and expenditure.”
With the off-field identity change sorted, Mr Rosich said the Dockers would continue to focus on driving membership growth, and growing its sponsorship portfolio beyond the current estimated $8 million.
“At the sponsorship level, we don’t have off-the-table packages as such. We look to develop proposals and packages that actually meet the sponsor’s needs,” he said.
“Likewise in our corporate hospitality area that our corporate partners access, we try to have an array of different packages that have different benefits and different price points to meet the needs of potential partners.
“And with respect to membership likewise we have multiple packages with multiple price points that meet the different demand.”
According to Mr Rosich, the Dockers will look to drive membership by getting more involved in grass-roots footy.
Already, Fremantle Dockers community programs interact with more than 20,000 school-aged children across the metropolitan area each year. Mr Rosich said the club would look to grow its community participation to achieve its goals.
“It’s a great way to engage with young children and to drive a healthy lifestyle message to those kids,” he said.
