the Lions financial situation

[Last of the Roys]

AFL alert as wounded Lions suffer $3m loss

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...s-suffer-3m-loss/story-e6frg7mf-1226133461435

BRISBANE is set to make an operating loss this year of as much as $3 million.

The struggling Lions -- in their first year of competing against the Gold Coast, the AFL's 17th licence -- are a major concern to the league, which is constantly monitoring their precarious situation. So dire was the cashflow situation of the former powerhouse club that the AFL several months ago handed over an assistance package -- believed to be $1m -- to keep the 2001-02-03 premiers afloat.

This season's expected blowout follows last year's loss of $2.714m. Factoring in this year's anticipated outcome, Brisbane will have lost $8.5m in four years since its last profit of $1.058m in 2007. Lions chief executive Malcolm Holmes was yesterday reluctant to declare this year's financial position, neither did he wish to confirm the amount of the mid-year special subsidy from AFL.
...

It is not official, but it seems like it could very well be a credible figure. Although the AFL's financial year doesn't finish until the end of October, nevertheless we should have a fair idea of the size of the loss we are facing.

We had $1.2m or so in retained earnings before the start of the year, so would a $3m loss mean we need / would receive an AFL injection of at least $1.8m, or can you somehow raise retained earnings via loans (it has been some time since I have done Accounting)??? The article indicates the AFL have provided $1m for cash flow already.

Anyway you look at it, financially we are in pretty deep shit. If we were a Melbourne based side, the media would be talking up our imminent demise / merger / relocation.

Luckily the AFL couldn't / wouldn't let us die, but this is hardly a great position to be in to build our next premiership tilt. We need our supporters to pull the finger out and back the Club next year, especially with the new administration seemingly heading in the right direction, and the onfield situation hopefully about to follow suite.

 

[patfullfankezz]

I wish I could do something more than just buy my membership, but unfortunately I'm barely making ends meet as it is. :-(

First thing I'm gonna do when I (finally) win the lotto is donate a large sum to the club!

 

[Bucking Beads]

It would be tough to make money when the Gabba is not even half full every game.

 

[Brisroy Fitzbane]

So jumper sales didn't save us?

 

[Bucking Beads]

So jumper sales didn't save us?

went to Amart Allsports yesterday saw Lions guerneseys going for $50..

 

[Mr Ripper]

It was never going to be a fruitful year for the bean counters. Three mill is heaps, but not unexpected. Everyone, down to Springwood and play the pokies, NOW!

 

[Bucking Beads]

It was never going to be a fruitful year for the bean counters. Three mill is heaps, but not unexpected. Everyone, down to Springwood and play the pokies, NOW!

We should have sent Fev there to get our money back..

 

[Cousin Jed]

The AFL will be spending over 100 times that amount in keeping expansion clubs afloat.

 

[Ceebee]

They are spending all the money on expansion clubs. They gave Suns our usual big drawing games as in Carlton, Pies and Hawks.

They can bloody well help us out I say .plenty of other clubs have been getting handouts for years.

 

[Cousin Jed]

Yep - as well as cannibalising members you split the high drawing teams. With 4 states and the big Vic clubs not travelling more than 5 times a year, its highly unlikely that they play more than 1 game in a state.

The AFL have made their bed, they'll be handing out plenty of cash whilst they lie in it.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Yep - as well as cannibalising members you split the high drawing teams. With 4 states and the big Vic clubs not travelling more than 5 teams a year, its highly unlikely that they play more than 1 game in a state.

The AFL have made their bed, they'll be handing out plenty of cash whilst they lie in it.

Yep it is BS, clubs like Crows and Kangaroos had to come to QLD twice yet none of the big drawing Melbourne clubs did.

 

[MacMum]

It was never going to be a fruitful year for the bean counters. Three mill is heaps, but not unexpected. Everyone, down to Springwood and play the pokies, NOW!

Would love to oblige and help out, but just a tad far from my place..

The ones near me are run by Hawks and Tigers..

Will definately make the effort when next up in Qld......we must all do our bit

 

[POBT]

Yep - as well as cannibalising members you split the high drawing teams. With 4 states and the big Vic clubs not travelling more than 5 teams a year, its highly unlikely that they play more than 1 game in a state.

The AFL have made their bed, they'll be handing out plenty of cash whilst they lie in it.

