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Swans' success boosts finances
By Greg Denham, Jenny McAsey and Peter Lalor
September 10, 2003
SYDNEY SWANS members swooped yesterday on tickets to the home preliminary final, continuing a trend that has helped the club stage a rapid financial turnaround.
The Swans' finances have improved by more than $1million over the past three months, which will go far to ensuring the club's viability.
This season's surprising on-field success has led to a frenzy of support from Sydneysiders, which climaxed yesterday when more than 30,000 tickets were sold for the final, to be played at Telstra Stadium on Saturday week.
All 5000 premium tickets at the 80,300-seat stadium were sold less than an hour after going on sale on a priority basis to club members yesterday.
More than 20,000 tickets were bought by Swans members while Stadium members and corporate box holders nabbed 9000.
The AFL decided to release the tickets early in a bid to sell as many as possible at the large-capacity stadium, which has not staged a final.
Tickets go on sale to the general public tomorrow.
An allocation of 4000 has been set aside for members of either Brisbane or Adelaide, who will play off on Friday night for the right to meet Sydney.
Swans' headquarters has received several calls this week from members complaining about ticket prices but the AFL said they were in line with prices for finals played at the MCG.
The Swans won't reap a direct benefit from the healthy ticket sales, as revenue from finals matches forms part of the AFL's annual distribution to clubs.
However their financial position was boosted during the season when home crowds grew with every win.
The on-field resurgence &ndsah; Sydney's most successful season since 1996 ? means they will almost certainly not need a cash injection from the AFL to trade on.
In June, Sydney chairman Richard Colless described the Swans' financial position as "genuinely life-threatening" and said they needed a minimum of $1.5m to carry the club past October.
After posting a loss of almost $2m in 2002 and having predicted a similar result this year, the Swans are now poised to record a loss in the vicinity of between $400,000 and $500,000.
The turnaround has been revenue generated, with steep increases in home-match attendances. Crowds at the SCG and Telstra Stadium are up 35 per cent on last year's figures.
Revenue from Sydney's blockbuster against Collingwood at Telstra Stadium and the club's team of the century function came in well over budget, adding more than $600,000 to the Swans' bottom line.
Sydney reaped close to $500,000 when a record 72,300 attended the round-21 match against the Magpies at Homebush.
While fierce competition from rugby union's World Cup has eaten into the Swans' corporate sponsorship, rank-and-file support surged following Sydney's climb up the ladder.
The Swans however still have bank debts of about $3m.
Colless said yesterday the AFL's financial assistance package, soon to be known as the Competitive Balance Fund, was still an option.
"While our financial position has obviously improved, we'll reserve our right on AFL assistance," Colless said.
"I don't want to comment on our financial position, other than everyone knows we're trading far better. I'm not aware of specific financial results, other than it's positive."
Colless had predicted Sydney could have gone out of business despite savage internal cost-cutting. They cut $2m from their football department in the first eight months since last season and another $2m was lopped from operating costs across the board, including a cut to administrative staff.
Outgoing AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson said the Swans were heading in the right direction and predicted they would return to a profit situation as early as next year.
When asked if Sydney were out of the woods, Jackson said: "They are certainly a lot stronger and more bullish. They identified some serious financial issues 12 months ago and have grabbed the bull by the horns, so to speak."
Sydney's optimism for a profit in 2004 is based on the experience of being runners-up to North Melbourne in 1996. The following year membership more than doubled to 22,100 and average crowds at the SCG increased from 25,000 to 36,000.
Sydney's membership peaked at 31,175 in 1999 but has been steadily declining since to bottom out this year at 21,270.
By Greg Denham, Jenny McAsey and Peter Lalor
September 10, 2003
SYDNEY SWANS members swooped yesterday on tickets to the home preliminary final, continuing a trend that has helped the club stage a rapid financial turnaround.
The Swans' finances have improved by more than $1million over the past three months, which will go far to ensuring the club's viability.
This season's surprising on-field success has led to a frenzy of support from Sydneysiders, which climaxed yesterday when more than 30,000 tickets were sold for the final, to be played at Telstra Stadium on Saturday week.
All 5000 premium tickets at the 80,300-seat stadium were sold less than an hour after going on sale on a priority basis to club members yesterday.
More than 20,000 tickets were bought by Swans members while Stadium members and corporate box holders nabbed 9000.
The AFL decided to release the tickets early in a bid to sell as many as possible at the large-capacity stadium, which has not staged a final.
Tickets go on sale to the general public tomorrow.
An allocation of 4000 has been set aside for members of either Brisbane or Adelaide, who will play off on Friday night for the right to meet Sydney.
Swans' headquarters has received several calls this week from members complaining about ticket prices but the AFL said they were in line with prices for finals played at the MCG.
The Swans won't reap a direct benefit from the healthy ticket sales, as revenue from finals matches forms part of the AFL's annual distribution to clubs.
However their financial position was boosted during the season when home crowds grew with every win.
The on-field resurgence &ndsah; Sydney's most successful season since 1996 ? means they will almost certainly not need a cash injection from the AFL to trade on.
In June, Sydney chairman Richard Colless described the Swans' financial position as "genuinely life-threatening" and said they needed a minimum of $1.5m to carry the club past October.
After posting a loss of almost $2m in 2002 and having predicted a similar result this year, the Swans are now poised to record a loss in the vicinity of between $400,000 and $500,000.
The turnaround has been revenue generated, with steep increases in home-match attendances. Crowds at the SCG and Telstra Stadium are up 35 per cent on last year's figures.
Revenue from Sydney's blockbuster against Collingwood at Telstra Stadium and the club's team of the century function came in well over budget, adding more than $600,000 to the Swans' bottom line.
Sydney reaped close to $500,000 when a record 72,300 attended the round-21 match against the Magpies at Homebush.
While fierce competition from rugby union's World Cup has eaten into the Swans' corporate sponsorship, rank-and-file support surged following Sydney's climb up the ladder.
The Swans however still have bank debts of about $3m.
Colless said yesterday the AFL's financial assistance package, soon to be known as the Competitive Balance Fund, was still an option.
"While our financial position has obviously improved, we'll reserve our right on AFL assistance," Colless said.
"I don't want to comment on our financial position, other than everyone knows we're trading far better. I'm not aware of specific financial results, other than it's positive."
Colless had predicted Sydney could have gone out of business despite savage internal cost-cutting. They cut $2m from their football department in the first eight months since last season and another $2m was lopped from operating costs across the board, including a cut to administrative staff.
Outgoing AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson said the Swans were heading in the right direction and predicted they would return to a profit situation as early as next year.
When asked if Sydney were out of the woods, Jackson said: "They are certainly a lot stronger and more bullish. They identified some serious financial issues 12 months ago and have grabbed the bull by the horns, so to speak."
Sydney's optimism for a profit in 2004 is based on the experience of being runners-up to North Melbourne in 1996. The following year membership more than doubled to 22,100 and average crowds at the SCG increased from 25,000 to 36,000.
Sydney's membership peaked at 31,175 in 1999 but has been steadily declining since to bottom out this year at 21,270.
