Strategy Increasing Non Football Revenue

[alex_is_on_fire]

Jesper Fjeldstad writes in today's Adelaide Advertiser that the Adelaide Crows are ambitiously aiming to sign 60,000 full paid members. He also writes that they are looking at non football ways to increase their football department revenue spend from a middle of the table $16,000,000 millions dollars to a top of the range $25,000,000 million dollars.

Now, the purpose of this thread is not to discuss the pros and cons of aiming to sign 60,000 members or to bad the club when they fail, but to discuss different ways the Crows can increase their non football revenue?

Jesper list 3 ways the club is investigating the potential increase and they are currently looking at buying into a Hotel that has poker machine revenue attached to them (Peter Hurley I guess will help with this), Real Estate (any apartments that get build on the AAMI Stadium precinct would be a viable investment) and buying and selling shares.

• HOTELS: Adelaide is a rarity in the AFL that it has no gaming revenue, and is considering the purchase of venues with poker machines
• SHARES: even though the Crows have watched nervously as other clubs have gambled and lost on the share market.
• REAL ESTATE: Adelaide will consider looking at commercial real estate, which could increase the club's growth in a quicker way than the traditional income streams.

The purpose of this thread is to discuss any alternative ways the club could go about increasing their non traditional football review to allow us to financially compete with the Collingwood's and West Coast of the competition who have a very high football department spend.
Please don't allow this to get into a slagging match between the administration, Vs Port Adelaide or just saying we are not very good. By the looks of it, they are trying and that is good enough at this point.

Source: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport...or-60000-in-2014/story-fnia3xzy-1226761351495

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

One idea my wife and I came up with whist eating dinner was to try and sell an "ultimate football experience'.

This would include flights, accommodation, match day transport to and from the hotel and airport and sitting in the coaches box during the match.

We sort of set a figure of $2500 per away match per person or $30,000 per season and that included your Adelaide Oval membership as well. Plus all the bells and whistles that go with that sort of gold membership. This would have to be a very lucrative membership and if interest and demand become very high, the price would increase as well. They could only sell 4 or 5 of these memberships as they isn't many extra seats in the coaches box on match day.

So, what sort of ideas can you create people come up with?

 

[AdelaideFan14]

It may only add a small bit to the revenue, but if they had at every home game a 20/20 raffle at $1 a ticket. Winner gets half the amount sold in tickets, club gets the other half. Say 25,000 tickets are purchased on average at every home game, and we have 11 home games in 2014, the club gets an extra $137,500 for the season (Would be more if we played finals at AO). I see distributing the tickets being an issue with this idea however.

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

It may only add a small bit to the revenue, but if they had at every home game a 20/20 raffle at $1 a ticket. Winner gets half the amount sold in tickets, club gets the other half. Say 25,000 tickets are purchased on average at every home game, and we have 11 home games in 2014, the club gets an extra $137,500 for the season (Would be more if we played finals at AO). I see distributing the tickets being an issue with this idea however.

Good idea but the club did this a few years about and (someone*) stole some of the takings.

* don't know who, so not fair to pin it onto one person.

 

[1970crow]

It surely can't be done with shares. How could you budget for football dept spend based on prospective capital gains. It's effectively a once off event anyway and would require an enormous investment to generate any meaningful portion of the touted figure. Real estate would be better, however it again requires enormous investment. Unless you lock away huge chunks if working capital, the investment will most likely result in a cash-flow loss. Depreciation makes it attractive to you and I for tax purposes, but it won't be putting millions into footy dept spending.

Pub/club sounds like the most plausible. Would just need an underdeveloped venue that would experience a more than normal patronage if branded as being owned by the afc.

 

[Coopers]

No to poker machines. We may as well sell heroin. Just because it's legal, doesn't make it ethical.

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

No to poker machines. We may as well sell heroin. Just because it's legal, doesn't make it ethical.

