Bulldoze The Debt

[ledge]

Some Ideas:

* I like the idea of a legends match for a bit of fun.

* Could also do a concert with a few bands, maybe even get them free.* The intra Club match involving Willi sounds good as well, however, getting the numbers maybe an issue. Perhaps do it Saturday afternoon, not the morning as its too hard to get there.

Any other ideas?

Nths doing that this year in March.
Legend matches are happening all through this NAB cup.
I was trying to think of something original or different to get maximum intake.

[ledge]

What about something that our muticultural suburb can intergrate with, something Asian or Africans can relate to sports wise, make them feel that little bit closer to us.
I mention those 2 because they are what I see most in the area.

[LostDoggy]

Maybe some staff at the Western Bulldogs can take some pay cuts?

Seriously, I don't understand why they call for supporter help when they attract massive debt. It's not out fault. We buy our memberships/merchandise and that should be enough.

[LostDoggy]

Seriously, I don't understand why they call for supporter help when they attract massive debt. It's not out fault. We buy our memberships/merchandise and that should be enough.

I guess we are always going to be a little bit behind financially when we are competing against clubs with a substantially larger fan base. When you consider membership numbers we are already punching above our weight IMHO.

[ledge]

Personally I believe we are going to become a power house and clubs like Richmond will drop away financially.
Our supporter base is growing and the club recognizes that.
The quicker this debt goes the faster we grow.

[azabob]

Maybe some staff at the Western Bulldogs can take some pay cuts?

Seriously, I don't understand why they call for supporter help when they attract massive debt. It's not out fault. We buy our memberships/merchandise and that should be enough.

Surely you can't be serious? How is it the staff's fault they attracted massive debt?

Im sure we don't pay market rate for our people to begin with.

If we didn't redevelop the Western Oval you may not have a club to support, but reading your posts over the last day maybe you don't want a club to support as NFL seems more your thing.

Not sure what you do for a living, but if your boss came to you and said we wish to eliminate some debt perhaps you could take a salary cut. What would your response be?

You mentioned earlier that you already give X amount with membership etc and you are not contributing anymore that is fair enough but then to continue on about it I think is not necessary.

[boydogs]

I don't think it's that hard to give supporters something for the extra money. A cricket game against the storm, another East/West or family day, a chance to spend game day in the club rooms etc.

I'm sure there would be plenty here willing to part with $$$ just to spend an hour with the players in an off season training session, or have a tour of the training centre with Rocket.

[The Adelaide Connection]

For a starter they should have someone there accepting gold coin donations etc for the intra club. It's great that it's free but i dont' mind giving a few coins out to get in.

There were possibly 500 people there min. I'm sure we made a few bucks from the coffee's etc, but i think they missed a chance to rake in a couple of grand in voluntary donations.

Hopefully they seize the opportunity at the family day.

I know the idea of tin rattling brings back memories of troubled times but if they are expecting us to just donate in large sums then they are going to fall way short of expectations, because i think a lot of us struggle to afford our memberships each year, let alone donating extra. If i had an extra $100 i'd probably by a reserved seat.

I think you will find that most people are already putting in money electronically which is effectively a tin rattle. I think if you start hitting people at the ground as well you risk starting to put people offside a little.

As mentioned by others I think it is much smarter to provide something so perhaps rattling tins with raffle tickets attatched and the prizes could be merchandise like flags, polos etc (first prizes could be framed, signed guernseys etc) etc that cost the club very little but make people a little more enthusiastic about parting with more coin.

Why not have some framed, collector edition signed guernseys of some of the new faces?

[LostDoggy]

Surely you can't be serious? How is it the staff's fault they attracted massive debt?

Im sure we don't pay market rate for our people to begin with.

If we didn't redevelop the Western Oval you may not have a club to support, but reading your posts over the last day maybe you don't want a club to support as NFL seems more your thing.

