By the July 31 deadline, a total of 804,480 members had joined the AFL nationally – a rise of more than 45,000 on 2013.
Ticketmaster’s advanced database and CRM solution, Archtics, is used by the AFL and all 18 Clubs to facilitate memberships. The platform is an efficient and user-friendly product that is utilised by all 18 AFL Clubs to renew current members, sign new members and communicate with members throughout the year.
The AFL has a high retention rate with 637,846 – or 84% – of members renewing from 2013 to 2014. A further 166,634 new members were signed up in 2014, which helped Adelaide, Collingwood, Essendon, Fremantle, Geelong, Gold Coast SUNS, GWS Giants, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Richmond and Sydney break their all-time membership records.
Ticketmaster’s Archtics platform is designed to make it easy to sign up as a new member and with rolling packages, existing members are automatically signed up unless they choose to opt out, which greatly assists the AFL to achieve its impressive retention rate.
Of the 800,000-plus members, more than 700,000 were match day members, with less than 100,000 members taking an ‘armchair’ or non-match day membership. Adults make up 70% of all members, with junior members making up 20% and the remaining 10% consists of concession members.
Collingwood again leads the AFL with the highest membership, while the West Coast Eagles have the highest membership of the non-Victorian clubs.
The impressive number of members highlights the immense interest in AFL all around Australia, which is very important given the importance of members to Clubs.
