2024 Annual Report - Suns Terminate Venue Management Agreement

[The_Wookie]

The Gold Coast Suns have reported a comprehensive profit of $5.918m for 2024 on revenue of $63.294m, and with total equity of 0.092m.




Report to be uploaded shortly - or its on ASIC now for $49 if you want to get it yourself.

The Suns operated Carrara on behalf of the AFL. It appears the Suns have given up the management rights they had at Carrara, indicating the AFL now do this directly or theyve possibly been returned to Stadiums Queensland. Probably wont know for sure until the AFL report in March. Hence the 7.579m attributed to "derecognition of stadium lease obligation".

 

[Jen2310]

Is that good or bad, re: the venue lease termination?

 

[Ben Drever]

The Gold Coast Suns have reported a comprehensive profit of $5.918m for 2024 on revenue of $63.294m, and with total equity of 0.092m.

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Report to be uploaded shortly - or its on ASIC now for $49 if you want to get it yourself.

The Suns operated Carrara on behalf of the AFL. It appears the Suns have given up the management rights they had at Carrara, indicating the AFL now do this directly or theyve possibly been returned to Stadiums Queensland. Probably wont know for sure until the AFL report in March. Hence the 7.579m attributed to "derecognition of stadium lease obligation".

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So we made a profit of 5.9million
But gave up a stadium for 7.5million

So really without losing the stadium and the 1 off payment, we would have been minus 1.6million?

 

[SaadyArmy]

So we made a profit of [emoji6[emoji640][emoji637]].[emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji6[emoji640][emoji637]]]million
But gave up a stadium for [emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji639]].[emoji6[emoji640][emoji637]]million

So really without losing the stadium and the [emoji637] off payment, we would have been minus [emoji637].[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]]million?

Most clubs don’t make an annual profit


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[GC2015]

So we made a profit of 5.9million
But gave up a stadium for 7.5million

So really without losing the stadium and the 1 off payment, we would have been minus 1.6million?

Seems that way, but the next question I have is how much did we spend on maintaining the stadium over the last financial year? If we spent, say, $2 million maintaining the stadium then that implies we would have made a $400k profit for the year. I do remember reading in the past that we were spending a lot on maintaining the stadium and it wasn't producing as much revenue as we had hoped through events we were holding in the summer months. Also, we know the new Gold Coast Arena in Southport is coming in the next few years and that will probably take away a fair bit of our ability to attract concerts in the off season.

At least the club can focus solely on football now instead of trying so hard to break even financially because of the stadium maintenance costs. Time will tell how much of an impact it will make.

 

[robo_1]

Anymore information on the stadium hardback deal?

 

[The_Wookie]

Ok I did this for the Giants a few months back and meant to do this just after that, but better late than never I guess

The Suns havent been the most profitable of clubs, but overall theyve shown total losses of 1.755m over the last 13 years – which is easy to do if the AFL keeps topping up your funds.

The club has collected $160 million over the leagues base distributions since 2012, and $41 million over the clubs share of the media deals. (This supposes that all clubs are worth the same under the media deal). Annually, this is an additional $12m over the base, and $3 million over their rights share.

Its worth noting that clubs like the average distribution from the league was $21 million in 2024, with the Suns coming in at $34 million. With the distribution to the club showing no signs of decreasing any time soon, this could be cause for concern, especially with clubs that are recieving a third of that.

All that said, the additional 3m over their media rights is less worrisome than it appears, the Club delivers additional value to the league through development programs, academies and promotional work that is probably worth more than that alone.

Membership and ticketing revenues are rising and are just short of what North Mellbourne made from them last year. Sponsorship revenues are just short of established clubs like the Western Bulldogs. These are encouraging signs from a club that has come in for considerable criticism over its percieved lack of support. The revenue doesnt lie.

The AFL prides itself on an attendance culture and it looks like the Suns are finally getting on board. Attendance numbers are now passing the 2014 benchmark after years in the football wilderness.

All in all, the Suns results are promising – but Queenslanders are also notable for bandwagons. Llike the Giants, the AFL distribution just keeps going up and up, its going to be a long time, if ever the club gets down to even a North/Saints level of funding.

As noted earlier, The 3 million over their “share” of the media rights deal is likely more than accounted for by their value to the AFL in northern development and promotion. I can certainly make a justifiable case for the club to continue with AFL support.