Not sure what you do for a living, but if your boss came to you and said we wish to eliminate some debt perhaps you could take a salary cut. What would your response be?

You mentioned earlier that you already give X amount with membership etc and you are not contributing anymore that is fair enough but then to continue on about it I think is not necessary.

No. I do want a club to support. But why do we have such a large debt in the first place? I've been a Western Bulldogs member all my life. I do my bit to support this club and so does my family.

It just seems kind of negligent that the club has had this debt for so long and is only worrying about all of the interest that's coming along with it now? Why wasn't this debt dealt with years ago? Maybe then it wouldn't be as large?

Just because I've taken a very strong liking to American football doesn't mean I don't want a club to support. I just don't like Aussie Rules as much as I used to. That doesn't mean I'm still not going to go to every home game this year.

[Bumper Bulldogs]

What about if the club set up a super coach forum and all the player have a team that you can have in your league, If you paid $25 each and had 6 people with 6 of your favorite bulldog players, I'm sure they would get a #$@! load of people sign up.

They could also have as incentives a day/weekend with a player/coach, at the 1/2 way mark a prize for the highest points a day in the coaches box/dressing room.

These cost nothing and if they get it right could generate some good coin. We as woofers had a few leagues that would kick them off. At $25 or $1 a week why would you not?

[Bumper Bulldogs]

Hey just another one why cant they set up a corporate day?

Businesses pay $500 and they could have a maximum of 20 people train with the boys. Even if it was just the second run players but lead by the captain.

[Bumper Bulldogs]

Just another thought......Why would they not get a few old Dogs and the Current Dogs/Coaches and offer them up as motivational speakers at business lunches/functions. The corporate world would love Hawk turning up with Hall and Rocket and they would pay $10,000 as it's a tax deduction any way.

Should we all tee up our thoughts and present it to the brains trust down at Whitten Oval.

They could also have an event such as a run around the tan with your Dog. When we are doing time trials they could sell at $20 per person to race your bulldog player. they could have each Player with 4 paying people to race against the clock around the tan. 40 players by 4 people by $20 = $3200 just for conduction your own training season. every bit helps!

[Jasper]

All good idea's BB but you are putting the onus on the players to drive this and I don't think this is their job to make themselves available. It really is up to the fans to dig a little deeper without getting much more back in return.

The real secret is to shame our Bulldog mates who haven't taken out club memberships to get off their backsides and take even the most basic of membership packages.

3,000 returning members would be huge for the club.

[ledge]

All good idea's BB but you are putting the onus on the players to drive this and I don't think this is their job to make themselves available. It really is up to the fans to dig a little deeper without getting much more back in return.

The real secret is to shame our Bulldog mates who haven't taken out club memberships to get off their backsides and take even the most basic of membership packages.

3,000 returning members would be huge for the club.

Sorry Jasper cant agree part of any player is to advertise the club and do business talks etc, has been for years.

Club makes them available and I think you will find most players are contracted to do stuff like that.

As far as the cricket match idea is concerned they do it any way, why not ask for donations or charge, at least the supporter is getting some entertainment for the money.

[Bulldog4life]

Info which we heard at the AGM at end of Dec 2010 which I posted in another thread.

Currently about 40% of Bulldog For Life Members are contributing to Bulldoze the Debt and they are hoping that the total figure will be about 10,000 members who agree to this. This April they will be starting the "Decade of the Bulldog" and they are planning in "one night" to eradicate the $5 million debt.
Hoping to have 250 of the "wealthiest supporters" to attend a night whereas for $10,000 they will have membership for 10 years, same seat for 10 years and ticket to GF for 10 years....I imagine if we make it.
Each guest of the night will be asked to buy 2 of these packages. Cam Rose started the ball rolling by saying that he will be buying 3 of these packages. Without mentioning any names Cam also said that someone connected to the Club has put their name down for
"17" of these packages and a number of the Directors have agreed to purchase packages already too.