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Fans jump on Sydney bandwagon
By TIM MORRISSEY
September 18, 2003
THE Swans are on the verge of becoming the AFL's latest superclub with membership booming and cash rolling in as they drive towards a grand final berth.
New Swans chief executive Myles Baron-Hay says the Swans' surprising success in 2003 could see Sydney's membership double next year.
"It's not unrealistic to think that we can get to a 40,000 membership within a year," said Baron-Hay, who set about rebuilding the Swans off the field last month.
A 40,000-strong membership would put the Swans in the same league as AFL heavyweights Adelaide (47,097) and Collingwood (40,455) as well as making them a colossal force in the congested multi-code football city of Sydney.
Last night more than 70,000 tickets had been sold for Saturday night's preliminary final against the Brisbane Lions.
The match is almost certain to be an 80,500 sell-out at Telstra Stadium and Channel 10 expects a national TV audience of more than one million viewers.
These factors alone provide massive building blocks for the Swans looking to 2004 and beyond.
Swans coach Paul Roos said he was thrilled at the prospect of his young team having a capacity crowd behind them.
"I'm hoping that by Saturday night it will be a sell-out and that will be fantastic for the Swans and for Sydney," he said.
Baron-Hay knows it's a bold prediction for the Swans to be one of the most followed teams in the AFL, but his views have sound foundations given the club's 1997 experience.
"The 1996 Swans membership was around 9500 but after making the grand final in 1997 the club's membership had grown to 22,000," said Baron-Hay.
Sydney are on the verge of repeating 1996 and have the potential to go one better if they can beat the reigning dual premiers.
Win or lose it's been a remarkable turnaround for a club not only on the field but off it.
Only three months ago chairman Richard Colless described the Swans' financial position as "genuinely life threatening" if the club didn't receive a one-off $1.5 million grant from the AFL.
However, in the past few months Sydney's bottom line has improved by at least $1 million, thanks largely to a 24.7 per cent jump in attendances from last year. "There's been a significant improvement although there's still a long way to go," said Baron-Hay.
"The latter half of the year has been significantly better than we budgeted for, but going forwards we need to be consistently profitable and financially strong and independent."
The key to that is building the Swans membership and sponsorship base. "We are working hard on the membership . . . we are looking to launch a membership drive in early October at a time when AFL is still part of people's short-term memory," said Baron-Hay.
"The offer includes a flexible payment plan, a Swans advantage card, a premiership club membership giving you preferred access to finals tickets and a raft of other benefits.
"The team's onfield performances are really going to help us throughout that drive."
By TIM MORRISSEY
September 18, 2003
THE Swans are on the verge of becoming the AFL's latest superclub with membership booming and cash rolling in as they drive towards a grand final berth.
New Swans chief executive Myles Baron-Hay says the Swans' surprising success in 2003 could see Sydney's membership double next year.
"It's not unrealistic to think that we can get to a 40,000 membership within a year," said Baron-Hay, who set about rebuilding the Swans off the field last month.
A 40,000-strong membership would put the Swans in the same league as AFL heavyweights Adelaide (47,097) and Collingwood (40,455) as well as making them a colossal force in the congested multi-code football city of Sydney.
Last night more than 70,000 tickets had been sold for Saturday night's preliminary final against the Brisbane Lions.
The match is almost certain to be an 80,500 sell-out at Telstra Stadium and Channel 10 expects a national TV audience of more than one million viewers.
These factors alone provide massive building blocks for the Swans looking to 2004 and beyond.
Swans coach Paul Roos said he was thrilled at the prospect of his young team having a capacity crowd behind them.
"I'm hoping that by Saturday night it will be a sell-out and that will be fantastic for the Swans and for Sydney," he said.
Baron-Hay knows it's a bold prediction for the Swans to be one of the most followed teams in the AFL, but his views have sound foundations given the club's 1997 experience.
"The 1996 Swans membership was around 9500 but after making the grand final in 1997 the club's membership had grown to 22,000," said Baron-Hay.
Sydney are on the verge of repeating 1996 and have the potential to go one better if they can beat the reigning dual premiers.
Win or lose it's been a remarkable turnaround for a club not only on the field but off it.
Only three months ago chairman Richard Colless described the Swans' financial position as "genuinely life threatening" if the club didn't receive a one-off $1.5 million grant from the AFL.
However, in the past few months Sydney's bottom line has improved by at least $1 million, thanks largely to a 24.7 per cent jump in attendances from last year. "There's been a significant improvement although there's still a long way to go," said Baron-Hay.
"The latter half of the year has been significantly better than we budgeted for, but going forwards we need to be consistently profitable and financially strong and independent."
The key to that is building the Swans membership and sponsorship base. "We are working hard on the membership . . . we are looking to launch a membership drive in early October at a time when AFL is still part of people's short-term memory," said Baron-Hay.
"The offer includes a flexible payment plan, a Swans advantage card, a premiership club membership giving you preferred access to finals tickets and a raft of other benefits.
"The team's onfield performances are really going to help us throughout that drive."
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