2010 memberships

[Brian]

Can people PLEASE stop with this 'real supporter' shite!!!!!!  FFS people have the right to an opinion.

what you say

[Taliesin]

Membership figures according to NRL.com ?

Elsewhere, the Shire locals have shown their support for the Sharks with the club jumping three places and already exceeding their 2009 figures

2,424 That can't be right 

Penrith - Sydney - Manly 

[StormRepublic]

Wouldnt that only be an issue when the stand is sold out, which tbh, dont think will happen that often fro a while.

No, I don't think you get it, buying a membership in the upper section of the new eastern stand means you sit in the same seat every week, and anyone buying a casual ticket to that section will have to sit elsewhere in the section as the seats around me, may well belong to other members. No one will be allowed to sit in seats other than their own. Why the upper section could not have had the price increase as it did, but remained the same type of category as Olympic Park is beyond me. The club is now making it harder to introduce new fans.
Anyway I have made my views known to the membership department, I
ll write to Matt the CEO next. It will probably achieve nothing, but the club will not ever change anything if no one lets them know.

I agree with you Crippstar. But the only problem with that is say a family of 5 get tickets and that area does sell out and they get to the game late, they will not be able to sit together. Don't forget they will be the cheapest reserved seats so they will most probably sell the quickest.

[Woody]

There was some discussion that members would be able to get a look at the ground when they went to the forum to better appreciate the seating for themselves. I realise now that this is unlikely with construction still going on but has there been anything from the club to say whether it is still may go ahead? Now that I`ve got the guys that I go with organised and we`ve worked out what looks like our best option I`m  probably going to go ahead with my membership before then anyway but it might be worth waiting if its still a possibility

[CooperCronk]

A few friends and myself renewed our memberships today on the phone. 
Two of us went for the best seats available while the others opted for GA and ThunderSquad memberships.
Those people who opt for the Premiers Package (for games at Etihad) will have 3 tickets posted out to them, allowing them to have the best seats at Etihad Stadium.

I spoke to one of the ladies in the membership dept and she said we can move to the GA area and sit with our friends at anytime we wanted.

Yesterday the club sold over 500 memberships and quite a no. of social club memberships.
She also added that the Storm have kept prices to the barest minimum, but obviously with the new stadium and all the costs they have to cover for rental and all our 4 squads in the comp. travel, etc., unfortunately there had to be an increase in prices and new seating arrangements  for admission to the new stadium.

Anyway, I thought I would post this with the hope that it makes some of you at least feel a bit better about the new packages on offer.

To sum up, this year our group is going to be scattered around the stadium or we can move to the GA area to catch up if room allows for big games....otherwise we'll all catch up for a few drinks at one of the pubs in Swan St. before/after games.

[the butcher]

Am I correct in saying that premium tickets are $430 per adult so $860 for two and family membership costs less for two adults and one kid?????????????
If this is the case I may buy family membership, dont have kids but dont mind a spare seat

[Himitsu Arashi]

Am I correct in saying that premium tickets are $430 per adult so $860 for two and family membership costs less for two adults and one kid?????????????
If this is the case I may buy family membership, dont have kids but dont mind a spare seat

Premiers Club Membership Pricing
Adult - $430.00
Concession - $370.00
Junior* - $190.00
Family*
2 Adults + 1 Junior* - $824.00
1 Adult + 2 Junior(s)* - $636.00
Additional Juniors (for either Family configuration)$149.00

You save $36 

[Play the ball]

From what i can gather , the seating arrangements at Olympic park were  unusual,

And the seating arrangments at the Bubble are more inline with modern rugby stadiums,

I can understand the concerns and dissapointments with the changes, and I too was a little shocked at first with the costs,

I guess for the people who like to bring friends occasionally, their best best could be  to buy General Admission memberships, and then make the decision from game to game  depending on the occasion,   do they upgrade and reserve seats ? that was an option I almost went for,

But I'm excited to get into some modern facilities and hopefully better viewing,

Olympic park has plenty of  good memories, but putting things in perspective, the place was a shit hole  from the 70s , and  as a successfull team  we were well over due to get with the times.

