Copeland Trophy Boycott

[dillo_09]

Well the club has finally done it - made the Copeland Trophy out of the reach of the average man.

ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY THUCKING DOLLARS ($180.00)?????? What an absolute JOKE!!!!!

I was only just happy to pay the $147 last year, for "Silver Tickets" (gold $176, Bronze $120) at the back, but not this year, not even with Jimmy Barnes playing live. Even the CPI isnt running at that level of % increase!!

It's all about VALUE for money and I dont mind pay a BIT over the odds to support the club, but at $180.00 I cant see how the club can justify it. I am all for free trade, corporate globalisation and profit making in any business and even more so for the club, but this is just way too much.

The biggest problem with the last years (and previous) Copelands was the fact that we couldnt even get a regular supply of beer. The beer Nazi's wouldnt allow you to have more than one bottle on the table at a time and with 10 of the 12 people on our table drinking beer, we were all drier than the prevebial Nun's!! You should have heard the verbal spray whenever they refused to serve us, to the point where we made a complaint to the floor supervisor who virtually just laughed at us. Complaint letters to the club were obviously ignored because no contact was made. From memory though the food was good and as plentiful as can be expected.

Ed, I beleive supporters do not want the glitz and glamour of a major musical act or any auctions, they want tos see highlights and the vote count with regular player 'chats' and interveiws during the night. We want to hear from Neil Balme and the fitness guys about their thoughts on the season and the progress we made. We want to hear from the recruiting staff (if possible) to hear what they think of the recruits we had and maybe what we might be looking for at the upcoming draft. We want stats, facts and figures from the season that we wouldnt normally hear. Many would love to see and hear what goes on in a match committee meeting and in the rooms at training and before and after games. We would even like to hear from the wives...oops there isnt any....so the girlfreinds to get a little insight into what the guys might be like at home - just for a laugh without hurting anyone or invading their privacy too much.

I have been to many Copeland trophy nights in my time, with the first being 1989 at the Southern Cross, and from memory it cost me $30 to get a great feed and all the beer wine and softdrink I could drink! Even with the better venue and more people you cannot justify a 6 fold increase in price, with a definate reduction in value.

I can count at least 10 of my friends who I regularly go to the football with who WILL NOT be going this year because of the price - there is at least $1800.00 the club will not receive from us this year.

I am calling on all those supporters who are trying hard to find the cash to forsake going for one year just so we can get the prices down for future events like this. Copeland normally sells out in no time flat. Just imagine what the club will think if they struggle to fill the room? It might be a bit of a wake up call telling them not to forget the average supporter.

Does anyone else out there agree with what I am saying? Please feel free to post if you disagree too as I would like to know what "Joe Average" thinks about this too.

Anyway, GO PIES!!!

Sincerely

Mark Dillon
Legends member # 1738

[RUPERT ROCKS]

I can understand what you are saying. Having attened the Copleand for the last 5 years myself and looking at the people that attend, I think the club doenst want to attract the average man or woman. The fact that it is held at the Palladium shows what type of people and class the club is trying to attact.

The Balck and White ball has been set up to attract the average supporter who loves their club and attends their functions. The B&W Ball ranges from $80-$100 in ticket price - just enough to be worth something good, but not to expensive so the average perosn cant attend.

The Copeland is menat for the Corporates, and i can understand why the club would wnat to do this.

[MarkT]

Simple demand & supply.

As you said, it sells out in no time. It will sell out again. I can understand your point of view but your protest will be a silent an ineffective one I fear. The club wants your membership and support but it cannot survive on it. Corporates support the $ paid to players. I think it is sad but as an accountant I can see the reality of it all. It would be great to have a night the members and supporters can get value out of, but it simply isn't going to happen.

By all means, stick to your principles. Just remember 1 thing. This may be a rare year - a non Buckley win!

[cobood]

I agree with you wholeheartedly Dillo...... If I want to go and see Jimmy Barnes I'll go to one of his concerts..... The Copeland is supposed to be a Club thing... priced for club ppl...but now I suppose because of Jimmy Barnes being on the list
we are outpriced..... I cant afford it!!!! Please CFC dont turn our most coveted night of the year into a rock concert.......
Its supposed to be for the glory of one of our precious boys!!!

Social Club Member 5506

BE LOUD.....BE PROUD


[This message has been edited by cobood (edited 22 August 2001).]

[This message has been edited by cobood (edited 22 August 2001).]

[Rowdy26]

$147 or $180, either way its way beyond me.

bring on those blue baggers - GO PIES!!!

[Bones]

$180 ?????? bluddy hell

So you mean those that go to the footy weekin weekout cheering their guts out, rain hail or shine, bleeding black and white can't go. Probably the same ones that will miss out on GF tickets when OUR time comes...

Same ol story, the bigwigs with the $$$'s get the goodies...

