Great Timing

OldSchool

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It would appear that the low key build up to the season is over:

This article is from the Age, there is another from the Sun.

The Western Bulldogs have moved firmly to the top of the AFL's critical list and must rely on the support of the 15 other clubs to survive.

The Age believes that the AFL Commission is on the verge of extending the annual $1 million funding that has been keeping the club afloat, but will seek the approval of all the clubs before increasing the special assistance lifeline.

Bulldogs chief executive Campbell Rose, who upon taking the job last year described the task of turning around the club as "Herculean" and who has cut the club's operating costs to a bare minimum, admitted yesterday that the job had proved even tougher than he expected.

Rose said the club still had major cash-flow problems, had failed to reach its sponsorship targets and had managed to sign only half the 25,000 members it needed to survive.

The club lost $2.9 million last season and, despite winning AFL approval with Rose's savage cost-cutting measures and securing a three-year $3 million sponsorship with LeasePlan, both the league and the Bulldogs have agreed that the club will require long-term multi-million-dollar help.
AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson said: "The Bulldogs are financially challenged and it will take an enormous amount of work and support to get them through.

"If the clubs say 'no, we don't agree to that', then they would be saying 'no, we don't want a 16-team competition'. They've never said that before. The AFL would want to go back to the clubs and we would have to do this on an annual basis."

The AFL executive is on the verge of completing a revenue-sharing equalisation paper, which not only looks certain to make way for the Bulldogs to receive funding for longer than the present maximum of $3 million over three years, but also increase the $11 million pool made available to struggling clubs over the five-year period ending in 2006.

The paper is expected to be ticked off by the commission next month and the new proposals to bridge the gap between the struggling and successful clubs would then be put to all 16 teams.

"Cash flow is a challenge for us," Rose said. "We've got our fair share of challenges in the marketplace. The product hasn't been as popular or as attractive as I might have expected . . . We're probably not the shiniest of products in the marketplace."

With more than 20 players out of contract at the end of 2003, including Luke Darcy and Nathan Brown, and the club still facing significant cost-cutting pressure - it will operate at between 94 and 95 per cent of the allowed salary cap this season - Rose said: "There will be a number of contracting issues in the new year.

"You get yourself caught in a bind. The less-fortunate financial clubs are doing everything in their power to cut costs but you've got to spend money to make money.

"We will only be as strong as the support of our membership and our corporate supporters.

"We need 25,000 members and we now have 12,600 - that's only half of what we need. If we don't reach 25,000, there's implications in terms of the viability of our club."

The club's significant second-tier sponsor from 2002, BenQ, has indicated it will not renew with the Bulldogs on the same level this season. Instead it will be supporting the club with a smaller corporate hospitality package.

To add insult to injury, Burbank Homes, which furnished the club last season with the proceeds from a house-and-land package sale worth an estimated $150,000, has instead struck a deal with Collingwood.

The Bulldogs' membership of 12,600 is roughly the same as at this time last year but at least 1000 below the club's conservative expectations. The Kangaroos' membership tally is 1400 ahead of the corresponding 2002 total.

And on a day when both Melbourne (BMW) and Adelaide (Europcar) have announced significant new agreements, the Bulldogs' sponsorship targets remain worryingly behind schedule.

While the Western Bulldogs remain critical, the AFL was cautiously optimistic yesterday about the prospects of the Kangaroos - long considered the other endangered Victorian club.

Kangaroos president Allen Aylett and chief executive Geoff Walsh met the commission last week and reported that the club - which has received $ million in special-assistance funding, compared with $2 million to the Bulldogs - has met both its sponsorship and membership expectations.

"I think the Kangaroos have made very, very good progress in the last six to eight months," Jackson said.

"They have some significant challenges ahead, but Allen Aylett and Geoff Walsh have done a very good job."
 

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Derek Zoolander

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#2
2 ****ing days before the season and we get this.

IMO it is nothing that we didn't already know and is an over sensationalisation of comments made by both the Herald Sun & The Age.

We know the situation that we are in, Rose has previously stated the ebs and flows of what needs to be done. We are down on membership & corporate dollars. We are UP on membership at the same stage last year - We lost the first 5 games last year and still managed a healthy membership total, and corporate dollars.

On field success breeds positivity and a "shine product" as Campbell talked about. Our position financially will be dependent on our position after Round 5 or 6.

Of course it's a worry to open the paper and see what i saw splashed on the back page, but i don't think it's any that we didn't already know.

This is going to work one of two ways. People/Companies upon reading this are going to go "Wow, we really need to help this club out, lets do something" or they're going to say "what's the point"

Regardless of the facts, the timing of this article does nothing to help us. I think we all felt the preseason in the media was going just a little too well.

The sad fact is, we are not the only club in this position as the article above outlines. Nth Melbourne & St Kilda are in similar positions, with clubs like Melbourne & Geelong not far behind.

I'm not denying the facts are correct or that the article is wrong, my problem is the timing does nothing to help our plight.
 
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#3
I think the timing is fantastic!!!

Its our first game this week, WE NEED MEMBERS. Unfortunately a lot of our members don't act until we are just about on death bed. Basically that article is saying we could be gone before seasons end if we don't get members and sponsors. Hopefully this jolts people into action.
 
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#4
So much for all the positive articles you always know that when they put so many good articles together it is the start one or a few realy bad ones.
 

Westy_Boy

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#5
All the positive articles are all well and good, but in reality we're on the brink of going under - it's better to have a few negative articles and have people realise just how the bad the situation is rather than have their heads in the sand thinking everything's peachy.
 
