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bornadog
06-12-2012, 08:51 PM
Link (http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/dogs-compare-numbers-20121205-2avt3.html)

WESTERN Bulldogs president Peter Gordon has revealed he is investigating the distributions received by clubs in major overseas competitions in a bid to help provide a solution for the growing divide in the AFL.

Collingwood's unprecedented profit of $7.83 million for 2012, having also disclosed it had spent $21.17 million on its football department, an increase of $1.75 million on 2011, has added to debate over the league's equalisation measures.
The Magpies' football department spending outpaces the likes of Melbourne ($18 million) and the Bulldogs ($15.75 million), with AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou conceding on Tuesday the gap could continue to increase, despite the measures taken last year with the club future fund.

Gordon, who will officially replace David Smorgon at the Bulldogs annual general meeting on December 20, has nominated equalisation as a key point of interest. ''I am studying it by not just reference to the way it works in the AFL but the way it works in elite sporting competitions all around the world,'' he said. ''From the Bundesliga, to the English Premier League to the NFL to the NBA. There are lots of such competitions and it seems fairly evident that all of them have smaller and larger franchises. It also seems very clear that there are a range of policies with respect to the distribution of what might be called core or central revenues.

''I want to spend a little bit of time understanding the area before I dip my toe into the water into what the appropriate AFL position ought to be or, indeed, what the appropriate Western Bulldogs position would be.
''What I do say is every club should aspire to be like Collingwood. They are, obviously, an icon of the AFL, tremendously well-run and their financial result is a great credit to them.''
The Bulldogs declared an operating loss of $136,679 for the year ending October 31, but did increase football spending by $1.2 million.
''The Bulldogs is essentially a break-even result this year based on a lower spend in its football department than is the median spend. That is one of the things that we are seeking to address,'' Gordon said.

Club presidents and chief executives will meet the AFL in March to discuss the issue.
St Kilda president Greg Westaway has flagged the possibility of taxing interstate clubs which benefit from lucrative home-ground deals. But the two West Australian-based teams point out they will each pay the West Australian Football League more than $5 million next year in licence fees.

Demetriou said all parties had ''agreed that something needs to be done''.
''We have got an equalisation process at the moment which is working,'' he said. ''There is no doubt in the first year of the five-year 'disequalisation' strategy we have seen some significant shifts in clubs like Richmond, North Melbourne - some really pleasing things happening at the Bulldogs and St Kilda.''
But the fine print released by clubs indicates issues still abound in terms of giving all clubs a better chance of winning a premiership.

''There are some aspects of the revenue gap that are widening,'' Demetriou said.
''We have seen some real responsible spending going on in football departments where some of the lower clubs have been able to spend more on their football department, but when you see some of the results, you are going to see that it gives [wealthier clubs] the potential to spend more on football, which means the gap might get larger again.''

jeemak
07-12-2012, 12:51 AM
I've been thinking a bit about the appointment of Peter and the underlying reasons for the changeover of presidency.

Part of me thinks there's internal and coterie/supporter murmurings that have contributed to Smorgon deciding his time was up, though another part strongly believes many in the abovementioned groups understand we're in for a pretty tough time ahead, and serious upheaval of the AFL funding distribution and equalisation needs to be driven by somebody fresh within the role.

The most recent broadcasting deal has us secure from an existence perspective, mainly due to the inflated price that was paid for the rights to them however, by the time the next deal rolls around I don't think networks and associated media services are going to be as bullish with their estimates of advertising revenues and the value of the AFL product. In such times, increasing scrutiny and the ability to provide value will be placed on clubs like ours.

I'm very concerned for the relevance of smaller Melbourne based clubs such as ours. While the Australian economy is going OK due to the resources sector carrying the load, all other sectors (give or take) are not showing the same boyancy and businesses within those sectors will be very much forced to strongly reconsider the level of spending they allocate to advertising and sponsoship. Those that do decide to spend in these areas, will increasly become risk averse.

With the potential for sponsorship dollars likely to be limited in three to four years time, clubs are going to need to seek security from the AFL moreso than they have recently in the form of football generated revenues such as gate receipts and funds equalisation (least of all, the incredibly stupid lopsided fixture). To ensure we're capable of keeping up, we need to be combative in our approach to influencing the AFL to level the playing field when it comes to opportunity to generate revenues.

Very very interesting times ahead for our club. From our trading and potential minor drafting decisions I think the club is putting itself forward to be more of an attractive proposition to the AFL, through being a better performed club on the field sooner rather than later.

Remi Moses
07-12-2012, 01:47 AM
Great read^^
I'm going to get shot down here, but the current Admin did well to with the current deal.
Couldn't see nine or ten getting involved in the next TV Rights deal.

Happy Days
07-12-2012, 12:25 PM
Good to see the commie spirit is still alive and well in Peter.

