tl;dr warning.
In response to Mr Invisible:
All people at the meeting with the club were Army members. Some having been members for 10+ years.
The Kennel/Army has been given a LOT by the club over the years and we kept blowing our chances.
The seats the new kennel bay is in now are still being sold at a discounted price. This would've been category 2 in previous years but you're getting it for a cheaper price in the kennel membership.
The club offered us charity for years by keeping the former kennel bay in its location, despite it being more than half empty all the time. All those spare seats could've been sold if the area was category 2, but they weren't, so the Bulldogs were losing thousands each year.
Channel 9/fox had nothing to do with the decision to move into the television arc. This was something numerous kennel members came to us about and we passed on to the club. The only way to get us in the arc was to move us to the other side of the stadium.
The club wanted us to move to the burrow area, because they've seen the success the burrow has in creating atmosphere there. The club suggested we use a large "THE KENNEL" banner like the burrow has. We have a banner like this (which the club had in mind anyway) and are having trouble getting it to a game. Not sure why. This is an Army issue though.
Some liked the moving idea, some didn't. Can't please everyone.
Like I said, the club could've given up on us altogether and told us to sit in GA, but they gave us our own membership instead at a discounted price, because numerous people again requested this and we passed it on to the club.
If you were the club, would you sell a membership if the former kennel location at a discounted price and still have empty seats and therefore lose even more money?
The Bulldogs made the decision after much research to shift their membership packages. Category 1 bays were extended as well as category 2 on the western side. The prices were raised. Compare our membership prices to other clubs, particularly those who also use ANZ as their home ground and I think you'll find our prices are still very decent, if not cheaper.
As much as the club would like to grant us every wish, at the end of the day they're a business. It's not as if the extra money they're making is going into TG and the membership staff's pockets. It goes back into the club, into the fan programs, back for our benefit. NRL clubs are terribly underfunded when it comes to membership and gameday experience. Compared to the AFL we're a joke.
After feedback the club also decided to issue K3 and K7 passes. This isn't just so people who can't make all 10 home games can sit in the kennel. It's also for fulltime kennel members to buy so they can take a friend/family member to the occasional game. They were having a lot of problems with the old process of the member having to ring up by a certain day in the game week, printing off a kennel ticket and having it available for pick up at Gate H pre-game. Also, they wanted to do more to ensure Bulldogs fans were getting into the kennel and the best way to keep track of that is to make those tickets into a membership.
It also allows those K3 and K7 passes to receive another membership pack which is a bonus.
Security is the issue with opposition supporters in our membership bay. Always has been. The guards often don't check memberships and leave after the game has started allowing people to walk straight in. I know this is something TG has/will discuss with ANZ stadium this week.
The club has put in a lot of time and resources in to boosting the Bulldogs Army. They allowed us to have the drum back and reimbursed us for the cost of it. They have embraced us (where in the past they have distanced themselves from us) and promoted us on their social media. They've referred us to television, radio and newspaper journalists for interview. They've held meetings with our members outside office hours (and they do not get paid overtime) to workshop ideas to improve the kennel membership. A Director for the club's board was present at one of these meetings. They hooked us up with NRL ticketing to allow us to pre-purchase grand final tickets in our own section. They organised with ANZ stadium our very own bay for the first semi final which the Army walked out on and threw the work back in their face. They've done plenty for us for no reason other than to reward our "most passionate supporters".
And finally, the club is aware that our very own incredibly passionate and loyal Bulldogs Army members do not buy a kennel membership, get a way cheaper GA membership instead and get their friends to sneak them into the Kennel. This has been going on for years and again costs the club a lot of money.