Analysis AFC finances - Rich Club, Poor Club?

[CrowsB4hoes]

The club has polled supporters about this before and the fact is that while a small vocal amount talk about wanting a base in the city, the vast majority are not interested. Most people who go to the game leave straight afterwards and go home. Even with an option of somewhere to go, they expressed no interest in doing so. You have to make it profitable throughout the whole year and the cost of staffing, liquor licence et al make it a huge financial drain.

Chicken & Egg stuff

If people had a place to go, they'd stay around.

They don't, so they don't.

Casino and other bars are packed before and after the game.

Casino is building a new proper Sports bar. If they're half smart, they'll make it a supporters HQ for Crows games.

 

[bomberclifford]

Andrew Fagan said next year they would get a clear financial result on the return there putting into the e sports movement. Fagan eluded to that traditional revenue streams are being maxed out, there no large room to move with the stadium and its capacity and ability to sell more memberships, sponsorship is at its highest for us so e sports is an area that if the club gets right it will provide a new strong revenue stream along with our traditional revenue areas (membership, stadium, merchandise, sponsorship)

Thanks for the info.

I had wondered if the long term goal with the esports team was as a distinct profit centre, as opposed to seeing it just as a channel for exposing sponsors/partners beyond the traditional football scope. If it pays off it will be huge.

From a branding perspective, I'm interested to see if they are ever linked to the Crows beyond just an ownership arrangement.

 

[xazos79]

Chicken & Egg stuff

If people had a place to go, they'd stay around.

They don't, so they don't.

Casino and other bars are packed before and after the game.

Casino is building a new proper Sports bar. If they're half smart, they'll make it a supporters HQ for Crows games.

The club should have a bunch of satellite venues around the metro area that they promote to get non-game attending members to congregate at. One in the city too. Build that tribe mentality. The club has a lot of clout, i'm sure they could find a way to get a piece of the extra revenue the pub/club would see.

 

[brucetiki]

Chicken & Egg stuff

If people had a place to go, they'd stay around.

They don't, so they don't.

Casino and other bars are packed before and after the game.

Casino is building a new proper Sports bar. If they're half smart, they'll make it a supporters HQ for Crows games.

People have options to stick around now and don't.

Sticking a Crows logo out the front of a pub isn't going to attract tens of thousands of people there at 10:30pm on a Thursday night.

 

[Deaneus!]

You seem to be using an unconventional definition of "revenue".

I snorted

Decent financial result but it's pretty s**t that Chapman has hosed down the possibility of a city-base for supporters to go to.

This is one of those things that goes beyond finances - supporters want a place they can congregate and celebrate their football club and even mix with the players on the odd occasion. Chapman appears to only look at the numbers sadly and not what the average fan might want.

If only we had someone experienced with hotels on our board....

and i reckon the guy on the board with hotels experience is saying, don't do it

if we bought a hotel in the city, near the ground, it would end up like the footbridge: empty 350 days a year, too packed to use 15 days a year.

And sure, we'd make money on those 15 days... but we'd lose it the other 350. We need to partner up with either the casino's new sports bar, or start using that giant room in the southern stand better. It's pointless building our own facility - would cost a fortune, there's no great place to put it that wouldn't cause a shitstorm, wouldn't get used most of the year. We need to utilise what's already there in a more efficient manner.

Chapman appears to only look at the numbers sadly and not what the average fan might want.

No one's ever called me a fan of Chapman, but i'd rather he do what's possible with the numbers and expert knowledge on the board; if he always did what the average fan wanted - have you heard the average fans in the outer?

 

[arrowman]

if he always did what the average fan wanted - have you heard the average fans in the outer?

If they listened to the average fans in the outer, there'd be a lot more manning up and kicking long.

As for the pub / fan centre thing: Nikki makes a good point. Even if you had a few thousand hanging out before / after the match, 12 times a year, that's not a sustainable business. It MIGHT make sense for the club to buy/build a sports pub type complex in the city, one that has its own customer base / business plan that's not reliant on Crows match day crowds, and then put it to use on match days. But it would only work if it was viable without Crows fans for 300+ days of the year.

