Ideas For Sustainability

[quakersam]

That's one thing Mr Wildes picked out too Bushead. We used to make a loss on food, then everyone moaned when the prices were put up. We were just bringing it into line at what other clubs charged

[beadlep]

We need to invole the community more on and off the pitch. Several football community initiatives exist. The Kickz project is a UK wide football based youth programme. It attracts match funding from several organsation and is not just about football. Councils, housing associations, police and the NHS are all involved with the various Kickz projects the big three regional clubs run, all contributing fairly big sums. It would be possible to use the stadium as a base and venue for which the club could charge for use. Staff would be employed by the project, but could also be used on match days. I'm involved providing activities for SAFC project and would happily explore the possibility for DFC and can introduce people to the SAFC project leaders if needed.

[Darlo Cockney]

I know it's a bit off the wall, but with the closing of the Arts Centre, could we persuade the Council to use the Arena to stage some of the events that currently take place there.

We need to broaden the base of the people we attract (and get cash from), if we are to be a true "Community Club".

DC

[Quaker-Razz]

it's vital we get the council on our side asap, they need to show us commitment now more than ever before....i really hope they back us 100% from now on

[Jaydeeiommi]

it's vital we get the council on our side asap, they need to show us commitment now more than ever before....i really hope they back us 100% from now on

Might be worth thinking about giving a the council a place on the board (or whatever committee ends up running the club). A voice to represent the larger community, perhaps give some guidance etc.

[beadlep]

I know it's a bit off the wall, but with the closing of the Arts Centre, could we persuade the Council to use the Arena to stage some of the events that currently take place there.

We need to broaden the base of the people we attract (and get cash from), if we are to be a true "Community Club".

DC

I like this one

[nunthorpequaker]

Couple of ideas,
The perimiter of the ground could we get a firm to put up some advertising hordings , they pay to use sites ?
The Art centre in town held classes events & education could we not pick up the slack from them ? using the meeting rooms ?
Programs , a lot of people travelled far & wide to the games but what about the ones who cant get there how about a postal subscription to the program posted out after each game , great gift idea for the far away fan !
Suporters shares say £100 quid a season

Just a thought !

[we_8_poolie]

Sponsorship for everything – stadium, stands, players, matches, match ball.
Sponsors need to be made a fuss of so that they come back

Pitch side advertising needs maximising

All boxes need to be full for every home match

Club shop needs sorting – fill it with bits and bobs fans want – mugs, key rings, pens, car stickers, all sorts of stuff that’s relatively cheap with 100% mark up

New match ticket pricing

Under 10s £5
Under 16s £7
Consessions £10
Adults £15

We must cancel the food outlet contract and start doing it ourselves, using a local baker / butcher as supplier. Make the prices profitable but not stupid as they are now.

We must make the beer prices competitive, so that fans come to the stadium to drink before and after the game rather than going elsewhere.

We must setup a register of fans ….email addresses, phone numbers etc. So that everyone is contactable at the press of a “send” button.

Monthly social events at the club…properly publicised by using the list above.
Comedy night, sportmans night, race night

[gabbas]

I know it's a bit off the wall, but with the closing of the Arts Centre, could we persuade the Council to use the Arena to stage some of the events that currently take place there.

We need to broaden the base of the people we attract (and get cash from), if we are to be a true "Community Club".

DC

This is not a bad idea, currently looking for venues - RnB Club, Beer festival, Spring thing, Holocaust memorial day plus several weekly or monthly bookings and kids groups. Darlington is running out of space and I dont think they can all to the Dolly.

[charlie]

Theres a community artist called Laurence as well who runs art groups at the arts center for groups with learning disabilities, and another 1 that does a community art project (mondays and Wednesdays) again for adults with learning disibilities

[Darlo Cockney]

Might not be exactly the right thread, but, we need to think of ways of maintaining income during the off season.

We have the European Championships this summer and I am sure that we should be able to attract fans to come to the Arena to watch the England games - turn them into special evenings with other attractions and fundraising.

DC

[lo36789]

right this might get completely ridiculed/shot down - and i don't mind if it does it's just an idea. I don't know if anybody else has ever been on a tour of the Nou Camp, Old Trafford, The Emirates & Wembley - what do they all have in common...a museum. Now I know we don't have the most prestigious history but we do have a history.
People have previously mentioned offering stadium tours, this could be an actual exhibition to show. I have various memorabilia that is not stuff I want to sell, it has more value to me than that but I would 'loan' it for free to an exhibition at the stadium, my collection includes Lee Nogans shirt from Wembley, a Craig Liddle shirt, a personalised signed ball from Paul Gascoigne from the fundraiser match and the red and yellow card off the referee who did the last game at Feethams...I am sure other fans have stuff going further back so we could have a proper timeline of prestigious events in the clubs history, highs & lows!

