We sold our home game versus Freo to play them at the Gold Coast for $400,000. It did cost us the 4 points as there was little chance Freo would beat us let alone any other team in Melbourne. Those 4 points would have gauranteed us a home final because our worst result would have been 5th and most likely two home finals.
If we lose on Saturday we will play an interstate final and we will attract a crowd of 40-45k. If we lose that final that's it we are out. I would estimate that if we played two finals in Melbourne the club has missed the opportunity of collecting a share of gate receipts from 100,000 people.
Does anyone have an idea how much money the club would generate if 100,000 people paid to see them play in finals?

Hmmmm, very good point.

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"I had to eat"

get over it dude, doesnt matter where we played, u win some u lose some thats afl, move on

We should have still won on Gold Coast. Freo had to travel from Perth! We beat Freo in Perth, so going to Gold Coast should have been easy... we beat Brisbane in Brisbane this year (and last)

does the club get money from finals?

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Even if we lose, the Lions will still need to beat the Swans in Sydney to knock us out of 6th position. The Swans will be going all out to win the game this week as it's a send off for some of theri retiring all time greats..

So either way, win or lose, we could still end up with a home final.

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I'm not 100% sure but I think you will find all gate receipts for finals go directly to the AFL

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If there are no gate receipts then you would have to look at things like the Presidents club lunch, merchandise sales, incentives from sponsors for making finals etc. A President club lunch/dinner before a home final would attract 500 people at $200 a head with no fuss. Two of those will yield 200k less expenses. That 400k can get gobbled up pretty quickly.

I was at the Gold Coast that night and have to firmly disagree. The way we played we wouldn't have beaten them wherever we played them. In fact, in the end the only positive was that we got all that income - if we had have played in Etihad we still would have lost and we would have been poorer for it.

And if you reckon that I am being overly hasty in saying we definitely would have lost in Melbourne, then I'd contend you're being equally hasty saying we would have won in Melbourne.

I think it is time people built a bridge and moved on... and let's all hope for a Melbourne final for our lads next weekend!

agree with molly

we wouldn't have beaten an egg that night.....

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Go Blues

It has been widely acknowledged by the coach that the way we travelled to interstate games contributed to our losses to Sydney, Freemantle and Adelaide. The players felt it was all a bit rushed so the coach/coaching staff decided to leave a bit earlier for interstate games in order for the players to not feel so rushed. Since they made that change we are 2 wins from 2 games interstate. Freemantle has managed to win 1 game all year on the road. I am not being hasty.
I think the decision to sell the game might costs us more than what we got in the end.
I think it is a fair point to raise and it could potentially have significant ramifications for the club.

If the game was moved to Subiaco and we played Freo there then I think your argument has some merit. However the game was played on a neutral venue and Freo had to travel a lot further then we did to get there. The only reason we lost that game was we did not respect the opposition enough and we did not play anywhere near where we can and therefore we lost.

I could also list several other reasons why we did not finish top 4 with the main one being we are not a top 4 team yet. I can't wait for the finals though bring it on!

Sorry but we had to travel. Our coach has come out and said our travel plans were no good at the time and contributed to the loss. We lost by 7 points not 7 goals. If you people believe that Freo would have beaten us at Etihad in what has become a fortress of a ground for our team this year then fine. I just can't agree with that.

woof you do realise that when the deal was done to sell this as a home game to the GC, that our inability to travel wasn't an issue.

We could also discuss, whether Fev's miss cost us or Houla's miss cost us too.

Nothing in footy is a given and playing home doesn't equate to a win either.

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“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

DUC, We sold our advantage over this team, it is something that the board had control over. Fev missing a shot or Houla missing a shot or a stupid umpire giving an incorrect free to Lloyd which results in 2 goals is something the board has no control over.
Win lose or draw on Saturday that decision may potentially cost the club more than what it got for making the decision.

Agree.

May as well add the losses to Essendon*.

Fact remains we're not a top 4 team. End of story.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

The decision to play on the Gold Coast was made before the fixture list was decided, therefore we could have played any number of teams up on the Gold Coast for that game, i think the only stipulation was that it wasnt the lions.

We got Freo which all of us would have pencilled in for a win, it's not the board or directors who turned up and played such shit footy.

In the end we lost the game but earned $400K, given how we have gone this year I think its still a major boost to the club and we still play finals anyway!!

Good result and sound management

How do you know we would have won that game at home?

Freo travelled further than us to get there.... Thats the hardest trip in AFL...

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Malaysia may have had something to do with it also. Could be something worth factoring into the $$$ side of the argument.

Woof,

besides the Freo game, I can think of at least 2-3 other occasions in which we have played Cararra in the last few years with pretty much the same player group who failed to win that night. Off the top of my head (I might be wrong) I don't remember Freo having played there. We have great familiarity with the groud. Also, if you were at the game, the crowd was wildly pro-Carlton. You could hear a pin drop when Freo kicked a goal.

You could maybe argue that the game even helped us by identifying issues with our interstate travel preparation earlier - and this actually helped us in the subsequent games against Brisbane at the Gabba, Freo in Perth, and Port at AAMI.

Also, other than 2008 - when was the last time we actually beat Freo in Melbourne? I remember Medhurst and Farmer pantsing us season after season. Melbourne has hardly been a fortress for us against these blokes.

As I say... time to move on. I support the Board's decision, even though I hope it doesn't have to be undertaken on a regular basis.

Finals gate receipts go to the AFL. Again they take our money.

GC game was sold because we are still short of sponsors.

What came first the chicken or the egg.

I would rather look for 400K in other places.

Winning is the most important thing a club can do.

Playing in Melbourne increases our chances of winning.

If we miss the top 4 by 2 games the club can blame itself.

We will have a PC playing group and 400K in the bank.

Last time I checked the only measure of a club was the number of flags.

Despite making the finals this year will have been a missed opportunity.

Saints and Cats are done. Pies well they are the Pies. Enough said