 

[dogs105]

I snorted





and i reckon the guy on the board with hotels experience is saying, don't do it

if we bought a hotel in the city, near the ground, it would end up like the footbridge: empty 350 days a year, too packed to use 15 days a year.

And sure, we'd make money on those 15 days... but we'd lose it the other 350. We need to partner up with either the casino's new sports bar, or start using that giant room in the southern stand better. It's pointless building our own facility - would cost a fortune, there's no great place to put it that wouldn't cause a shitstorm, wouldn't get used most of the year. We need to utilise what's already there in a more efficient manner.



No one's ever called me a fan of Chapman, but i'd rather he do what's possible with the numbers and expert knowledge on the board; if he always did what the average fan wanted - have you heard the average fans in the outer?

Man up!!!

 

[footy4ever]

If you paid rent / ground maintenance costs you wouldn't

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport...t/news-story/2557ffcad3f95ac58bd4c946405cb4ea

Serious question.

Why do puffers hang their hat on their perceived checkmate move of "Crows don't pay rent yada yada yada"?

I don't get it. Port pay SFA to the owners of Alberton oval.

 

[MRB37]

The club has polled supporters about this before and the fact is that while a small vocal amount talk about wanting a base in the city, the vast majority are not interested. Most people who go to the game leave straight afterwards and go home. Even with an option of somewhere to go, they expressed no interest in doing so. You have to make it profitable throughout the whole year and the cost of staffing, liquor licence et al make it a huge financial drain.

Fagan was on 5AA just now and basically said the club doesn't see it as a priority to invest a huge sum of money into a venue to hold 300-400 people after a game. You have 50,000 people coming to a game and it's a huge investment for such a small minority of fans.

 

[CrowsB4hoes]

Serious question.

Why do puffers hang their hat on their perceived checkmate move of "Crows don't pay rent yada yada yada"?

I don't get it. Port pay SFA to the owners of Alberton oval.

Rowie the flog read out a question on this to Fages.

Complete flog turncoat tosser is Rowie

 

[Grooster24]

If they listened to the average fans in the outer, there'd be a lot more manning up and kicking long.

As for the pub / fan centre thing: Nikki makes a good point. Even if you had a few thousand hanging out before / after the match, 12 times a year, that's not a sustainable business. It MIGHT make sense for the club to buy/build a sports pub type complex in the city, one that has its own customer base / business plan that's not reliant on Crows match day crowds, and then put it to use on match days. But it would only work if it was viable without Crows fans for 300+ days of the year.

Just hurry up and buy Nextgen next door to AO. Still run as is but utilise function rooms etc for after games. I assume the function rooms are still there...

 

[Elite Crow]

Rowie the flog read out a question on this to Fages.

Complete flog turncoat tosser is Rowie

We paid a $12M license and $400k annual fee which Port don’t. The license fee was also a lot more than Port paid.

 

[CrowsB4hoes]

We paid a $12M license and $400k annual fee which Port don’t. The license fee was also a lot more than Port paid.

Yep but Rowie is pandering to his station sponsors.

Done with that prick.

 

[Elite Crow]

Got to say, disappointed by Fages answer to not building a club room. He’s talking about only after game crowds, what about during the week?

 

[CrowsB4hoes]

Got to say, disappointed by Fages answer to not building a club room. He’s talking about only after game crowds, what about during the week?

Pubs aren’t sustainable without pokies

We don’t want to get into pokies

I liked the idea of offering a licensing arrangement to surrounding pubs to be official before and after match venues

 

[Elite Crow]

Pubs aren’t sustainable without pokies

We don’t want to get into pokies

I liked the idea of offering a licensing arrangement to surrounding pubs to be official before and after match venues

Well we should get into pokies.

 

[NikkiNoo]

If only we had someone experienced with hotels on our board....

And yet the club and the Board are going, yup not a good thing for us to be doing...

 

[NikkiNoo]

Got to say, disappointed by Fages answer to not building a club room. He’s talking about only after game crowds, what about during the week?