Agree with you on this but this isn't about what is going to happen but what we can do that hasn't already been discussed.

 

[FantasticShirt]

Getting a decent company to make the Crows merchandise would be a good start. It's all so god damn tacky and average looking.

 

[crowtricolours]

Getting a decent company to make the Crows merchandise would be a good start. It's all so god damn tacky and average looking.

This is one area where we could see huge growth IMO

We seem to have an unwritten rule not to use black as a base colour for clothing; we use a lot of white ; would love to see some clothing lines with a black base and team colours added.

 

[AFC3000]

This is one area where we could see huge growth IMO

We seem to have an unwritten rule not to use black as a base colour for clothing; we use a lot of white ; would love to see some clothing lines with a black base and team colours added.

Pretty much this, black or grey or something is fine, even our current colours in different shades would probably better, its when equal blue red and yellow are used things start looking bad. Apart from the occasional hoody for a lazy day at home I really wouldn't buy anything the club sells.

It's either Kmart style knock offs or ugly team tracksuits and stuff that might look ok when worn by a whole group of AFL players while at the club or the game but not something anyone would chose to wear in a day to day situation.

I don't think any other club does it that well but maybe we should be looking at what other sports do or just be doing our own thing because its an area to grow. I don't know maybe the stuff sells to its target audience but its not me.

 

[Mego Red]

Brisbane had a program called Lethal's Lions when Matthews was coach. You joined a small group of business folks and had some access to Leigh (I think a couple of lunches), a few tours to check out how they did things, watched a couple of pre-game addresses, etc.

I think it was a $25k buy-in, but the real money was the donations you eventually got. I know Mick Power was one of these, before being talked into becoming a board member and financially supporting the club.

Need to target some individual wealth that can sign significant checks.

AND better merch.

 

[jackster83]

Getting a decent company to make the Crows merchandise would be a good start. It's all so god damn tacky and average looking.

It's hard to make anything look decent with that dopey logo as well as "Adelaide" written in the KFC font.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Hotels - like the idea of there being a Crows pub somewhere close to Adelaide Oval & elsewhere around the suburbs... somewhere we can watch away games if feel like catching up with some mates ... but like the others have said, forget the pokies!

Shares - AFC should not be speculating in shares. Once most debt is paid off & they have some spare cash to invest, then have no issue with them diversifying in blue chip shares ... but none of these quick get rich dodgy schemes like FirePower which we know have burnt the footy community before.

Real Estate - Why not establish some housing near AAMI with the land development for putting up some of the interstate recruits?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

They had a Lehmann XI vs a Gillespie XI cricket match at Adelaide Oval once. Those guys captained the teams and then the other players (just members of the public) had to pay $10,000 for a spot in the team. Then they got to play.

Full changerooms. Adelaide Oval scoreboard in operation. Main pitch out in the middle. Beers after the game with the guys. Once in a lifetime experience. The dad of one of my mates (who is a cricket nut) played in the game. Was an average cricketer and would never have got on Adelaide Oval otherwise. I forget what they were raising money for.

Andrew McLeod, Tony Modra, Mark Ricciuto, Darren Jarman, Nigel Smart... 20 other spots on each team. Would people pay $10k to play in a 'proper' game of football on Adelaide Oval alongside those blokes? 40 spots x $10k.

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

I don't believe changing the logo on the merchandise or how it's designed will increase the distribution budget that much to increase the profits.

It could increase the revenue by say a few hundred thousand dollars but revenues need to be increased by the millions, not thousands.

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

They had a Lehmann XI vs a Gillespie XI cricket match at Adelaide Oval once. Those guys captained the teams and then the other players (just members of the public) had to pay $10,000 for a spot in the team. Then they got to play.

Full changerooms. Adelaide Oval scoreboard in operation. Main pitch out in the middle. Beers after the game with the guys. Once in a lifetime experience. The dad of one of my mates (who is a cricket nut) played in the game. Was an average cricketer and would never have got on Adelaide Oval otherwise. I forget what they were raising money for.