[dfcdfcdfc]

Here's one right off the wall - and in many ways I don't actually like it myself but perhaps desperate times call for desperate measures

If we get to the end of the season and its a "nothing match" (if only!) we could (Conference rules and Grimsby fans allowing) auction a place in the team on e-bay with the guarantee that they would get on the pitch before the end (for the last two or three minutes).

Think that might attract some big bids and not just from our fans. I'm sure there are some well heeled bankers in the City of London who would be prepared to fork out a slice of their bonus for the bragging rights of having "played" in a first class football game.

As I say its just a thought and I'm no way keen on the idea myself but could see it bringing in some filthy lucre.

[lo36789]

haha very off the wall indeed - hate to shoot it down too badly but there is a deadline for registering players/getting free transfers in which will before that match.

The other one is to have this summer 3 matches at the arena on the trot...the first is Darlington Fans v Hartlepool fans...the second Darlington legends v Hartlepool legends and the third is Darlington Schools/Colleges XI v Hartlepool Schools/Colleges XI (given the size of the pitch it may be better getting a colleges XI together as they will be Under 18s...they are our rivals not our enemies remember.

Edit: Sorry...It will be one big day of festivities surrounding football with superbowl style intervals for other stuff to be put on display from both communities - brass bands/dance groups (if there are any!?) etc. etc.

[dfcdfcdfc]

Are you sure? As long as the person wasn't registered with another club I would have thought it could be done quite quickly.

[Quaker-Razz]

i can see why you hate the idea dfcdfcdfc, if the conference found out about it i,m sure they would kick off....probably grimsby fans too....not to mention the pro footballers who work hard to just to get on the pitch

[lo36789]

I thought this had been done before by somebody...it rings a bell I may just be thinking about other gimics that have been done eg. managers playing/david james playing upfront (stuart pearce is team GB manager - hope who ever goes in goals this summer has his shooting boots ready!)/chairmen registered as players (sure I read about this recently)

[lo36789]

As previous threads have mentioned, there is money to be made in our catering at half time/before the match. we need to stock beers from local breweries (part of the community club thing)/MUST get Taylor's on board again as well!

I think our order from Taylors is relatively simple steak pies, pork pies, sausage rolls, cheese & onion pasties. Then we need to find an alternative stockist for soft drinks (sell by date on these not really an issue) and have the facility to make teas/coffees/bovril/hot chocolate - which again aren't particularly perishable items so don't have to worry too much about the bulk purchase.

Given that Taylors are a local company we may even be able to do a deal where we can return unsold stock to them after half time (4 o'clock - they may still be open to sell these items themselves) - alternatively...if we do have unsold stock at full-time you sell it all off at pretty much cost as people leave the stadium, worst solution stick em all on a table with an honesty box thing and people can shove in whatever money they want on their way out for an item (There was a study done with Bagels in America and it was found that the bloke barely lost a penny from doing an honesty box instead of the standard way of charging - and any deficit was more than made upto by the fact he didn't have to stand selling bagels so could effectively just drop deliveries off at numerous different offices - just thought i'd stick some theory in to support my idea!)

In 'theory' we can't lose...I would suggest finding volunteers to run these posts but the issue being you would miss 10 minutes of the match (5 minutes either side of half-time) - I don't think the time cashing up at the end of the game would be particularly traumatic for people it would be more the time when really they should be watching the match.

[feethams]

Improvements on the 50:50

I go to ice hockey and literally you get 7-8 sellers approach you during the breaks and before the game. Through the game they announce different totals to encourage people to buy it as well.

So say the ball goes out for a corner, we could get a quick announcement about the running total, and then more pushing/selling at half time, and then the winner can be announced on the hour mark perhaps?

Having people walking up and down the stair ways during the game, actively selling the things, rather than just floating around. Maybe even selling them on the food kiosks.

At the hockey, crowds of 3000-4000 are generating a winning prize of £700-800. We could easily be doing that. If the winner gets to have the money awarded by a player of their choice at full time (and a pic in the programme) then thats a bit of a bonus also.

Ice Hockey also do a shirt raffle as well. Buy a ticket for £1 and then the winner gets the match worn shirt of one of the players. Again, might raise couple of hundred quick a game and for the cost of a shirt.

If you were generating £1k a match from 50:50 / shirt raffles, just buy having volunteers selling more, it would translate well over a season.

