Our plans for the future

[76woodenspooners]

Here's something I find a little strange ...

Collingwood are being very aggressive on the revenue side with recent announcements to double the membership and make our own apparel.

Sure, we've got a few expenses coming up with the Westpac centre redevelopment and community centre - but the scale of that is hardly extravagant. We're debt free and cash flow positive and should be easily able to cover our contribution to those capital costs with our existing revenue streams.

And we don't have any shareholders to pay dividends to.

And doubling the membership would surely lead us to being one of those world footy clubs where the only way to get a ticket to a game is to be a member - that kind of elitism is surely an antithesis of our club's core values. Maybe we get there by accident or by side effect, but our leaders wouldn't be taking us there deliberately.

Gary Pert has mentioned that the club has grand plans for the future - and naturally the Westpac redevelopment is a part of this.

But I think there's got to be more because those modest ends don't seem to justify the aggressive means in my mind.

I think there's got to be something else going on.

My best guess is that the club is planning to establish an Endowment Fund.

Why?

Well, when Eddie took over the club was in trouble. It would go a long way to ensuring that "Good Ol' Collingwood Forever..." becomes true by establishing some kind of endowment fund.

What else would we do with money? We can already attract the best coaches and cover the salary cap with our current revenue. We are already upgrading to the best facilities and (I'd reckon) we could cover it with our current revenue.

Thoughts?

 

[mattys123]

I actually think our plans are a little "grander" then just long term financial stability.

It seems like Eddie and Pert's long term vision is to make the Westpac Centre into a community hub for all the casual runners in Melbourne, and that has me thinking that long term further expansion may even be in the plannings, with the Westpac Centre to become the centre for physical activity for the "casual athlete" in Melbourne.

Then from that, we get these visitors to become members of the facility, and thus, the club, and that will raise our membership base even higher.

It's just a guess, but I reckon that centre won't stop expanding after this current development is completed.

But mainly what Eddie and Pert want is to bring as much revenue into the club as possible, so long term the club can continue to spend more then any other club on the football department, and stay ahead of the curve when it comes to training facilities.

 

[stui magpie]

The plan is simple. World domination, starting with the city of Melbourne, to be renamed Collingwood by 2020.