Andrew McLeod, Tony Modra, Mark Ricciuto, Darren Jarman, Nigel Smart... 20 other spots on each team. Would people pay $10k to play in a 'proper' game of football on Adelaide Oval alongside those blokes? 40 spots x $10k.

Didn't they auction off a few spots in the 'slowdown'?

How much did they go for?

 

[Tex200]

They had a Lehmann XI vs a Gillespie XI cricket match at Adelaide Oval once. Those guys captained the teams and then the other players (just members of the public) had to pay $10,000 for a spot in the team. Then they got to play.

Full changerooms. Adelaide Oval scoreboard in operation. Main pitch out in the middle. Beers after the game with the guys. Once in a lifetime experience. The dad of one of my mates (who is a cricket nut) played in the game. Was an average cricketer and would never have got on Adelaide Oval otherwise. I forget what they were raising money for.

Andrew McLeod, Tony Modra, Mark Ricciuto, Darren Jarman, Nigel Smart... 20 other spots on each team. Would people pay $10k to play in a 'proper' game of football on Adelaide Oval alongside those blokes? 40 spots x $10k.

These can be wonderful days.

I was fortunate enough to be an invited guest to a similar day in England as part of Leicestershire CCC fund raiser. It was a 6's tournament - 6 players in a team including 1 guest professional from LCCC. 6 overs a side. Big carnival atmosphere with hospitality - each corporate side also had its own "fully stocked" tent. No idea how much it cost but must have been a bomb.

Now I said these can be good days so let me digress. In one game the opposing professional was a player by the name if Darren Maddy who at the time was on the cusp of selection for England and was already playing ODI's. He was batting. The bowler was a left arm orthodox who i had been playing village cricket with. Nice bloke. Yours truly is keeping wicket.

Maddy takes him for 4 x 6' s off the first 4 balls. The 5th ball Maddy dances down the track again, only this time it's spins inches and beats him neck & crop. In order for the village spinner to have the moment of his life it only remained for me to take it (gentle pace) and flick the bails - inexplicably I have totally missed it and the moment has gone.

6th ball over the fence again.

What made it worse was the bowler was really nice about me ruining his moment - so anyway those days can be a bit tricky

 

[FantasticShirt]

This is one area where we could see huge growth IMO

We seem to have an unwritten rule not to use black as a base colour for clothing; we use a lot of white ; would love to see some clothing lines with a black base and team colours added.

Even go with dark blue. Port have done really well with their more recent gear I think (as much as I don't like to praise them). Merchandise isn't going to make millions but it'd provide a steady flow of relatively low risk revenue.

 

[Marty64]

I would like to say have an interesting read.

One of them has knowledge I respect and the other I am a bit meh about.
Together it is hard reading.

Looking at commercial property - high upfront costs and hard to get past 60% leverage and you have risk of tenant default and vacancies. Over time rents rise and capital gains increase.

Property development - residential you can make around 25% profit with DIY project management when I looked last. Crows have done a bit with their beach house project. Fine for a couple to work on infill sites but to get larger sites you are competing with large buildsrs offering house and land packages.
Commercial/appartments just dont do it.

Shares - blue chips once you filter out the junk you get dividends and franking credits and in time capital gains and increased dividends.

Penny dreadfulls - junior miners, Firepower and other hopefulls. Pass.

CFD's - high risk/reward and I think there is a better product out there that doesn't conbine all your positions into one.

Warrants - Mini shorts and longs CFC like but limited recourse. I use them they are high risk though.

Instalments - margin loan type product, increases the dividend you recieve also profits and losses. I use them too.

Self funding instalments - no dividends till the loan is paid great for your SMSF.

Options - spending a few hours tomorrow learning more.

Covered calls - sell an option on a share for about 10% over current share price, if the target price is reached you are force to sell at that price and you get the premium from selling the option, option expires without excersizing and you keep the option sale profit. I take a easy way out and buy YMAX.