[BUSHEAD]

Couple of good ideas there feethams, and a couple of horrific ones.
Running total of 50/50 tickets announced during corners ????
And if someone walking around selling tickets during the game just wouldnt work .

The match worn shirt raffle is something which could work well.

[Bogratsteve]

In recent matches we have had a lot of support from non Darlo fans which has been fantastic, It would also be great if a lot of these fans adopted us as a 2nd team and came to see us several times a season when there team was not playing, away etc.

So.... we advertise "all fans from any club always welcome in their team colours" theme to encourage them and also give a discounted ticket to fans with season tickets at their club.

i.e. Sheff Wed season ticket holder upon producing their season ticket gets a £5 discount of a Darlo home match ticket i.e. £13 based on current prices.

We have appeared to build a lot of great relationships with fans recently from our neighbors and fiercest rivals i.e. Pools, Boro, SAFC, NUFC so lets continue this and get them in on a regular basis.

They may come a couple of times per year but undoubtedly not come on their own and also spend whilst at the ground.

[lo36789]

i think the use another clubs ST and get a discount is a very good strategy. I mean as has been posted here there are plenty of Newcastle/Sunderland & Boro fans living in Darlington that travel to all their home games (which is fair enough) on the other Saturdays they can be enticed to come to the arena.

I still think there is scope to offer further incentives to those traveling from Boro in terms of travel costs they incur. Pushing that out to Newcastle/Sunderland is a bit daft as they have Gateshead on their doorstep. It feels like we are thinking of a variety of different promotions/ticket campaigns but that is good discounting tickets is the way forward I feel, these are fans that aren't coming now and you can entice them through the doors there is nominal cost associated.

The problem with the arena as I have mentioned before is you can't price discriminate - in stadiums where they have different types of seating/terraces etc. they can find a ticket price that suites everyone by pricing different areas at higher/lower prices we have to do this through special offers based upon that customers circumstances it's the only way.

[tinshedender]

Shirt Sponsorship
Traditionally shirt sponsorship runs for a minimum of one year. Why ?
This puts it out of reach to many local small to medium businesses.
Can it be done on a match to match basis ?
A sponsorship would include a box, hospitality etc, perhaps allow sponsor to nominate a junior mascot. Team signs shirts ,given to sponsors after.
A basic package could be uprated to whatever requirments the sponsor needed.
The combined income from 23 single match sponsors would greatly exceed a one year shirt deal.
Would need a lot of work to make happen but I always did think the commercial side of a club
was operated in a lazy manner.
I could be talking total bollocks though.

[Quaker-Razz]

speaking of newcastle, sunderland and boro, if we can get them in for friendlies again.....but hammer the advertising this time around....the income from them 3 games alone could boost our coffers and help us along....perhaps add leeds and pool in there too?

[beadlep]

Been working in a school in Sunderland today and Newcastle Eagle coaching staff ran sessions as well. Got talking to him at lunch and he says they dont offer contracts to coaches or players if they are not interested in doing 'outreach' work in the schols and community. They put in the job description. This way everyone at the club is involved with the community in some way from the top down.

[Mr_Tibbs]

Been working in a school in Sunderland today and Newcastle Eagle coaching staff ran sessions as well. Got talking to him at lunch and he says they dont offer contracts to coaches or players if they are not interested in doing 'outreach' work in the schols and community. They put in the job description. This way everyone at the club is involved with the community in some way from the top down.

Absolutely agree with this - got to get players out there connecting to the community more. I remember as a kid I played for a local street team and we had Phil Owers and Colin Sinclair came along to our club night - fantastic for us kids to have real footballers in our midst.

[Q8Quaker]

What about using the Arena for trade fairs. There's plenty of room under the concourses for stalls etc and even the car park during the summer (Marquees?). Also, there's plenty of rooms for lectures, meetings and refreshments. The proximity to Teesside, Tyneside and W. Yorks is also good as well as a number of hotels within a five to ten minute drive away.

I also think that if the Trust is to spearhead the community club then there should be an 'ideas director' who collects, collates and distributes ideas to the best person / team to run with it.

[Darlo Cockney]

I would like to think that a brainstorming (evening - most of us work during the day), session of people that think that they might have (sensible) ideas on how the Club could increase it's income from non footballing events might be organised - obviously held at the Club.

DC

[TMan2000]

letting people hire the concourses as rehearsal space.

The Forum charge around £18 for a 2 hour rehearsal room.

[Darlo Cockney]

As I have said before - we have a gym..........but we also have available space to rent out to people like masseurs, fitnesss coaches etc.

They would pay us a percentage of what they earned...........could be people starting a business for themselves - It's Community.

We need to make the Arena work for us 360 days a year.

DC