I will also say that I don't think price is a significant motivator for most parents as long as the club is flexible enough to manage the various needs of the demographics you cater for. I implemented a significant increase in fees because I thought we were far too cheap and the fees weren't covering the majority of our costs, and we grew as a result. I've also seen clubs implement programs with no fees and not being able to get a team together. I think low fees without a good business plan in place to move to a cost recovery model devalues the work of your volunteers.
Parents will look at the value proposition of the club and as you'd know, they generally value more highly than anything the chance for their child to participate equally, be included, be safe, and be well looked after. We targeted good coaches, apparel that was unique at the time and strongly branded the club, we ensured we always provided shorts and socks with subs so at training and on weekends kids would be wearing their branded footy shorts - kids would be on facebook posting pics from fishing in their club shorts, they'd be at the shops in their training shirts... all these things build a brand that the kids and their parents could buy into, and the culture that the club developed in providing equal opportunity to all players has been very successful.
The model in Townsville is not one that necessarily targets elite development - the schools program is the most likely to provide these opportunities because of our isolation from Brisbane. Good players have come out of Townsville and the club and rep program are good enough to produce players of a high quality (TDRU had two players in the NRC, and we had two others in the BIL Combined Country match), but imho we primarily target a participation model where people remain a part of the game for the enjoyment of the game.