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#6
i agree with you westy boy hopefully it is an eye opener to our suporters that havent signed up for the year.It will be these people that will complaining when the teams mergers or isnt in existance because we cant compete with the other sides in the leauge.
 

Derek Zoolander

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#7
Originally posted by Westy_Boy
All the positive articles are all well and good, but in reality we're on the brink of going under - it's better to have a few negative articles and have people realise just how the bad the situation is rather than have their heads in the sand thinking everything's peachy.
Do you agree on the timing? I think it would have better served earlier in the year/pre season. I don't think it's a good thing to go into the season on the back of negative publicity.
 

SCRAY72

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#8
Originally posted by LondonBulldog
I think the timing is fantastic!!!

Its our first game this week, WE NEED MEMBERS. Unfortunately a lot of our members don't act until we are just about on death bed. Basically that article is saying we could be gone before seasons end if we don't get members and sponsors. Hopefully this jolts people into action.
I think it is great timing, I agree with London.
We have a small supporter base, we can't afford to have so called supporters sit on their collective arses and wait to see if we are going to win early games before dipping into their pockets.
The Kangas are tipped to have a rebuilding year yet their supporters are buying early.
I have actually made a decision that if someone that I meet that says he is a Bulldogs supporter wants to talk to me about footy,I first ask them if they are a member. If they are not and their reason is unacceptable I tell them that I will not talk football. That might be going to far but the reason I contribute to this Forum is because everyone is a member on this Forum and I admire loyalty and passion in people.
You have to question why people wait for the season to start before buying the membership when they went on sale pre Christmas.
My mum buys a membership and she doesn't go the footy. Chicago lives in another continent and renews unconditionally. There are many others like this.
On Sunday if you see so called supporters draped in red white and blue queueing to pay to get into TD do a quick survey and ask one of them why they are not members. You will hear some tragic bulls#@t excuses.
 

stefoid

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#9
do memberships really matter that much?

10,000 extra memberships at $250 (average) is $250,000

OK, so it'll help, but its probably peanuts compared to
getting a few decent sponsors, isnt it?
 

SCRAY72

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#11
Originally posted by stefoid
do memberships really matter that much?

10,000 extra memberships at $250 (average) is $250,000

OK, so it'll help, but its probably peanuts compared to
getting a few decent sponsors, isnt it?
10000 memberships at average $100, some will be junior or concession, is a million bucks.
 

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stefoid

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#12
err, umm, (takes leaf out of terry wallaces handbook)

"Im sorry, I cant do any more for this thread, but as I am a career poster, Ill be looking at posting to a different thread later in the day"
 

sigscotty

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#13
Originally posted by Sporty Spice
IMO it is nothing that we didn't already know and is an over sensationalisation of comments made by both the Herald Sun & The Age.

Don't blame the papers for printing what the likes of Demetriou, Jackson and Rose say to them.

The timing of these articles is perfect (and no doubt planned). Just before the selection of teams for round 1. As close to the season as you can get without stories about the coming round taking away all the attention. No doubt the news tonight will be talking about us, rather than a quick interview with Wowoedin / Blumfield / Caracella / Henneman / Everitt / Moorcroft / Johnson / Cupido etc about how excited he is to line up for 'insert name of new club here.'
 

Derek Zoolander

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#14
Originally posted by sigscotty
Don't blame the papers for printing what the likes of Demetriou, Jackson and Rose say to them.
I'm not blaming them for what was writen in the arcticle, i was questioning the validity of it being hugely headlined on the back of the HUN instead of a smaller inside article or something of the sort.

It seems i'm in the minority here of thinking this could be just as much a negative thing as it could be a positive thing.
 

mel 40

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#16
Its probably come at a good time for us, cause it will remind people that we really do need them to sign up as a member and why not do it no before the first match begins.
 

Westy_Boy

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#18
Originally posted by Sporty Spice
Do you agree on the timing? I think it would have better served earlier in the year/pre season. I don't think it's a good thing to go into the season on the back of negative publicity.
I think it was perfect timing - a full back page as close in to our opening game of the season as possible, and most importantly, it's a home game at Colonial where we can make the most of it. 1200 members have signed up since it was published (a few of those may not have become members at all this year if wasn't for the article), it got the issue raised on the Footy show, which was coupled with another publicity offer from Eddie for sponsors who jump on board. More positives came from the timing of the article than negatives.
 

Westy_Boy

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#19
Originally posted by stefoid
do memberships really matter that much?

10,000 extra memberships at $250 (average) is $250,000

OK, so it'll help, but its probably peanuts compared to
getting a few decent sponsors, isnt it?
People are saying the difference between our membership and Collingwood's would be about $2mil, which I reckon is seriously understating it.

For a start, they'll hit 40,000 full-paying members - puts them about $2.5 mil ahead - most will have a reserved seat because they play a lot of their games at Colonial and will pack it out most times - 25,000 people with a reserved seat at an average of, say, $150 - $2 mil more than what we get for reserved seating - and to top it off, given their success, the majority will hold upgraded (social club etc.) memberships in order to get a guaranteed final seat - worth another mil or two. Put in dollar terms, I reckon that at the very least they've got a $5mil head start.

Other than doubling our membership base, the only way that we're gonna survive is if the cost structure of running an AFL club falls to a point where the Collingwood's, Essendon's and Adelaides of the comp start making $5mil profits, and we're breaking even.
 

Larry6

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#20
I don't know what anyone else thinks about this but do you think it would be worthwhile to run a membership "ladder" in both major papers in the month or so before the season begins? Would it be a constant reminder to supporters of "lowly" clubs like ours that we are lagging behind and that they need to join up ASAP?
 
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