[Morrigu]

Agree totally Mark. Over the years the meals have got worse and getting a drink has got harder - however you didn't mind because it was Collingwood BUT NOT at $180.00!! I usually shout mum which makes it $360.00 for the night - so we like you will be boycotting this year. Legends members - medallions 5489 & 5491

[rash]

Jimmy Barnes playing live. You would have to pay me $180 to go through that torture. My wife screems like him for free (when she's mad at me, not in bed you perverts)

[CQ]

what a joke.

yeah i went last year and the year before, but i wont be going this year. the other 4 i went with wont be going either. we had a discussion about how much stuff you can buy with $180.
EDDIE you have so got to be joking. theres no way we will pay $180 for ONE night. the food is crap.
do u know i asked the waiters for a STEAK KNIFE last year and they said they dont have any. ARE THEY SERIOUS??? for that ridiculous price you'd think that they would be able to supply a steak knife (or at least cook the steak properly so that it is actually cutable).
the copeland is one of the club functions that we actually intended to go to until we found out how much the price has flocked up, us being around the age of 18 makes things slightly hard to just get $180 together just for that.

eddie or whoever decided this, i will be waiting for next year so i can be amused as to how much the price has gone up.
and it took about a week to sell out last year. somehow i dont think it will be selling out very quickly this year.

249

[David Emerson]

Dear All,

David Emerson, Director of Marketing here!

I have read the various views regarding the price of the Copeland Trophy Dinner and can assure you that we have been working very hard to make this event as accessible to everyone as possible.

We do not consider it an event only for corporate sponsors.

It is the club's "night of nights" but we do not set the price to make a significant profit. $180 per head will just cover our costs.

It will be very much a Collingwood night - Jimmy Barnes is a value added extra at the end of the evening to make it a great occasion. Please note that Jimmy and his band are providing their services free of charge as they are mad Collingwood supporters.

We are holding the event at Crown because this venue offers us the best price possible for the most people. We have been negotiating with a number of venues and Crown is by far the best option for this year.

We have looked at other venues to see if we can offer different seating levels and prices, in much the same way that the GTV 9 Footy Show has people at tables, and people in tiered seating.

Other venues have either been too expensive or too small. I believe we will be able to negotiate a deal at the Tennis Centre in future years (not available this year) or if we move to Olympic Park it could be possible to host the event there.

This year however Crown offers us the best deal as we get a special discount at Crown.

Last year we charged $176 and $143 this year the $180 per head will achieve the same result.

So what sort of costs are involved?

There are a great many invited guests - former winners, speakers, current players and partners, coaching staff and partners etc...- which impact greatly on the costs.

GST
Venue Hire
Catering Costs
Beverage Costs (plus corkage)
Audio visual
Table settings
Room decorations
Travel and accommodation
Communications
Security
Trophies
Entertainment
Sound and staging
Printing
Direct Mail
Advertising
Door prizes
Internet telecast
etc....

Feedback from last year raised some concerns with service to tables and we will address this with Crown.

As you know Eddie McGuire is very strong in his views that Collingwood be the most inclusive club in the league. We host a wide range of events throughout the year to make this possible - more this year I believe than ever before.

I am sure that in future years we will be able to come up with a venue that makes it possible for us to be more flexible to the needs of all supporters.

I would welcome any further comments and opinions and will watch Nick's Bulletin Board with interest.

Yours sincerely

David
 

[CQ]

well its good that you spared some of your time to reply and enlighten us on what it costs etc (and im not trying to be a smartarse).
my main point before was how much the price has flocked up.
hopefully you will be moving it to the tennis center in the future so we are able to attend. and thanks for giving us some feedback.

249

[Legga]

I certainly agree with the cost of a ticket being somewhat prohibitive, but I can also sympathise with David Emerson. I am in the marketing dept. of a large corporation that is regularly holding these type of events, some larger and some smaller, and the venue, catering and miscellaneous costs that are involved have increased dramatically over the past few years. If the structure of the event was compromised by cutting costs, therefore lowering ticket prices, then most people who attended would be complaining that the price reflected the value of the night. Unfortunately it can become a no-win situation. Take also into account the sheer volume of numbers that will attend the night. We at Collingwood revel in the fact that we are strong in club support, so the Football club must cater for that support, and this means the volume is increased over a normal function that would be hosted at a more "intimate" venue.

At least we can attend these functions, cost willing, unlike some other AFL clubs who really only cater for their elite.

[Dantheman]

David Emerson just explained that the Palladium was the most appropriate venue they could find for the Copeland presentation.

[Morrigu]

Thanks David for taking the time to reply,I can appreciate where you are coming from. Damn - only wish I knew earlier would have gone to the nurses stopwork meeting and asked for more money so we could go!!!How about it Bracksy????????

[dillo_09]

David,

I totally understand what you are saying about cost's and I thank you for taking the time to reply, but I am sure that there are other functions held at the palladium that are cheaper to go to, I can't see where the increase in cost's for our function has come from. It might be worth the club's while talking to other's who have functions there and find out what Crown are charging them. Maybe Crown see this as a cash cow night because they know Collingwood will fill the place no matter what price they charge!!!

Don't get me wrong, I CAN afford it and still might end up there and even if I dont go I would be happy to donate the $150.00 I had 'mentally allocated' for the ticket directly to the club. I just feel that it would have to be BY FAR THE most expensive night out in Melbourne at the moment. I can't think of a night out, for one person, that even goes close!!

If anyone else can think of a dinner and show package that would cost $180 per person, with the worst seats in the house (people up the back pay $180 too!) and limited access to drinks please let me know.

To Magpie Greg, I used the beer as an example and it is certainly not the main reason I go. I am actually a bourbon drinker and in past years have even wanted to PURCHASE a bourbon and was unable to do so.

Well, to those of you who go, I hope you have a great night as it has always been the best night on the clubs calendar.

Go Pies!!