This is the most sensational idea on this thread - congratulations da da da da da da.

Would support this 1000%.

You have to get the kids young. It should be part of all Rookie List Player and National Draft Player development to be rostered on every 4th Saturday - not a big ask.

Sheedy has been doing this for years and the North West Suburbs are predominantly "Black & Red" if you check out the Auskick Centres/Primary Schools.

Offer all participating children after they complete the Auskick year a Junior Carlton Membership for the following year as well.

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SECONDED.






+

We all wear blue Jeans. Levis would be perfect for example.

Rich and poor we love the denim and it is blue. Rich and poor we can afford the denim.

Most people love their jeans old and blue.

Pretty close to a certain theme song...

dadadadada, great idea. Nice one.

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Following on from this story in The Age today:

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/real ... 24164.html

As an MCC member I find it increasingly difficult each year to justify the $160+ membership for the Blues when I already pay $400+ or so a year for my MCC membership which gets me into 5 home games (as well as three away games) already. [I still do it of course....but I think about giving it a miss each year... ] I am sure there are others on this site are in the same boat and there are a stack of Blues supporting MCC members who don't pay up for a Carlton membership as it represents limited value.

Anyhow, I've just done some research on the MCC website - there are 97,000 MCC members (both full & restricted) and per the last MCC members survey 10% of members nominated Carlton as their preferred AFL team (FYI - Melb 24%, Ess 14%, Coll 12%), meaning that there are potentially nearly 10,000 Carlton supporting MCC members. Surely this is a major untapped resource for memberships - if the club could offer a special MCC members package, which includes all the rights of membership to the club, voting rights, etc and entry to our home games at Telstra Dome for say $100 instead of the basic silver membership package cost I sure we'd have a few thousand new members on the spot. It's probably too late for 2007, however for 2008 I think this is a no brainer. It would be great if those reading the site with access to those in our club's administration could pass on this suggestion.

PS. Could someone please add this to the ideas thread - I am not tech savvy enough

http://www.talkingcarlton.com/phpBB2/vi ... hp?t=14873

Vinniecatoggio's idea regarding MCC Members.

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My son is getting to Auskick age and i live in Bummer territory. Most centes run saturdays and i work Saturdays which i am sure is a common problem.

A Sunday Auskick at Princes park would be sensational.

To be honest there are quite a few Blues fans in moonee Valley anway.
A Carlton run Auskick in the middle of bummer territory would be even better

I dont know how feasible it is for a club to run Auskicks but have one in every district of melbourne.

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T E A M

Oops, sorry Brad, didn't realise you had done this. I merged vinnie's thread in here.

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Excellent idea - Mark H & Stephen M - hope you guys put this proposal up!

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For some silly reason, you people want to assassinate him, and it's just rubbish. You people. All of you, ALL of you!

There should be two such memberships offered: the $100 one you suggest and another that includes a reserved seat for all of the Blues' home games at the Fone Dome.

(And non-MCC members should be aware that whenever an MCC Member attends a game at the MCG the home team gets a benefit. This is because the MCC pays 75% of the standard attendance fee to the gate, which goes to the home team. So, an MCC Member attending all five of this years Carlton home MCG games will cause about $70 to end up in Carlton's coffers.)

Club website example: http://www.theblues.com.au

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"Carlton Night" at a local pub (there are many pubs in and around Melbourne that former Carlton greats are involved in the ownership of) each week;

Neighbours (the television show) has a great little do at one of the pubs around Melbourne and this would be a great example for the club to follow-

- Have a band perform (at the expense of the pub)

- Have a cover charge (all monies going to the club)

- Have several guest speakers (a senior player, a young player, a member of the coaching staff, a member of the committee or board)

The pub would make extra revenue overall on alcohol and/or food purchased as there would likely be more people in attendance than on average)

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American Affiliations

NBA - Boston Celtics (most NBA Championships - 16)

NFL - New England Patriots (if the club can get the Celtics on board it can be done with the Patriots)

NHL - Anaheim Ducks or Los Angeles Kings

MLB - Los Angeles Angels (the best Southern California sports team - they play near Disneyland
(Anaheim) and offer the international traveler a lot -- are run by a very fan oriented owner and the team has a few Australians on their minor league squads already)


English Affiliations

Cricket - Pick a county side

Rugby League - Pick a Super League team

Premier League - Chelsea

Irish Affiliations

The Hurling League (the league as a whole not an individual club)

County of Cork (the county itself could be a "Navy Blue Zone)


Affiliations

Any season ticket holder from the affiliated club who travels to Australia gets a ticket to a Carlton game that they're in Australia for

An invitation to watch Carlton train (yes, it's accessible to the general public but most overseas people do not understand this and in at least the USA it is impossible to attend a team's practice so this would be an eye opener for them) when they're in Australia

Free entry pass to the club do at the local pub

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International Membership

- Uninterrupted (dependent on members internet access) live radio commentary (whichever radio station is covering the game that day) as well as replays following the game (some games are in the middle of the night)

