League chief praises North
New AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan has earmarked North Melbourne for more prime-time.
"(It's) testament to having the right people in the right slots - showing where you want to spend your money and doing it in a way that is disciplined enough to deliver a strong profit and still deliver on field," McLachlan told the Herald Sun.
After pulling 80,000 fans to Saturday night¹s Elimination Final and announcing a record membership tally of more than 40,000, the Kangaroos are "putting their hand up to be on the bigger stage in the fixture next year."
Season-high TV ratings for the match against the Bombers dispelled the notion North is 'unfashionable'
"As I walked out of the game on Saturday night I did make the cheeky point to (AFL chairman) Mike Fitzpatrick that we had a bigger crowd than Hawthorn-Geelong on the Friday night," North CEO Carl Dilena said.
"The message there is that we can pull a crowd if we are playing well, and playing quality opposition ... it¹s significant if you get the right mix."
North is set to reduce its debt by around a further $1 million this year, will generate approximately $1.5 million in direct revenue with three games at Blundstone Arena from 2015, and has taken significant strides on the field with its first semi-final appearance since 2007.
"It¹s trending in the right direction. Improvement is never a straight line, you are going to have those ups and downs - and we would have had some members pulling their hair out over some of the losses over the past two years," Dilena added.
"But if you look at progression - even this year, going from 10th to winning a final, that is a massive improvement in any given year."
Dilena stressed there's plenty of hard work still to do.
"Our supporters have been there for the journey with us since 2007 and seen the build and now they are seeing it come to fruition.
"So you retain your core membership base; hopefully build on that over the next few years; that flows on into other elements like sponsor interest and the value of sponsorships; TV ratings... everything that goes with that.
"If we can get the playing group confident in their own ability and being consistent in their approach and their endeavour, then we want to set ourselves up for a period of sustained on field success, so that you get yourself into the top four and you give yourself the best chance to win your next premiership."
McLachlan is full of praise for the Kangaroos' ongoing list of achievements.
"It is a great credit to James (Brayshaw) and Carl and (coach) Brad (Scott).
"Brad has been a coach that has very clearly said to us that he understands the constraints at the footy club and he will make the decisions he needs to make in a constrained environment and he should be given credit for that."