Dear members and supporters,

I had a bit of a rude awakening earlier this week when I looked at my calendar and realised our AFL boys would be hitting the track next Monday!

For the admin team it feels like only yesterday that our club’s 2014 campaign came to an end, as we move immediately into preparing for next year. 

While we’ve been busy, and have made good progress, the arrival of the players next week is a signal that we now have to pick up the pace again.  

So where are we?

Membership

You will have noticed that we have not yet released our 2015 packages, this is because some elements of our membership offering for next year are connected to the long running Adelaide Oval review.

I’m not going to bore you with another progress report, other than to say that important work is being done and while it is taking longer than we anticipated, we won’t rush the process, we want to get this review right.

Having said that, I expect we will be in a position to open up our membership campaign within a couple of weeks. Internally, we are ready to go.

When you do receive your 2015 renewal form, you will notice that our prices have gone up.

Nobody likes the idea of having to pay more, and we certainly don’t enjoy having to charge more, but there are some realities that I would ask you to keep in mind.

• Over the past four years, Port Adelaide membership prices have increased by a total of just two per cent. This was a deliberate decision to encourage as many of our members to make the journey to Adelaide Oval.
• By holding prices down, we have delivered by far the lowest-priced reserve seat memberships in the AFL, and certainly the best value! To give you an example, our Silver memberships were $65 cheaper than the next lowest team in 2014.
• Having arrived at the Adelaide Oval, we now know that the world has changed for our club…for the better! We are now playing at a world class facility. It’s brilliant, but it is more expensive.
• We are funding a highly competitive football program. You have seen us consistently increase our investment in our team over the last three years, and it is paying dividends. Patrick Ryder and Michael Voss are the most recent examples of this investment.   
• Our game day experience is being lauded by the entire industry. We won’t back off our commitment to ‘put the fun back into footy’, but it costs money to play a bigger game!

The reality is our membership prices need to reflect the new world we find ourselves in.

Overall, the increase will be about 11 per cent.

In some categories such as the Silver membership mentioned above the increase will be greater, but we have been very conscious of remaining affordable.

In all categories, our prices remain below AFL average and still some of the most affordable and best value in the league.

Our new membership prices were determined at the end of 2014, and are unrelated to the increased cost of match day public transport.

We have decided to absorb the costs associated with delivering Footy Express buses, trains and trams through our overall cost structure for 2015 and not through member dollars.

So while I’m sure the price increase will bite a little, our commitment to you is that we are hell-bent on building on the incredible experiences we delivered and enjoyed this year.

I can guarantee you, that if you thought 2014 was a blast, stay tuned. It gets better!

Power Pirateers

Keep an eye out for a couple of new characters you are going to love!

As you are scanning your membership options, you will notice Jack Lightning, Daisy Cutter and the Power Pirateers.

This is a new membership category aimed at kids aged between 2 and 6, and it is going to be fantastic!

The youngsters will be able to read (with Mum and Dad’s help) about Jack and Daisy and their adventures in a new book to be released in conjunction with The Advertiser next month.

They will be able to join the club as Pirateers through their junior memberships, get dressed up in their pirate gear, then come to the footy and experience ‘Footy Island’ in the brand new family zone we will be creating in the Eastern Plaza next season.

We know that parents aged 20-35 often struggle to get to our home games with their young children, but through the Pirateers we will make going to the footy with the kids a whole lot easier and even more fun, for our Pirateers and for Mum and Dad!

You can read more about the Power Pirateers and register your interest here

Fixture

And finally, what a blockbuster season we have to look forward to in 2015!

I’m sure you have already done your planning, but those home games at night against Sydney, Collingwood, Hawthorn, and Geelong are absolute belters!

Thanks again for making 2014 such a memorable year, and I look forward to marching to the ground with you with our scarves raised high again in 2015!

Take care over the break,

KT