This is a very good point.

This was going to be a bad year, regardless of how we went on the field. We then had a shocker of a year on field which made things worse. This news really didn't surprise me. We're on the breadline. There are a few bits of good news though:

1. With our stadium deal, it isn't hard for us to make money from matches.

2. We've got what looks like a viable alternative income stream in the club. More generally, we've got some stability in the key off field roles.

3. The AFL won't let us die (I'd go so far as to say that they won't let us stay down the bottom of the ladder for long)

4. The AFL has got away from making clubs tighten their belts in terms of footy spend, if they want financial assistance. Therefore, we'll be encouraged to spend up on improving the football side, even if we're getting handouts.

It is a blow to the pride to have the club so reliant on the AFL but the alternative, that we're left to try and recover on our own, is much worse.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Yep - as well as cannibalising members you split the high drawing teams. With 4 states and the big Vic clubs not travelling more than 5 times a year, its highly unlikely that they play more than 1 game in a state.

The AFL have made their bed, they'll be handing out plenty of cash whilst they lie in it.

Another associated point with visiting supporters is that they may now look attending GC17 matches to coincide with their winter Queensland break rather than travelling up the M1 to see the Lions.

 

[3KZ is Football]

How about a merger with Fitzroy in the VAFA? I think that the AFL might be encouraged to tip a few million into the new entity.

We would have to change our current jumper to something that reflects Fitzroy's hertitage. Perhaps we could include the traditional Fitzroy Lion on our jumpers in 2012 and play the occasional special heritage fundraising game in Melbourne in the Fitzroy jumper. These games could be timed to coincide with memorable moments in Fitzroy's history and be part of a concerted campaign to raise funds from corporate sponsors and a new Coterie group that could be called the Maroon and Blue.

Under the new merger arrangement, Fitzroy could continue to play in the VAFA and be known as Fitzroy and we would play in the AFL under our existing name, so as to not alienate Queensland based Lions supporters. Fitzroy would also have to take 8 of our players for season 2012. I'd like to nominate Sheldon, Collier, Austin, McCulloch, Buchanan, Clark, Maguire and Charman. We also might have to make a number of concessions in terms of the board by adding a four permanent members from Fitzroy.

It just might work and on top of what the AFL contributes, we are sure to attract thousands of members from Victoria.

 

[Ceebee]

With Broncos going so well and all the hype about Lockyer, a lot of people have jumped back on their bandwagon too. They have been getting big crowds and their usual biased media love.
They are also a very wealthy club and give away a heap of tickets to their games too.crowds always look good.
I would question the Suns crowds too, always seemed to be lots of empty red seats, look good from a distance though
Sad to see us where we are ,but have faith we will get back up again.

 

[kharis]

With Broncos going so well and all the hype about Lockyer, a lot of people have jumped back on their bandwagon too. They have been getting big crowds and their usual biased media love.
They are also a very wealthy club and give away a heap of tickets to their games too.crowds always look good.
I would question the Suns crowds too, always seemed to be lots of empty red seats, look good from a distance though
Sad to see us where we are ,but have faith we will get back up again.

For me the AFL stuffed up big time with not providing additional support (both money and concessions) to the Lions from the beginning with the Suns being created. It was obvious that they would poach lots of Gold Coast based Lions members and supporters (and players). The Suns were always going impact the Lions off-field in what is a limited market (mostly) relocated (from other AFL states) supporter base. The train from the coast has been a lot quieter as has the Gabba.

Having said that the Suns are doing much worse with about half the membership of the Lions and much smaller crowds. Visually obvious even in a ground smaller than the Gabba. They will only survive by being propped up by the AFL. With their losing record and no real change likely in the coming season I think they will suffer a big drop in supporter numbers.

I think more pain for AFL in QLD before things turn around and the Lions win another flag.

 

[NoelMugavin]

Brain wave!!! why dont we change the jumper...lets try putting barney banana on the front to make it look more modern and show our current state of moving forward...no need to tell the members - its a sure thing...everyone will want a new jumper and we can make lots of money..

 

[Mr Ripper]

Brain wave!!! why dont we change the jumper...lets try putting barney banana on the front to make it look more modern and show our current state of moving forward...no need to tell the members - its a sure thing...everyone will want a new jumper and we can make lots of money..

