NEW Melbourne chief executive Paul McNamee says embracing the club's heartland is the way to ensure its survival.
As the man who revived Australian Open golf and tennis prepares to take the reins of the Melbourne Football Club, he said on Wednesday his first challenge is exploiting the existing brand in what he describes as a heartland with a “good, identifiable demographic”.
The two times Australian Open doubles tennis champion said his experience as former executive chairman of the Australian Open golf championships and chief executive of the equivalent tennis event at Melbourne Park gave him a strong understanding of the competitive nature of sports administration, despite limited experience in the football sphere.
He said building brand equity depended on capturing the value of tradition that has built the Melbourne Football Club.
“The best way is to behave as custodians of a fantastic club and make the members and commercial partners feel proud to be associated with the club,” he said.
“I think they are. We just need to bring that out and I think with the 150th year [since the formation of the Melbourne Football Club] platform it’s really a golden opportunity to do that.
“You’ve got to accept what your heartland is. It is a pretty elite club. I don’t see that as a weakness.”
That heartland includes 30-40,000 Melbourne-based Chinese students who McNamee believes are a genuine target for membership. A sub-committee consisting of representatives from the AFL and Melbourne’s traditional partner the Melbourne Cricket Club is working to grow the membership base to 30,000.
“You’re not necessarily going to have the same members as a Collingwood, but it doesn’t mean you can’t really feel that your heartland is the best heartland that you can have commercially and exploit that,” McNamee said.
Melbourne chairman Paul Gardner said McNamee would help to get the club back into newspaper headlines for the right reasons.
“Is Melbourne Football Club ready for Paul McNamee? I think it’s never been more ready for Paul McNamee,” Gardner said.
“Just as Chris Connolly’s joined the club and is a terrific guy in spruiking the club and talking the club up, that’s something that Paul will do as well.”
Gardner said Melbourne was ready to move forward after turning a profit for the last three years, having no challenged board elections, a new CEO and coaching staff, development of a new training and administration base, and new brand delivery (through the 150 Years brand).
“In 2003 we’d lost $2.2 million. We had a debt of $5.7 million, we’d found a tax bill in the draw of $1.6 (million), we’d finished 14th and we had no home. So for all those people who say; 'Gee the club’s in a bad mess', they’ve got short memories,” he said.
“All the people who have tipped us to run last – they might get a shock later on the year.”
Gardner said the club had a current debt of $2.6 million.
