Yeah, you might want to look into that a bit more closely.
Firstly getting $14M of it's own revenues out of $38M isn't a great boast. (especially when $38M is very much on the small side)
There is also the not insubstantial point that gross revenue matters a lot less than net revenues, and GWS spends an awful lot earning that money. For example in earning $1.25M in 'membership and merchandise', GWS *PAID* $2.16M in related expenses....Yes, they lose, substantially, on members
You also need to consider that such revenue isn't all 'new money'...How much of that membership/sponsorship would have gone to Sydney (or other clubs)? nb. This is both directly, and by forcing them out of media time they would otherwise have had.
Now, that's all fine in that it's basically the AFL paying to grow the market share as part of a long term strategy. But don't try and paint it as a massive achievement. It's still very early days, and much of what GWS has, even it's supposedly 'own revenues' is merely what the AFL keeps pushing at them.
I'm not "boasting" about anything. I was demonstrating the absurdity of using an A League franchise as a reference point. The AFL has its costs well under control and so can gap fund new clubs in new markets for decades and decades while they establish
The Giants, in their fifth season, were basically self-funding their non-football department costs, including admin, rental and very aggressive marketing. The ~$23 million the AFL provided (including match receipts and prize money for finishing in the final four) essentially covered their football department. The ~$10 to $12 million of this in addition to base distribution (and cba requirement) represents 1/40th of the new tv rights value. Private "investment" does not even come into the equation.
You are right though that if this discussion was about whether or not the Giants were a commercial success after 6 years, you wouldn't just consider gross revenue and you would need to consider how much of it is offset by reductions in other clubs / AFL revenues. Happy to have that overall discussion another time. We might even be able to have that discussion while acknowledging what is fact and what is conjecture and assertion
Point is, this thread is essentially conjecture about the next four possible clubs. I have repeatedly premised that IMHO the Giants would have to have "solidified" as a club for Newcastle to be a plausible option. In 20 to 25 years, I think there is every chance it would have.