Melbourne is a very concentrated sporting market. With a population of nearly 5 million we have at least 20 professional sporting teams. Not to mention several annual big drawing events Grand prix motor/bike racing carnivals tennis plus a few others I have missed. Anyway my point is that it's a pretty sophisticated market that requires long-term sustained quality to develop a large supporter base. Short sighted gimmicks rarely works.
The other team had been the sole soccer team for the first 5 years and won 2 titles and attracted most of the interest from those wanting to watch elite soccer on a weekly basis.
Heart was formed but never really grabbed the imagination of the public. Mediocre on field performances matched with pretty shambolic marketing attempts resulted in a small following. Having said all that, most that followed Heart were quiet loyal and we have had a gradual rise of season ticket holders over the years but I suspect a very high churn rate.
Once CFG took over there was an initial spurt of interest and aligned with the announcement of David Villa playing we had a few home non derby games getting close to 15k but once he left after 4 pretty un eventual games the numbers soon halved. This has also happened at the same time when the other team has been it's strongest since Heart/City has existed and have won 3 trophies. The colour change also created some bad feelings and some definitely would not have renewed.
But I'm optimistic about long-term. I feel (without any real data) we have a large latent base that with sustained success and attractive positive soccer we will grow.
The other team for some reason have a self righteous attitude that for the neutral in my opinion is a real turn off.
What we need is a successful few seasons and hopefully a couple world class players.
At the moment we are sitting second and play Friday night for top spot. Our ladies are playing Sunday for the title so it's exciting times.