- Access to downloadable coverage of each of the games (NAB Cup; Home and Away season; Finals)

- Supporters Pack (including smaller sized and cheaper club souveniers)

- Access to discounted merchandise

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Local Club Memberships

- $5 to $10 (dependent on level of membership) when presenting your 'local club' membership

- The most members from each club at each league get two Carlton players/coaches at a local club fundraiser on a thursday night (try to incorporate The Footy Show into this - great publicity for Carlton) - try and do this on a monthly basis (4 or 5 throughout the season all on the Footy Show -- Brendan Fevola or whomever else is employed at Chan. 9 (or if we have a player that played for that particular club then they should attend) could make the attendance

- Bye Week - Chyna came up with the idea that we could have a Navy Blue week and run simulated and co-ordinated events at the different regions. This would be fun and easy.

- Cinema session - highlights package of our season thus far; premierships; heroes from their region. Speeches and perhapsa band. Done similarly to the pub idea.

- Childrens Clinic - Featuring past greats from the region and a current player from the region

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International Advertising / Game Marketing / Game Promotion

- Pay for articles on ESPN.com or other American / British sports websites

- Investigate and see what it would take for channels such as ESPN, Fox Sport, Sky, etc. to show Carlton games (cuts into the international membership but it'd be a great way to spotlight AFL on overseas television- you wouldn't believe how many people here have HEARD or SEEN AFL and would stay up all hours of the night or DVR (digital Video Record(er)) the games if shown on television here because "You crazy aussies are awesome at sport and its the best sport in the world to watch" and "our games are too stop start, we want action and dont want it to stop!")

- If you can get the television coverage pay for advertising banners, etc. on web mail companies (hotmail, yahoo mail etc.)

- Put some time, effort and money (it wouldn't cost a lot) into leagues presently in play in other countries (for example, there is a great league here in the US that is growing).

- Organise practice matches (or intra club matches or another AFL team) against a composite all-star team from a particular country - it's incredible the amount of Australians that have a history (be it from childhood or district leagues or state leagues) that are currently living overseas. A great many of us are affiliated with various aussie rules tournaments (I watched the AFL Grand Final in Portland with over 150 fans, many of whom were not Australian). While you'd likely keep the amount of star players to a minimum (it'd be a great opportunity for a youngster who hasn't cracked the senior team yet or one that is in their second or third year at the club to represent the club)

- Hold a club function in Ireland where they finally sell Carlton merchandise at the sports stores, etc. Sign exclusive contracts that they sell ONLY Carlton gear (if another AFL club wants to sell their gear they need to give Carlton a commission) unless it is of a player from that region who has made it at another AFL club (which is fair to the city/county).

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Merchandise Suggestions

300-club - 300 numbered prints autographed by the 300 game players - Doull, Nicholls, Silvagni and Bradley

Premiership Print - Signed by all living captains

DVDs - 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s; Premiership DVDs; Player DVDs (current stars as well as past legends such as Stephen Kernahan, Craig Bradley, Stephen Silvagni, John Nicholls, etc. done in a way similar to the WWE Legends series DVDs where its essentially a biography of the player from child hood with highlights of their greatest games and plays through to what they're doing today)

Clothing - Beermat is right. I had a friend (a Collingwood supporter so you could imagine his delight to send a friend a piece of Carlton) send me a Carlton cap for this past US summer (it's almost the end of winter now) and I truly couldn't wear it (as much as I wanted to) because I've been blessed with the quality of the US sports teams uniforms. It doesn't cost that much more for significantly higher quality. If the cost is too great then get it made overseas and sent to you. I'd rather pay for quality than be left with nothing or something that isn't up to scratch!

You talk about Ralph Lauren and companies such as that- find a company who make great quality shirts and have them sponsor the club. They create the merchandise and you make a split of the profit. Not only is the consumer buying from the club they're buying from a brand they know they can trust to make great quality products!

Bobblehead Dolls - These things sell like hot cakes. Every star player in sport in the US has a bobblehead doll. They're cheap to make can be worth quite a fortune and are a great item. Have a few 'bobblehead games' such as what bilic posted

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The Jesaulenko sculpture - Just do it.

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The Blue Pages

I like Andain's idea of incorporating a Yellow Pages type book for Carlton's sponsors.

A few of them already have offers for Carlton members. If you listed them in 'The Blue Pages' with company phone number(s), their logo, description of their service, any offer that they offer Carlton fans it would make a lot of sense. I cannot see why members would complain about receiving such a booklet as the offers inside could potentially save them a lot of money. It would also give a reason to people who are not sponsors but are looking to go into AFL sponsorship to actually follow through and choose Carlton over another club who doesn't offer such an initiative.

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Melbourne University

I like involving university students and there are many ways to involve them. I'll come up with some ways that the American teams have involved local colleges and universities in a detailed post soon.

