Richmond’s chief customer officer Cain Liddle looks at the changing approach to building a consumer base to underpin and grow club revenues.

The traditional AFL consumer base is changing. Most obvious has been the long overdue focus on engaging women in our game. The extraordinary success of AFLW has suddenly opened up a whole range of different ways in which our game can be consumed. Traditionally male-skewed metrics like Club membership, TV audiences and databases will take on a different look as that balance is redressed.

Beyond this, engagement with multicultural communities is becoming a priority. Current demographics, and future projections, demand club’s look at how these communities can be engaged in our game and ultimately consume it.

In addition, clubs are now looking to diversify their revenue streams and build consumer bases across alternative products and services that align with in-house business expertise. In the case of Richmond Football Club, we have gone down the health and wellness path, establishing a fully-owned subsidiary Aligned Leisure which now operates aquatic and recreation facilities in the shires of Cardinia and Nillumbik.

Aligned Leisure commenced management of the Cardinia Shire's eight major aquatic and recreation facilities in July 2016 and will take over the management of the Eltham Leisure Centre in July of 2017.

The club’s diversification into health and fitness makes sense on many levels, none more so than the recognised core competencies of an AFL Club, which include consumer marketing, digital communication, membership, facility management and athlete performance, all of which are transferable and critical to the successful management of aquatic and recreation facilities.

Whilst traditional club revenue streams of membership, sponsorship, gate receipts, corporate sales and retail will always remain a priority, they can be at the mercy of on-field performance. It is critical club’s find opportunities to insulate themselves from a downturn in on-field performance and as a result, our consumer base now extends well beyond our traditional fan.

Importantly for our fans, this strategy is ultimately about driving our core business objective which is to bring Premierships back to Punt Road Oval. It will underpin our ability to invest in our football program and facilities to give our coaches and players the very best opportunity to win games of football.

The establishment of Aligned Leisure also opens up range of related diversification opportunities. As a result of Aligned Leisure now employing around 300 staff, Richmond has partnered with Swinburne University and establish the Richmond Institute of Sport Leadership. 

This program provides a 12-month double diploma course, where students are provided a range of real life employment experiences, with the opportunity to find employment with either Aligned Leisure or Richmond at the completion of the program. This not only provides a unique and innovative educational experience for young people but creates another new consumer opportunity and revenue stream for the Club.

So our consumer growth strategy has been bold. And while the business of Richmond looks very different, our members and supporters, remain at the very heart of every decision we make. Building that emotional connection is still the foundation upon which any great sporting organisation is built and that is one thing that will never change.