Swans stand on the brink of ruin?

[Cheer Squad]

Here's Chairman Richard's take on things.

Swans stand on brink of ruin | The Australian

I wonder how big the loss will be? It doesn't sound good.

[premiers05]

This sounds like a man trying to cover his arse after the major stuff up this year with price increases. The monumental stuff up of ticketing this year didn't help the perception of the club either (I got my ticket just before round 6). I think it's ridiculous to compare the sydney market to the melbourne market which is traditional. Better the comparison should be to the Queensland market and I would love to know what is happening there.
I also say again if the afl want to win hearts and minds make it easier for people to come and sample a game. If I meet people who have never seen AFL I can't take them along with me. I have to buy tickets for them and hope they will be sitting near me.

[Legs Akimbo]

Whether the price increases were a major stuff up comes down to whether the additional revenue gained from the retained members outweighed the foregone revenue from the lost members. Without that information, we cannot say.

Anyway, the way they were handled was undoubtably shabby and from a PR perspective at least, was not good.

The way I see it, the Swans are like any other business that needs to balance its revenues and expenses. A $500,000 loss is not that dire if it is cyclical and has been budgeted for and receipts are expected to improve. However, if the loss is structural and related to the price increases and higher operating costs, then the AFL is going to have to dig deep into its purse from some time to come. Maybe the Swans know the AFL will bail them out and just don't care and are banking on-field success to boost member numbers (aint gonna happen in the next few years).

That raises interesting questions for the AFL. Port Adelaide is seriously stuffed off the field, losing big money with revenue and membership heading south at a rapid clip. The Western Sydney and Gold Coast forays are going to hoover up serious amounts of money at the same time we and Port are going to start clamouring for cash. Throw in Noth Melbourne and Melbourne into the mix as struggling clubs and you can see the issue.

But there is more...add World cup in 2018 drawing off sponsorship money, timing of renegotiation of TV rights in a market where advertising receipts for channel 10 (losing money) and 7 have dropped off a cliff and a peed of channel 9, and one can see the potential for catastophe is not just apparent for our club, but for the competition as a whole.

Let's hope that Vlad's hubris is not the seed of distruction for Aussie Rules Footy. At a time when most businesses are bunkering down, he seems intent on leaning into the financial wind.

[Beaussie]

Here's Chairman Richard's take on things.

Swans stand on brink of ruin | The Australian

I wonder how big the loss will be? It doesn't sound good.

Gotta love how no mention is made of the membership price hikes and seating changes during a financial crisis.

[Xie Shan]

Well, I think even if the club got the membership/PR/promotion aspect right, we still wouldn't be completely immune... Sydney is a very different sporting environment to Melbourne, and in spite of the membership stuff-ups we are still doing ok compared to other Sydney teams- the Waratahs crowds have taken a hit too and their supporter base is more Eastern Suburbs/North Shore-based than ours! Average crowds of 20-30,000 for home and away games are still quite acceptable in this market.

But it's true that the club needs to get the things right that they DO have control over, to give ourselves the best possible chance of surviving the 'downturn'. I think the trend will continue for a while, but we should pull through.

[pinkemu]

More bull@@@@

The club should be giving away Memberships, I'm sick to death of the excuse of the fickle Sydney market. We are more tight ass than fickle

[Cant turn right]

If I meet people who have never seen AFL I can't take them along with me. I have to buy tickets for them and hope they will be sitting near me.

I totally agree. I often wonder if it's better to forgo membership just so I can take afl newbies along and try and convert them to the game for this very reason.

[Xie Shan]

More bull@@@@

The club should be giving away Memberships, I'm sick to death of the excuse of the fickle Sydney market. We are more tight ass than fickle

Must disagree, it has less to do with being tight ass or fickle than the realities of living in Australia's largest city, with so many options (and not just sporting) competing for people's time, particularly on the weekend, when you have a sport that's not in-grained into the city's culture like it is in Melbourne, it's only natural that interest will wane when the team isn't doing as well. When you're a fly on the wall to people's conversations at work about their weekend plans, it's understandable especially when not everyone shares the same level of passion for the game as us, and even moreso when you add to that the pressures of real life -- families, relationships, work, study, friends.

One of my co-workers went to her first match at the Port game a few weeks back and loved it, but just can't make the commitment to go every week... we can only hope that if we keep introducing new people to the game, a small percentage of them will get hooked and become fans.

[Jewels]

I totally agree. I often wonder if it's better to forgo membership just so I can take afl newbies along and try and convert them to the game for this very reason.

We changed membership two years ago to members reserve or "The Red Zone" as it is now called so we can take converts (4 tonight) along. There is also the advantage of flexibility in seating that suits the weather conditions.

[pinkemu]

Must disagree, it has less to do with being tight ass or fickle than the realities of living in Australia's largest city, with so many options (and not just sporting) competing for people's time, particularly on the weekend, when you have a sport that's not in-grained into the city's culture like it is in Melbourne, it's only natural that interest will wane when the team isn't doing as well. When you're a fly on the wall to people's conversations at work about their weekend plans, it's understandable especially when not everyone shares the same level of passion for the game as us, and even moreso when you add to that the pressures of real life -- families, relationships, work, study, friends.

One of my co-workers went to her first match at the Port game a few weeks back and loved it, but just can't make the commitment to go every week... we can only hope that if we keep introducing new people to the game, a small percentage of them will get hooked and become fans.

Obviously we disagree on the new "Membership Structure"

My last comment was directed to tricky and co for using the same old theme "if we're winning we're grinning".

In this city loyalty is measured by the TV ratings, so we are also lazy as well. This goes with the league supporters as well.

There are plenty of people in this city who support the Swans but are not interested in making the journey to the games. So when people call them fickle I can not agree, We are cave dwellers camped around 42" screens until we smell the sweet scent of spring.

[connolly]

Here's Chairman Richard's take on things.

Swans stand on brink of ruin | The Australian

I wonder how big the loss will be? It doesn't sound good.

Time for Dick to go. The membership price increases have been catastrophic. The re-signing of Barry, the weak as lolly water release of Kennelly, the retention of Crouch indicate a club in a downward spiral. And spare me the 05 premiership alibi. If Dick had his way Wallace would have coached us to finals exit. Say goodnight Dick.

[ShockOfHair]

Well done, chairman Dick. Keep up the catastrophe talk.

[DST]

Go on, did everyone read the headline or the article?

Colless does not say the "Swans stand on the brink of ruin" and he is rather positive about his long term comments for the club.

Like anything, the club will go through cycles. As long as they reduce costs and run as a close to neutral as possible over the next 1 to 2 years the long term out look is fine.

We heard all this same stuff after Eade left, no finals, ageing team blah blah.

DST

[Bas]

We heard all this same stuff after Eade left, no finals, ageing team blah blah.

DST

Problem this time is the compromised draft for the next three years.

The Swans are testing youngsters but how many can they realistically cut? Do we end up with 5 picks in next years draft from pick 70 up. Probably 4 picks in the pre-season draft looking for off cuts from other Clubs.

[Nico]

Interesting those figures. Crowds down 6000, membership down 4000. Has everything to do with membership stuff up. Sure some people will drop off when clubs falter but we have kept making the finals.

It is well known that when South and Fitzroy went North a large chunk of supporters said nup, not for me. Every time the supporters get rogered for some reason, a certain number walk away. You don't see it happen to Melbourne clubs. They crawl over hot coals to retain their supporters and the increase in the Doggies base is quite remarkable given the almost generational lose of core supporters through natural attrition.

Even Melbourne has increased their base this year.