Connex

The only feasible option would be when purchasing your Carlton membership if it came with a Carlton Connex Card and it entitled you to ride free on game days. Of course the schedule would be printed on the card so that drivers/conducters could acknowledge the free ride system

School - Kids Tickets

My mother was a primary school teacher. Do they still run the things through the primary schools? If they've stopped doing that then re-start it. The NBA, for example, does a 'Read to Achieve' type deal where players attend the local schools to read books to students. Award students free tickets upon completion of X amount of books read they receive a family ticket to a game. Yes NBA teams are richer but if you're promoting education AND football it would give the family more reason to support Carlton. "My son/daughter got us tickets to the Carlton Vs (opponent) game because they read so many books. Carlton's a fantastic club!"

Do a similar deal on the high school level but instead of it being about reading make it due to academic or physical excellence and improvement. Allow the teachers to decide what is an obtainable goal for each student.

Remember the Carlton latin logo - mens sana incorpore sano - a healthy mind in a healthy body. I dont know if Carlton has ever promoted that enough. I remember not knowing what it meant until I asked my mother.

I love the idea by dadadadada about running an AusKick clinic. I'd also promote the AFL under 18s competition a lot more heavily than most current AFL sides tend to do (unless that has changed recently). Connect with those clubs and work together to promote junior football development programs not only at a local club level but at the under 18s.

Do not limit it to where the kids come from. If I lived outside of Carlton territory (buzzah lives in Essendon* territory, for example) I'd love to be able to take my child to Carlton to learn where I support. It would encourage me to buy a club membership as well.

Hoyts / Village Cinemas

Each Carlton membership entitles the membership holder and a guest to $2.00 to $3.00 off of movie tickets. In exchange Carlton would name something after them. A game against Fremantle for example would be sponsored by Hoyts or Village.

Heard the corporate affairs manager of Foxtel interviewed by Mark Doran yesterday. He asked her if any AFL clubs have any packages available for members where they get discounted Foxtel, or Foxtel included etc. She said not at this stage but they would consider it in future & would be happy to hear from any clubs interested….

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I think the club should approach Foxtel and SEN about running a Blues Show every Thursday or Friday from a local football league or Community group.

Use Tony DeBolfo plus Digby and Harford and have a senior player run training for the local club. Harford has the connections at SEN DeBolfo has the media knowledge and Digby handles himself very well in front of a crowd.

I think they could make a 30 minute TV show covering the Carlton team selection, the opposition that week, snippets from training and two player interviews per week. By holding it in the local leagues or Comunity group you get to meet the kids and spread the word about the club.

Interview every player on the list including the rookies and then talk to the coach, specialist coaches, and recruiting manager. Should be enough new faces each week to cover a season plus the NAB cup or practice matches.

Promotes the club, the players, the sponsors, and provides an opportunity for interstate supporters who have Foxtel to keep up to date with the club and our players. Could also have a section devoted to the Blues Museum where we could call for anyone who has old team photos videos etc

I think it's about time we got out there and started selling the brand.

Following on from the idea of a membership for MCC Members, there should also be a Telstra Dome reserved seat package for AFL Members with Carlton Club Support. I know a lot of AFL Members who don't like and don't take up the club's current Gold Upgrade because they don't want the MCG reserved seat part of the package. However what they'd like is a package of reserved seats for our games at Telstra Dome.

Optus are our major sponsor.

Optus are a cable tv provider.

ummm..... maybe I'm crazy but....

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The question i ask then for this to happen

if the MCC could offer a special Carlton footy club members package, which includes all the rights of membership to the club, voting rights, etc and entry to 3 days at the boxing day test and some reserved seasts + 2 mcg games and 2 interstate one day games and a final?

I bet the MCC wont go for anything like that becuase it is an untapped source as some carlton members would like to be MCC Members as well


not really a fair deal considering there is no chance of a carlton member being able to get membership with the mcc for at 20 years

we may reap the reward at the gate each time a mcc member comes to the dome but the mcc aint really giving any benifit back to the carlton footy club members and it cant happen as there will be alot of disgruntle people who have been waiting years for membership in the MCC

sorry i do see positives out of this but i feel that if a deal is to be done it has to be fair on both sides of the fence with similar oppurtunities for both CFC and the MCC for this to work




cheers
OZ

They do say that the definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over and expevting a different result.... I dunno how many times the Optus connection has been mentioned.

Since I don't think Deano is crazy, there must be a good reason why it isn't on the cards.

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Why don't we produce a life like doll in a Carlton Jumper

Timmy Doll

Please don't tell me we are going to produce one of these. The wooden spoons I can live with but not this.

(P.S. Does anybody else notice the similarity with the mouth and Matthew Lloyd?)

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or going to bed with Miss World, it would have been a difficult choice. Luckily, I had both. - George Best

$250

Lets do a Lance one.

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That's so creepy I can't even speak.

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

We should do a Collingwood one of Buckley" and take the $250.

Although it might scare the children.

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