I would suggest that anyone who thinks the club is a failure needs to take a closer look at how the Club, and the AFL, works.

References

• Data Tables assembled from Annual Reports

Gold Coast Football Club Annual Reports

Cons	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
2024

AFL Annual Reports

2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2015 Concise	2016
2016 Concise	2017	2017 Concise	2018	2018 Concise	2019	2019 Concise
2020	2020 Concise	2021	2021 Concise	2022	2022 Concise	2023
2023 Concise	2024	2024 Concise

 

[Seventeener]

Ok I did this for the Giants a few months back and meant to do this just after that, but better late than never I guess

The Suns havent been the most profitable of clubs, but overall theyve shown total losses of 1.755m over the last 13 years – which is easy to do if the AFL keeps topping up your funds.

What I wonder most in all of this is how the Suns can begin to turn this upward trajectory into some asset acquisition and profit making to wean us off the AFL teat? The long term plan for the AFL was always to eventually pass on ownership to the club itself once things became firmly established. Personally, I think that clubs on the GC should be offered a seat at the table and the AFL should look at a member-driven ownership model.

Giving members more acknowledgement and making clubs a part of the football future in the region will be the milestone that means the club has become a real contender. I don't claim to know the financial affairs of each QAFL club and we all know Southport is bigger than the Suns in terms of assets, but there should be a circular economy where clubs old and new are seeded with players, coaches, assets and essential funding to make the local competitions healthier and more sustainable. The end goal being for the entire precinct in Carrara to continue to grow and become the HQ of footy south of the Logan.

As for the stadium, the bloody government should give it to the Suns. There wouldn't have been an AFL club or Commonwealth Games or a new stadium without the people and businesses of the GC putting together the GC17 bid (including $10M for the Sharks) nor would they have a tenant for the place. There no longer seems to be an appetite for a Big Bash franchise, so let the government pay the growing bills, including adding in 13K more seats until they figure out that it is easier for the club to have a prosperous future (and pay all the bills) than continue to try to extort a teenaged club stil reliant on AFL handouts to balance the books.

 

[The Kings Ransom]

Cool info. Not that I’m a business person and really understand the higher meaning of plain numbers.

Wonder what the premium fixtures that are given by the AFL are ‘worth’. obviously not a direct handout. And worth different. Allie for each club.

Would be interesting to see the club specific and wider league impact of a single prime time slot vs.Sunday afternoon game.

 

[robo_1]

What I wonder most in all of this is how the Suns can begin to turn this upward trajectory into some asset acquisition and profit making to wean us off the AFL teat? The long term plan for the AFL was always to eventually pass on ownership to the club itself once things became firmly established. Personally, I think that clubs on the GC should be offered a seat at the table and the AFL should look at a member-driven ownership model.

Giving members more acknowledgement and making clubs a part of the football future in the region will be the milestone that means the club has become a real contender. I don't claim to know the financial affairs of each QAFL club and we all know Southport is bigger than the Suns in terms of assets, but there should be a circular economy where clubs old and new are seeded with players, coaches, assets and essential funding to make the local competitions healthier and more sustainable. The end goal being for the entire precinct in Carrara to continue to grow and become the HQ of footy south of the Logan.

As for the stadium, the bloody government should give it to the Suns. There wouldn't have been an AFL club or Commonwealth Games or a new stadium without the people and businesses of the GC putting together the GC17 bid (including $10M for the Sharks) nor would they have a tenant for the place. There no longer seems to be an appetite for a Big Bash franchise, so let the government pay the growing bills, including adding in 13K more seats until they figure out that it is easier for the club to have a prosperous future (and pay all the bills) than continue to try to extort a teenaged club stil reliant on AFL handouts to balance the books.

Interestingly in this article it says nrl owns a bunch of motels and looking at private plane options.
Whilst as a club i wouldn’t have thought we would be in any financial position to do any of these things but surely there must be some sort of asset ownership foresight to increase revenue generation

There was talk a couple of years ago that the club was looking at acquiring a Gold Coast surf club but nothing ever eventuated.

I thought that the Kool Beanz Suns childcare centres was something that the club was doing to increase their revenue but from what I can find it appears that it’s only a partnership that only increases community engagement with no revenue attached