I lol'd.

 

[3KZ is Football]

Barney Banana is not aggressive enough. I think that Michael Bowers should have gone with the initial focus group suggestion and gone with an H.R. Pufnstuf themed jumper.

It couldn't have gone any worse than the one we ended up with.

Could have changed the club song while they were at it.

[YOUTUBE]obxfuFrUTzg[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Last of the Roys]

I wish I could do something more than just buy my membership, but unfortunately I'm barely making ends meet as it is. :-(...

Top effort patfullfankezz, no-one could ask anymore than that.

And I realise there are a lot of our supporters that were hit by the floods or might have other personal reasons why they couldn't get on board, but there must also be a lot of our supporters that just aren't passionate enough about our Club and are fair-weather friends.

Our membership figures, attendances, and financial results are embarrassing. But worse than that is the negative impact they will have on our ability to rebuild.

I guess you can say "oh well, the AFL will save us, everything will come up smelling of roses". But that kind of attitude puts misplaced confidence in the Kremlin's ability to quickly even things up.

As I said, the AFL will never let us die. But a lot of people don't seem to comprehend the difference between allowing a club to survive and what it takes to be overwhelmingly successful in the AFL these days. The gap between us and the best financed clubs is immense / almost unprecedented (at least in nominal terms). It has to have an impact on our ability to retain players (such as through third party deals; having the best facilities) and on our ability to get the best out of them.

So if the AFL have to finance another $3m loss next year, are they really going to allow us to spend another $1m extra on our footy department to keep up with Collingwood? Are they going to be easily able to finance a new $30m facility for us? I wouldn't have thought so. I am not sure they really have the money given they would have to be leaking like a sieve into GWS and the Gold Coast, as well as propping up a lot of other struggling clubs and meeting the players wage demands.

As for Springwood being our saviour, of course it helps but it obviously can't paper over a disastrous downturn in our support. And add to that we may very well be very severely negatively affected by the 'Pokie Bet Limit Technology changes' being pushed by Wilkie and the Federal Government. Whether you support the changes or not, there is no doubt that if they enforce an immediate or very short implementation it will cost clubs a fortune in replacing / updating their pokies. It will also have a significant negative impact on Springwood's (and other clubs) in terms of ongoing revenue.

Anyway, the bottom line is, if you want to see your Club become successful again, then the best thing to do is actively support it - buy a membership, turn up to games, do what you can.

To paraphrase John Kennedy, don't just sit there, do something!

(Hawthorn's coach between 1960 and 1976, with the famous quote at half-time of the 1975 Grand final:

At least DO SOMETHING! DO! Don't think, don't hope, do! At least you can come off and say 'I did this, I shepherded, I played on. At least I did something.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kennedy,_Sr. )

 

[Last of the Roys]

There is an article in The Australian about our financial situation.

Obviously it is behind a paywall (although you can sign up for 28 days for free if you want to).

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...ian+|+Sport)&utm_content=Google+International

Glory days a mere memory as Brisbane hits dire straits

BRISBANE is heading down the financially stricken path of Port Adelaide, struggling to make ends meet and becoming one of the AFL's major concerns.

In an economically tough Queensland market and starved of on-field success, the Lions are set to post another significant loss this year. The industry forecasts it to be between $2 million and $3m. Chief executive Malcolm Holmes said yesterday he would not disclose his budgeted figure.
The league is closely monitoring Brisbane's precarious situation which has been described as "pretty ugly" within AFL headquarters.

Besides the above the other interesting point is:
- the Lions have not yet called on emergency funding from the AFL this year as we are getting an additional $3.9m of funding over 3 years due to the change in grant distributions for struggling teams

We have known about the extra funding for struggling clubs for months, but it is interesting that things haven't got so bad that we have had to ask for more yet. Although I think it probably will get to that stage.

 

[Sir G]

Why not make membership more affordable.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Why not make membership more affordable.

It is pretty affordable I would have thought. They even give you the option of monthly installments.

 

[cmt26]

3 game memberships for Victorian supporters would be a great start to increasing memberships.

Or going one step further and having state based memberships, so for example: if the Lions played two games in Adelaide for the season, your membership would allow you entry to both games, with the option of a Gabba game or another interstate game and the cash goes to our club rather than a SA team