Club finances

[neilfws]

Some facts and figures for your arguments Recommend this blog if you don't know it already.

How much money does your club make? | Hurling People Now

[R-1]

Yes this is a good post by me.

Interesting thing for us is how little we own in assets. I think it's because whatever we have at the SCG is so heavily amortised, and obviously we don't own a ground or any club venues or other businesses.

I do wonder what sort of cash is squirrelled away in the Sydney Swans Foundation, though.

[Mug Punter]

Yes this is a good post by me.

Interesting thing for us is how little we own in assets. I think it's because whatever we have at the SCG is so heavily amortised, and obviously we don't own a ground or any club venues or other businesses.

I do wonder what sort of cash is squirrelled away in the Sydney Swans Foundation, though.

What is absolutely appalling from that graph is just how addicted to poker machines the Melbourne clubs are (North excepted) , they are chasing their on field dreams with human misery off it. Hawthorn make close to $20m from pokies, how on earth does this not get oxygen from the anti-gambling lobby and the press in general. I sincerely hope that we never go down that route and I will voice my disapproval accordingly if we ever do, I don't think I'd walk away from the club but I'd be very disappointed as it is something I feel very strongly about.

The thing about football is that it is quite unlike any other business.

If you run a trucking company or a retailer your primary motive, along with other business considerations, is to turn the best profit as possible. For footy it's simple what the goal is - to win a flag.

And that's what you measure success against. Sure you need to be viable but you rarely get a club boast, "Gee we have a good balance sheet this year".

So, as a club I think you sort of work backwards and estimate your revenue and then spend all but about $500,000

[mcs]

What is absolutely appalling from that graph is just how addicted to poker machines the Melbourne clubs are (North excepted) , they are chasing their on field dreams with human misery off it. Hawthorn make close to $20m from pokies, how on earth does this not get oxygen from the anti-gambling lobby and the press in general. I sincerely hope that we never go down that route and I will voice my disapproval accordingly if we ever do, I don't think I'd walk away from the club but I'd be very disappointed as it is something I feel very strongly about.

The thing about football is that it is quite unlike any other business.

If you run a trucking company or a retailer your primary motive, along with other business considerations, is to turn the best profit as possible. For footy it's simple what the goal is - to win a flag.

And that's what you measure success against. Sure you need to be viable but you rarely get a club boast, "Gee we have a good balance sheet this year".

So, as a club I think you sort of work backwards and estimate your revenue and then spend all but about $500,000

I agree on all your points Mug. Its all about winning the flag - not about profit and loss.

I would be seriously tempted to walk away from our club if they ever seek to go down the pokies route (I know we had a couple of licensed clubs for a bit - but not sure if they had pokies). An absolute scourge on society, and I hate them with a passion. That several Melbourne clubs are addicted to their funding is very sad, given the huge corporate money now involved in the AFL.

[KTigers]

One advantage us & GWS have is when it comes to sponsorship we are not scrapping it out for the sponsorship dollar
with nine other clubs in the same city the way the Melbourne clubs are. From what I've read GWS have done fairly well
in attracting sponsorship in a short time, and we certainly have.
QBE, Citibank, VW & now Qatar Airways are major national & international companies. No big company is a complete saint,
so we don't need to get on our high horse too much, but it's good the club is not dangling off the gambling industry.
I know most people don't think about this stuff too much but the one bit of power that an individual does have is how and
where they spend their money. An individual can support their footy club or any other organisation within their community
by directing their money a certain way.

[AnnieH]

I agree on all your points Mug. Its all about winning the flag - not about profit and loss.

I would be seriously tempted to walk away from our club if they ever seek to go down the pokies route (I know we had a couple of licensed clubs for a bit - but not sure if they had pokies). An absolute scourge on society, and I hate them with a passion. That several Melbourne clubs are addicted to their funding is very sad, given the huge corporate money now involved in the AFL.

Yes, the club next to the old Bourbon & Beefstake had pokies.
I don't think we made a lot of money from them though... part of the reason to get rid of the premises.