LostDoggy
07-12-2012, 02:19 PM
Had a meeting with MFC for our work and got to discussing the new grounds they are taking over (Collingwoods old training space). The reason? Collingwood are apparently building an inch perfect replica of the MCG as their new training ground so that every kick and handpass in their training sessions replicates what will happen on match day at the G. I'm mindful this might be old news for some here? but it was just astonishing to me what an amazingly excess budget the filth have and what that can achieve. Who knows what a difference it will make. Could be minimal could be huge. If they use a game plan of kicking down the lines it will surely have to pay off long term? Very glad Peter is investing study time into this.

Throughandthrough
07-12-2012, 04:03 PM
Had a meeting with MFC for our work and got to discussing the new grounds they are taking over (Collingwoods old training space). The reason? Collingwood are apparently building an inch perfect replica of the MCG as their new training ground so that every kick and handpass in their training sessions replicates what will happen on match day at the G. I'm mindful this might be old news for some here? but it was just astonishing to me what an amazingly excess budget the filth have and what that can achieve. Who knows what a difference it will make. Could be minimal could be huge. If they use a game plan of kicking down the lines it will surely have to pay off long term? Very glad Peter is investing study time into this.

Including the stands as well? :)

I think half the country footy grounds in Australia are allegedly the same size as the G

soupman
07-12-2012, 04:09 PM
Including the stands as well? :)

I think half the country footy grounds in Australia are allegedly the same size as the G

Yeah I think the one of the bigger reasons they are building a new training ground is so that they have one which can be fenced off from prying opposition scout eyes. FWIW Essendon's new development at the airport will have two grounds, one the exact dimensions of Etihad and one the same as the MCG.

I fail to see how being a replica sizewise is going to be of any help, let me tell you now that Essendon's Etihad replica is going to be a lot windier than the real thing.

Alos why didn't they just make a ground with the dimesnions of Subiaco, and then depending where they are playing that week just draw up the dimensions of that weeks ground on the oval? Then you have 15 grounds in one.

jeemak
07-12-2012, 04:28 PM
Yeah I think the one of the bigger reasons they are building a new training ground is so that they have one which can be fenced off from prying opposition scout eyes. FWIW Essendon's new development at the airport will have two grounds, one the exact dimensions of Etihad and one the same as the MCG.

I fail to see how being areplica sizewise is going to be of any help, let me tell you now that Essendon's Etohad replica is going to be a lot windier than the real thing.

Alos why didn't they just make a ground with the dimesnions of Subiaco, and then depending where they are playing that week just draw up the dimensions of that weeks ground on the oval? Then you have 15 grounds in one.

Isn't Subi quite long, but narrow? A bit like Kardinia and the WO?

I think having a Etihad sized ground to train on would be good for us.

AndrewP6
07-12-2012, 08:46 PM
Including the stands as well? :)

I think half the country footy grounds in Australia are allegedly the same size as the G

My schools' oval is a metre shorter than ES surface. Just sayin'... :D

boydogs
07-12-2012, 10:08 PM
Alos why didn't they just make a ground with the dimesnions of Subiaco, and then depending where they are playing that week just draw up the dimensions of that weeks ground on the oval? Then you have 15 grounds in one.

Can't move the goal posts ;)

I don't think it's a big deal, the wind would be more a factor than the ground dimensions, hence why Geelong have such an advantage.

KT31
07-12-2012, 11:37 PM
This is not new, from memory a few years back we made Whitten Oval the same dimensions as Optus (Etihad)when it was our home ground.

bornadog
08-12-2012, 04:19 AM
The AFL created the monster that is Collingwood by giving them block busters, TV exposure, Friday nights, preferential draw etc etc

Its all coming home to roost now and we are the ones being left behind.

Bulldog Joe
08-12-2012, 09:24 AM
The AFL created the monster that is Collingwood by giving them block busters, TV exposure, Friday nights, preferential draw etc etc

Its all coming home to roost now and we are the ones being left behind.

This is pretty close to the truth.

If they really want some genuine equalisation, the first step should be for the AFL to take control of ALL gate receipts to be evenly distributed amongst all the clubs.

The fixturing gives Collingwood plenty of opportunity to sell more sponsorship and membership than anyone. That should be enough.

Bulldog4life
08-12-2012, 11:05 AM
This is pretty close to the truth.

If they really want some genuine equalisation, the first step should be for the AFL to take control of ALL gate receipts to be evenly distributed amongst all the clubs.

The fixturing gives Collingwood plenty of opportunity to sell more sponsorship and membership than anyone. That should be enough.

Entirely agree Bulldog Joe.

KT31
09-12-2012, 01:05 AM
This is pretty close to the truth.

If they really want some genuine equalisation, the first step should be for the AFL to take control of ALL gate receipts to be evenly distributed amongst all the clubs.

The fixturing gives Collingwood plenty of opportunity to sell more sponsorship and membership than anyone. That should be enough.

Agree 100% with this.

Twodogs
10-12-2012, 12:59 PM
This is pretty close to the truth.

If they really want some genuine equalisation, the first step should be for the AFL to take control of ALL gate receipts to be evenly distributed amongst all the clubs.

The fixturing gives Collingwood plenty of opportunity to sell more sponsorship and membership than anyone. That should be enough.


I agree with that. I'd go further and say that the AFL should pay player's wages. That way any payments outside the cap would stand out and could be properly investigated.