Club Financial Results

West have announced a loss of $228K, about $40K after depreciation.

Glenelg's is a similar result, but about $90K loss after depreciation.

Sturt have announced a very healthy profit in a welcome turnaround.

well done to those at Unley

Congrats to the double blues a great come back year both on and off the field.

Suspect there was many a cashed up executive blues supporter who came out of hibernation and went to a few games last season!

Who ever recruited Kirkwood deserves a massive bonus!!

Much of the credit must go to the strong financial management of Sue Dewing, supported by a very positive board and vice presidents. There are no white knights. Looking at the financial statement, there are significant savings across the board. In particular quitting Castle Tavern saved in excess of $2 million in wages, occupancy and other direct costs, which far outweighed the removal of revenue from that source. We recognize that we've only just started on the long, hard road to recovery. There's a lot of work to be done on the revenue side going forward. Particularly memberships and general fundraising, which are still below our expectations.
Re Kirkwood and the other Port players, credit there goes primarily to Football Operations Manager Paul Sandercock,

Good result for North Adelaide, as well...

Posted a $315K profit. A fantastic return in today's climate...

Well done, Roosters...

With results like those shown by the Blues and Roosters it brings into question the chorus of other sanfl clubs questioning the financial viability of the league.

Being a Bloods supporter I am confused as to how we could be so poor and yet other clubs with comparable on field performances could do so well financially?

The turnarounds are very large and somewhat not predicted.
Sturt were talking about a conservative profit but $300K is not so conservative.

The Blues have made sizeable losses when a small profit was expected.

So why are the turnarounds so large and not able to be predicted. Most businesses do monthly profit/loss reports amongst other business indicators.

I struggle to understand why these results both positive and negative are so surprising and seemingly unknown until the financials are audited.

With the advent of gaming operations, the financial management of SANFL clubs has become far more complex, the amount of money handled, and the volatility of returns, especially from gaming venues, an order of magnitude greater. Unfortunately managements haven't always been up to the challenge of dealing with this. The complexity of financial statements, even the abbreviated versions presented to members, are often hard for many to understand. At Sturt, over the past couple of years, our finance director has resorted to Powerpoint presentations at the AGM, in order to try to clarify the situation for members. Even then, I find that only those among us who happen to be accountants, ask questions about the accounts. When the coach gives his presentation about the football, there are questions from everywhere. And when things go wrong on the playing side, everybody is aware of it. With the finances, however, the same level of scrutiny just isn't there. At least until disaster strikes. Then a significant percentage of members are left wondering what happened. Micro management of finances, including such things as comprehensive monthly returns, has been slow in coming at football clubs. Which is certainly part of the reason for the size and frequency of spectacular losses in recent years. This has changed, certainly at Sturt and I assume at other clubs as well. Hopefully this will result in more stable operations in the future.

An excellent response cc. Thanks. I can only draw the conclusion there is no reason why one club should perform worse financially than another but for the quality of their business model and management.
Makes it hard for any club to cry poor to the SANFL then???
From what I hear the bloods have made attempts to improve both but I sense given the current business model with the pokies in such a poor location the return to consistent profits might be a long And bumpy one!!!!

Thoughtful discussion. br, I do think different clubs have different circumstances, perhaps based on membership numbers, location of premises, sponsorship opportunities and the like.

For example, North Adelaide were close to folding years ago, but were lucky enough to have a wealthy benefactor to guarantee loans to enable them to obtain lucrative gaming options. They are now probably the wealthiest club in terms of consistent profitability and cash flow.

Now, to address our team, Westies. We were a relatively well-off club 8 or 9 years ago, but have incurred a couple of heavy losses in that time. This has stabilised in the last few years in cash terms.

Our previous asset position has allowed us to embark on the current Unit Trust deal and there has been very heavy cost-cutting which should return us to profitability this year. As cc rightly says, though, there are many unpredictable things, so we'll be hopeful, but realistic.

I do agree with you about transparency, though, and West will publish ongoing results during the year.

It is interesting that CC says regular monitoring of finances has been slow coming to clubs.

In any business these days, it is paramount to know where you are tracking at any given time. Whilst things can still be highly variable due to seasonal factors you need to know your position. Shorter term fixes can then be assessed before it is too late and major issues occur.

It is not just about a healthy P&L, cash flow is everything too and knowing when major payments fall due in the cash flow cycle.

If these things are or have been difficult within clubs, this is an area where best practice model or resources could be coordinated through the sanfl to assist clubs.

I would like to think all clubs would be at least interested in hearing about how Westies Unit Trust deal is intended to work.

All clubs need to be collectively smarter about this to reduce the unpredictable variables as much as possible.

Chambo Off To Work We Go wrote:It is interesting that CC says regular monitoring of finances has been slow coming to clubs.

In any business these days, it is paramount to know where you are tracking at any given time. Whilst things can still be highly variable due to seasonal factors you need to know your position. Shorter term fixes can then be assessed before it is too late and major issues occur.

It is not just about a healthy P&L, cash flow is everything too and knowing when major payments fall due in the cash flow cycle.

If these things are or have been difficult within clubs, this is an area where  best practice model or resources could be coordinated through the sanfl to assist clubs.

I would like to think all clubs would be at least interested in hearing about how Westies Unit Trust deal is intended to work.

All clubs need to be collectively smarter about this to reduce the unpredictable variables as much as possible.

Chambo - I'm not one into the detail and I suspect I am not smart enough to understand it if I was but I just make it as simple as "got no cash to pay your bills......liquidate your assets"

Glenelg posted a $243k loss

Booney wrote:Glenelg posted a $243k loss

good result for us