[stormsally]

R.I.P Reserve area seating.  This will be sorly missed by all previous Reserve Area patrons (especially those who didn't pay for it).  Sure the seats were so close together that your knees were under your chin, and the girl in front got her hair in your beer.  Sure the poles were always blocking the ingoal or the big screen.  What we miss is being about to seat from two to twenty friends in 'our' seats.  Get in early and drap the blanket over the required number.  Always having a spare seat or two to allow for elbow room.

There was rumblings about getting rid of reserve area when we moved back from Docklands - because apparently a lot of GA would scam the seats - but it was always a very vocal area and you felt very involved in the game.

Now there is no other option if you want seats closer than the 20 m line. 

I was very sad when I first read the membership package.

But I am an optimist.  Sure our membership this year will be over $1000, but I can't remember how much I paid last year - so I can't complain about the price hike.  I'm sure we have paid over $1000 in the past for the family.

As I have done in the past I will buy a family membership.  Not only cheaper than two adults, but allows for flag waving room, and will allow us to fit an extra someone in when needed.

We get Guarenteed GF tickets if we are in - so we don't needto buy them early and hope - but that hasn't done me hany harm for the last three years!

So grab the magic plastic - suck in a deep breath and say $1194 - It's worth it

[Scooter]

Your average family may not necessarily be able to afford to upgrade to the Premiers or Champions club memberships.

Lets look at this from another perspective. Based on the seating plan approximately 10 or 15,000 seats appear to be designated to the Premiers Club members. The Storm are aiming for a total of 10,000 members.

Category 3 membership in 2009 was the reserved area seat where you could sit in the back half of the Nikau stand. I don't know how many reserved area members there were last year, but I would imagine there were far more of these members than the number of seats allocated to the Storm neighbourhood memberships (category 3 membership in 2010).

It looks like the Storm may be trying to price your average family out, which would be disappointing if that is the case because they need to attract new fans and members not alienate the ones they have. In any case definitely trying to force people to upgrade their packages (which is understandable from a business perspective).

In my opinion I think they have the allocation of number of seats to various packages incorrect (ie too many allocated to Premiers and Champions and not enough to Storm Neighbourhood).

Based on the above I have two fears:
- 1 There will be a considerable number of empty seats in the Premiers Club membership area because of the amount of seats allocated to this area and the cost of the tickets. This will not look good particularly on TV and will mean that there could be large gaps between groups of supporters.
- 2 There will be people who want to purchase Storm neighbourhood memberships who will be told sorry all the tickets in those areas have been sold. This will force them to either upgrade to Champions club if they can afford it, downgrade to general admission or worst still maybe not renew their membership.

This is just my opinion and despite my feelings above I will be renewing my membership. Go the Storm in 2010.

[Cowbell-Mark]

Dad ordered our memberships today, got Thundersquad. Fairly Happy!

[mahoobla]

Is anyone here going to the membership forum next Saturday? I'm going with my partner and my parents - we were all general admission members and feel we have been a little ripped off in the new membership packages / stadium seating arrangements.

I would be interested to know what kind of numbers they are expecting at the forum.

Might see some of you there.

Julie

[Surandy]

It sounds like there'll be a few going. I plan on going, although I may be forced to change those plans.

[Super Cronk]

Just reading through the package i got today...and noticed something i didnt when i read it online a few weeks back...the interstate package doesnt come with tickets!!! wtf. The only reason last years seemed worth it was because of the 2 tickets....other-wise i would have paid for a lanyard and membership card (which had the wrong membership number and they never sent me the new one), a pin and privleges to get onto the "special" section on the website  WHICH WASNT EVEN COMPLETED  untill the end of the season...fmd i really want to join and help out but if all $80 is gunna get is some plastic then i may have to skip it this year

[CooperCronk]

Just reading through the package i got today...and noticed something i didnt when i read it online a few weeks back...the interstate package doesnt come with tickets!!! wtf. The only reason last years seemed worth it was because of the 2 tickets....other-wise i would have paid for a lanyard and membership card (which had the wrong membership number and they never sent me the new one), a pin and privleges to get onto the "special" section on the website  WHICH WASNT EVEN COMPLETED  untill the end of the season...fmd i really want to join and help out but if all $80 is gunna get is some plastic then i may have to skip it this year

If you really want to join and help the Storm you would, no matter what.