Sport clubs wheel out big-ticket items to fight for fans Super supporters: The Sleiman family love the Bunnies. Exclusive catch-ups with star players, premium seating and free tickets for away games are among a growing list of inducements being offered by football codes desperate to sign up fans to season memberships. On the sides of buses, Waratahs star Israel Folau is urging fans to "Commit. Believe. The South Sydney website homepage is almost taken over by their campaign to recruit 32,000 members. And the $10 million signing of new Sydney Swans player Buddy Franklin is perfectly timed for the club to spark interest in its upcoming membership drive. And just to make life interesting, the summer football upstarts of the A-League competition have attracted a large and growing fan base, too. Clubs from all the codes are now unveiling their 2014 membership packages in a never-before-seen rush, and it's a crowded market place. As part of the NRL's target of increasing club memberships to 400,000 by 2017 - to guarantee a revenue stream worth tens of millions of dollars - fans are being offered myriad options tying them to a club. Three-game membership packages, family packages, various gradations of seating options and opportunities to mix with sporting idols, as well as packages for babies and pets are available. NRL commercial operations director Paul Kind said the code's off-season push to garner fans began less than five years ago. Now, there is hardly any time for the winning grand final players' rings to be resized before club marketing teams target the coming season. Club membership is a No. 1 priority," Mr Kind said. Clubs will have agreed targets, provide fans a certain level of service and aim to limit churn rates. He said research commissioned by the NRL showed that members watched more sport, engaged more online and spent more money on their club than ever before. AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said this year's season attracted more memberships than ever with almost 760,000 people signing up with the 18 clubs. Belfield plumber Tony Sleiman, wife Marcia and their three sons are all dedicated Rabbitohs members. His house is a warren of merchandise and dedication. "We are all gold members," he said. " I guess we spend up nearly $1000 on the memberships but, if you took everything into account like flying to away games and merchandise, it would be close to $5000. A three-game family membership for the Rabbitohs costs $240 with access to membership kit and reserved seating. Waratahs rugby chief executive Jason Allen said members' fees now provided 10 per cent of their overall revenue. The interaction with the membership is now the pulse point of any sporting organisation. Western Sydney Wanderers executive chairman Lyall Gorman, whose football club sold out their membership package for the A-League games this year, agreed members had become the new family. "The fans come together as one, they celebrate the region and area they love and they want to believe in something," he said. with Andrea Petrie