ABW similar but also protects the down side and is one for the SMSF as it has large franking credits.

Left off futures as I don't use them.

 

[Elder van Berlo]

Port had a few excellent fundraisers this year. Paying $x to get your name on a match guernsey is all well and good, but is probably only going to raise significant funds once per lifetime.

Another one they had was a fund where supporters were invited to donate - I think the minimum was $10 - per win, and the money was invested directly into the footy department. They bought one of those zero gravity treadmills. Gives the fans a sense of ownership and a tangible result to the fundraising effort.

I'm not saying we should copy their ideas chapter and verse but it shows how much can be achieved by high volume, low cost fundraising.

We are going for 60,000 members this year. If you could get $50 extra out of each of them, that's $3 million. Probably enough for some decent assistant coaches, some cutting edge supplements, outside the salary cap investments in Adelaide pubs on behalf of Danger and Sloane and if that all goes pear shaped there should be enough left over to hire a few QCs for a week.

 

[mattymac]

Utilities. We should get into renewable energy. "Crows' Own Power" has a certain ring to it.

 

[AFC3000]

So like alex_is_on_fire said changing the logo and merchandise isn't going to raise the kind of money the club is talking about in this article but as others have mentioned it in this thread how much our colours suck I thought I would upload this here. Probably not everyones taste, maybe even a more narrow niche than the stuff they sell now but I'd like to see them bring out stuff for the younger fans to buy. I kind of see some of our older supporters wearing the tracksuit to the game and it pretty much kills it for me haha and not everyone wants to wear the team warm up gear plastered with sponsors out side of the game (or their farewell footy park shirts).

These were just quick re-makes of other designs and common ideas from other brands I came up with one afternoon. Someone was going to start a merchandise thread but it never happened. If the club came up with this kind of less obvious, casual stuff I would buy a heap and wear it often. Not claiming its the best design but I think it shows our colours can work if its not the primary type blue red and yellow together.

 

[Glenno23]

The 32 one is good

 

[Schulzycrow]

Think a Crows pub either in the city or North Adelaide would do nicely. No pokies..really don't want the club to go down that path.

AFC3000 some great stuff here esp like the Danger 32 one, in fact any of the top 3 I would put my hard earned on. Have you sent any of these to Nige?

What ticks me off a bit is that people have been talking about this sort of thing for ages. The other big clubs in Melb and the WC just go out and do it...anyway OP said no slanging so mini rant over.

 

[AFC3000]

Think a Crows pub either in the city or North Adelaide would do nicely. No pokies..really don't want the club to go down that path.

AFC3000 some great stuff here esp like the Danger 32 one, in fact any of the top 3 I would put my hard earned on. Have you sent any of these to Nige?

What ticks me off a bit is that people have been talking about this sort of thing for ages. The other big clubs in Melb and the WC just go out and do it...anyway OP said no slanging so mini rant over.

Thanks but before I get any more credit I have to say I was heavily inspired by the shirt I used for the background...



But obviously there are a million different tshirts out there with big sports numbers printed on them so anyone can do it. I guess it demonstrates my point that people would by something of that less obvious style, but who in SA wouldn't see 32 in blue and red, and the word Dangerfield and not know what it was about.

Mainly just trying to show that 1. our colours don't have to look horrible and not everything has to have the official logo front and centre, every clothing brand has a logo, but not every product they make has that logo prominently featured and 2. There could be an alternative to selling sports inspired tracksuits and polo shirts and stuff with sponsors all over them or the Kmart quality non-Puma alternatives, pretty much everything they sell is stuff the players would wear in their official club duties (what is the market for the official club footy shorts they sell?) so unless you want to go around looking like a football player getting of the team bus all week/summer there really aren't any options.

Especially with there being a Crowmania in is it Regent Arcade which could attract the shopper who didn't especially set out to buy team gear.