Would you travel from Gawler to the city during the week to get a meal at a club venue? Or from Noarlunga, or from West Lakes or from Port Adelaide or Glenelg or from the Hills? Our fan base is spread out all over the place. It makes no sense when you start to think about it. Most of Adelaide doesn't work or live in the CBD and many avoid going there. Then you have the issue of parking access etc with the city council trying really hard to stop people heading in to the city using a car.

 

[Elite Crow]

Would you travel from Gawler to the city during the week to get a meal at a club venue? Or from Noarlunga, or from West Lakes or from Port Adelaide or Glenelg or from the Hills? Our fan base is spread out all over the place. It makes no sense when you start to think about it. Most of Adelaide doesn't work or live in the CBD and many avoid going there. Then you have the issue of parking access etc with the city council trying really hard to stop people heading in to the city using a car.

Your argument doesn’t wash as it works on the assumption people from these areas never visit the city. Of course they do and when they do they might decide to visit the club for a feed.

The city is the most visited place in the state and the most accessible location with all different forms of public transport.

Besides no one is suggesting 600k people need to visit at once and the way you are talking there must be no clubs or restaurants in the city as it’s to hard to get to.

 

[chazwazza]

I’m sure the club have looked at it thoroughly and come to the conclusion that the numbers don’t add up. Would supporters prefer the club run something at a loss just to placate 20% (pulled that number from my ar$e) of the supporter base that may or may not frequent it? I’d rather they put it into something profitable. I’m sure once they move to a new training base they’ll have something for supporters to attend.

 

[Roovolution]

Got to say, disappointed by Fages answer to not building a club room. He’s talking about only after game crowds, what about during the week?

Perhaps the issue is that AO is literally surrounded by pubs. Last season I would amble down from my place and stop for a beer at the Queens Head on the way to the oval. Loved it. I probably wouldn’t go drink at a Crows venue when there are all these other pubs to go to. But, when I was young in the pre-Crows days my dad used to be a Norwood member and always went to the footy with my Dad and then we’d go across the road and have a beer (coke for me) after the game. But times have changed and the Norwood Club is literally across the street.

I think they’d have to strike a deal with a pub for it to be a Crows venue on game days. Unless there was a suitable venue no further away than all the other surrounding pubs it probably doesn’t work.

 

[1970crow]

They legit gave us the 1991 head start all over again.

Those who don't learn from history ...

Don't sell them too short, they wanted a W team. They withdrew because they were checkmated when we ingeniously partnered with the NT. We were never going to be denied after that.

 

[Geoffa32]

I was one for wanting a pub in the city years ago. Love the idea of going to lunch at a pub owned by the club. Would not even need to be "Crows" themed. But then learnt how competitive the industry is and cost in setting up a decent venue.





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[Ramify]

Perhaps the issue is that AO is literally surrounded by pubs. Last season I would amble down from my place and stop for a beer at the Queens Head on the way to the oval. Loved it. I probably wouldn’t go drink at a Crows venue when there are all these other pubs to go to. But, when I was young in the pre-Crows days my dad used to be a Norwood member and always went to the footy with my Dad and then we’d go across the road and have a beer (coke for me) after the game. But times have changed and the Norwood Club is literally across the street.

I think they’d have to strike a deal with a pub for it to be a Crows venue on game days. Unless there was a suitable venue no further away than all the other surrounding pubs it probably doesn’t work.

I’d try to buy the Kent town hotel and gut the awful themed restaurant(formerly driving range)parts, turning them into an indoor training venue.Id then try to strike a deal with PAC to use their oval and pool. Keep the rooftop and heritage bars and small gaming room and transform those areas into a club room. Buy the appartments out next door and turn them into a boarding lodge for remote area academy prospects and interstate rookies etc.
Eventually turn that whole wedge of real estate into the Crows Hub.

 

[1970crow]

For those that have blocks up: The title is: study-flags-major-concerns-about-afl-pokies-link-to-family-violence

Just AFL club owned venues responsible for violence?