A-LEAGUE launch: "New Football"

[yob]

Vincent Tan isn't new to re-branding a football club. But he's not the most popular owner that's for sure.

[yob]

Tardistan may be stripped of an a-league grand final due to the AFL:

http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/al ... 7105239192

[gyfox]

Just as long as Adelaide Oval and ANZ Stadium are available it doesn't matter. Tardry are unlikely to win the rights to host it anyway.

[yob]

Wonder how many spots aussie clubs will get in the ACL now

[Simmo79]

That's good but f**k, Jowel will be here any minute

[yob]

That's good but f**k, Jowel will be here any minute

Being in a bloke's head when they win the champions league is a job done right IMO.

[yob]

btw a premier league-champions league-la liga all nighter powered by starburst and about 3L of V and I swear to god I'm f***ing ready

[yob]

Stadium porn alert. Fox have set up the broadcast camera on the opposite side of Hindmarsh for tonight's FFA Cup semi.

[gyfox]

Stadium porn alert. Fox have set up the broadcast camera on the opposite side of Hindmarsh for tonight's FFA Cup semi.

The views of the main stand were good.

[yob]

Some interesting info on MV. A recent share sale puts the club's value in the 20-25 million dollar range. My own sh*t and giggles comparison with Collingwood is 14 million annual revenue V 75 million for Collingwood. Monstered. But also impressive for a 10 year old.

http://www.afr.com/p/lifestyle/sport/sa ... WeLVpSXOxN

Victory are one of the few Australian sports clubs, and just about the only A-League side, to record consistent annual financial profits.

The club made a $255,000 profit from about $14.4 million revenue in the 2013 financial year. It is expected to exceed that result for the 2014 year due in part to income from last year’s friendly match against English Premier League side Liverpool, which attracted a crowd of more than 90,000 to the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

With 23,416 members so far it's looking like another year to not worry about 1/10th of the competition.

Wanderers are another handy 1/10th not to worry about either, with a lazy 3.5 million of pure profit coming in from Asia.

[dibo]

I understand the Mariners' loss was <500k last FY too, making it all the more bizarre they're looking to move games.

[yob]

Not wanting to stir, but CC are in a position.

A-League clubs (excluding Wellington) operate on 20 year a-league licenses. That is a substantial asset when they're attached to big media deals.

If a club under performs relative to the value of that asset then they're a takeover target. Melbourne City was a clear example.

Next cab off the rank is Central Coast. A potential suitor will have his eyes on their license. It's a case of whether they think Central Coast is the next best place in the a-league to park that asset and invest, or if they think there's some place better.

I do note that even South Melbourne have been eyeing off CC. Although I don't rate their chances personally.

[dibo]

Losses appear to have stabilised and started to fall (a few years back they were at a steady $1m).

The once-mythical Centre of Excellence has now completed stage 2 and stage 3 is starting (office block, hotel, etc. leaving only the stadium to build pretty much).

We're 2 years from a new TV deal that is likely to move the basic structural budget of A-League clubs even closer to the break-even line, I can't imagine the FFA entertaining the idea of allowing CCM to move.

Even if they had to stick their hands in their pockets and buy equity ($1.5m to keep the club running until the TV deal comes is a steal - they'll get more back than they put in) it's a better idea than the turmoil of a move.

We're also looking to expand the league. It's the worst possible time to be considering seeing football leave another market and salt the earth behind it.

[yob]

I lean toward Central Coast surviving. I consider the threat of takeover to be more along the lines of that thing nipping at its heels and keeping the club honest.

The club is laying down good infrastructure, and just appears a tight outfit all round. It just can't get that extra 2,000 at the gate it needs to get over the line. And that's really all it is. In season 3 when they averaged 12k (on the back of cracking derbies) the club shook a profit out of the tree.

I guess we just need to take solace in Central Coast battling for break even, and Sydney FC losing 7 million again as in 2012. Aint no media deal helping those muppets any time soon.

[dibo]

Break-even for matchdays is just under 9k, according to a story in the local paper:

Mariners fight for fans
SHRINKING CROWDS SERIOUS CONCERN AS EXPENSES MOUNT
THE Central Coast Mariners are looking at ways to be more sustainable in the wake of dwindling crowd numbers at Central Coast Stadium this season.

Mariners boss Bruce Stalder confirmed the club has broken even only once this season, with their derby win over Newcastle at the start of last month, which attracted a crowd of 10,443 to the Gosford venue.

The crowds have dropped off markedly since then, with 7237 on hand to watch the Mariners lose to Wellington 2-1 and 6391 at Sunday’s loss to Perth.

“We’re not getting enough people to games,” Mr Stalder said. “We need to get just under 9000 people to a game to cover all the expected and unexpected costs.”

With an average of 2500 people buying tickets at the gate, the club is encouraging supporters to buy in advance. Although pre-sale tickets are already discounted, Mr Stalder told the Express Advocate the club was looking at more pre-sale discounts ahead of their November 23 home match.

The clash with Adelaide is the Mariners’ last game at Gosford until after Christmas. While they are taking games to North Sydney Oval on December 5 and Brookvale Oval on February 7, Mr Stalder stressed the club was committed to the coast.

“The Central Coast is the heart and soul of the club,” he said.

“The owners have invested heavily in the Tuggerah Centre of Excellence, which is a clear indication of our intention to stay on the coast.”

The club would be looking at the draw and at what kickoff times worked best for games here and, while it was looking at building support on Sydney’s “northern strip”, 75-80 per cent of home games would remain at Gosford into the future.

We can now know that if we regularly get 9k (and our long term average is 9,356, our last three seasons have been 9,628, 9,969 and 9,398) then we're just about right. That break-even number has come down in recent years, at one point it was closer to 12k.

The problem is that us having 9k averages historically doesn't seem to be enough for them to not pull the trigger of moving games to North Sydney. Breaking even across the season doesn't appear to be enough, he seems to want to break even for each additional game. It's there that we need to look at our minimum crowd each year:

Over the last 5 seasons (including this year so far) our bottom crowds have been: 5,858, 6,883, 6,081, 5,787, and 6,391.

To be able to break even on those numbers, we'd need a massive boost to corporate income or a massive cut to stadium costs. But then we'd be making great surpluses every year.

As far as the book losses are concerned, if you were running to the end of your personal carrying capacity then $500k a year is a problem. If we had Sydney's owner (where the pockets are much deeper) it's no hassle at all. The improving business conditions should mean that the underlying value of the club is rising, even if there's a cash cost in holding on. So instead of looking to f**k the basics of the business by splitting the supporter base and taking games away from home, why not redouble the efforts to find some more working capital, *including* hitting up FFA if need be?

If I were in the FFA offices, I'd think if CCM came knocking it'd be at least a decent prospect but if SFC came knocking I'd be bolting the door and pretending nobody was home.