Adelaide reaches record 60,000 members and focuses on fans who can’t get to Adelaide Oval
Michelangelo Rucci
The Advertiser
March 30, 2015 9:42PM
ADELAIDE has rewritten its membership record with 60,383 - and Crows chief executive Andrew Fagan wants to take the count to six figures in the next decade.
The challenge of his goal of 200,000 members in 2025 is finding a way to connect with the Crows fans who cannot get tickets to the 53,500-capacity Adelaide Oval.
Adelaide last night posted a count of 60,383 members - the fourth-best in the AFL behind Collingwood, Hawthorn and Richmond. The Crows again have the best 11-game membership count: 43,668.
“Our increasing focus now is on the 600,000 supporters we have in SA and around the country and delivering memberships while working to a limited capacity at Adelaide Oval,” Fagan told The Advertiser last night.
“We want to make those people feel part of the club - engaged in the Adelaide Football Club.
“That is three-game memberships or even one-match memberships for people who can only get to one game in any season because they have young families or other commitments.
“When you have a sold-out stadium, the challenge is to find other ways to make your fans feel connected and engaged with the club - and prepare to invest, be it with ever-important merchandise sales.
“Members with game-day tickets are important. They fill up our stadium, giving a great atmosphere on match days - and their money is directly invested in the club.
“But there also has to be a focus of having those outside Adelaide Oval want membership so our number grows to 70,000, 80,000, 100,000 and in 10 years I would like to think we could have a couple of hundred of thousand members.”
The 60,383 figure announced last night still has to pass the AFL audit in July when the league is expected to end the “double counting” of Crows and Power members among the 8000 Adelaide Oval stadium memberships. But it will certainly beat last year’s audited count of 54,249.
Port Adelaide’s unaudited membership number of 57,890 also is a club record as the Power aims to reach a 60,000 target this season.
AFL membership this year is counted as any package - with or without seats at an AFL premiership game - that sells for $50 or more.
Collingwood’s unaudited membership figure last night was 69,550. Hawthorn is at 66,690. Richmond is 65, 946
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