Bulldogs turn $1M profit for sixth straight year

[Scraggers]

From shaking tins back in the 80s … this warms the cockles of my heart

Link
http://https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/1035554

[bornadog]

Love this part

"Club’s eighth consecutive year of total profits, and its sixth consecutive year of total profits in excess of $1 million".

[EasternWest]

Go us!

[Prince Imperial]

I can still remember myself crying talking to my brother using a public phone when the news was announced that we were being taken over by Fitzroy so these reports are very sweet to me.

There's a lot to digest but I have a couple of comments:

1. The Whitten Oval project is stated to have $67m in total costs but we will "only" receive $37m from the state government and we are also up for $1.5m for the Skinner Reserve project. It also stated that we are committed to providing funding via our own fundraising initiatives. That's a lot of money to find and I'm wondering what rabbits we may have up our hats. I would not like our club to completely relinquish its strong liquid asset position which includes $18m of cash (which does not include state grant money for the redevelopment).

2. Our land at Footscray and land/building at Dromana are listed as worth over $16m but with recent huge increases in land values in Melbourne, the good news is that they probably have a much greater market value.

[Grantysghost]

Great work by the members give yourselves a pat on the back.
Let's hope it's reinvested properly.

[GVGjr]

Incredible achievement when you think of the impact to the competition and the supporters
Club and members should be impressed by the result achieved.

In a year or two we can hopefully start reinvesting back into the footy department.

[Grantysghost]

Incredible achievement when you think of the impact to the competition and the supporters
Club and members should be impressed by the result achieved.

In a year or two we can hopefully start reinvesting back into the footy department.

Or send player sponsor gifts!

[Eastdog]

Great achievement by us all to get us into this position.

Go Dogs!

[Prince Imperial]

If anybody wants a reminder about how much we've turned things around then look at this. In 2005 we had negative $4.2m net assets with $5.6m in loans compared to positive $57m net assets today:

http://footyindustry.com/docs/Western%20Bulldogs%202005%20Annual%20Report.pdf

[bornadog]

its strong liquid asset position which includes $18m of cash (which does not include state grant money for the redevelopment).

Pretty sure alot of that will go into the redevelopment

[Prince Imperial]

Pretty sure alot of that will go into the redevelopment

I agree but I'd like to keep a fair bit.

I know we got $8m from the Federal Liberals back in 2004 but in more recent years they've provided or promised funding to most AFL clubs (Richmond, St Kilda, Adelaide, Port, Carlton, Brisbane, Hawthorn, Sydney, Gold Coast, West Coast, Freo etc) to the tune of up to $15m for their facilities.

Many NRL teams have also benefited. Despite out club being based in Labor heartland, with a federal election looming, I wonder if they or Labor (or both) might be the missing funder we're counting on.

[Twodogs]

If anybody wants a reminder about how much we've turned things around then look at this. In 2005 we had negative $4.2m net assets with $5.6m in loans compared to positive $57m net assets today:

http://footyindustry.com/docs/Western%20Bulldogs%202005%20Annual%20Report.pdf

I can remember thinking every morning when I woke up "I wonder if this will be the day that the club goes down the gurgler?" Especially in the economic rationalist days of Oakley/Nixon/Jackson/Scanlon when the commission had our existence squarely in the gun in order to prove an extremist economic theory.

[jeemak]

I can still remember myself crying talking to my brother using a public phone when the news was announced that we were being taken over by Fitzroy so these reports are very sweet to me.

There's a lot to digest but I have a couple of comments:

1. The Whitten Oval project is stated to have $67m in total costs but we will "only" receive $37m from the state government and we are also up for $1.5m for the Skinner Reserve project. It also stated that we are committed to providing funding via our own fundraising initiatives. That's a lot of money to find and I'm wondering what rabbits we may have up our hats. I would not like our club to completely relinquish its strong liquid asset position which includes $18m of cash (which does not include state grant money for the redevelopment).

2. Our land at Footscray and land/building at Dromana are listed as worth over $16m but with recent huge increases in land values in Melbourne, the good news is that they probably have a much greater market value.

Thanks for breaking this down, what's the horizon for the development to be ready?

[jeemak]

I can remember thinking every morning when I woke up "I wonder if this will be the day that the club goes down the gurgler?" Especially in the economic rationalist days of Oakley/Nixon/Jackson/Scanlon when the commission had our existence squarely in the gun in order to prove an extremist economic theory.

Not just the commission, but the clubs that it represented indirectly/ directly. I'll never forget how much every club in the land (and their supporters, even those who barracked for Fitzroy) wanted us dead and I will have no sympathy for them ever when they themselves feel pain and find themselves on the brink.

History is filled with downtrodden people, entities, clubs or whatever forgiving and forgetting without any penance, sympathies or apologies offered, and it's bullshit. I won't forget, I won't have sympathy. We'll be strong, they've had their chance.

[Prince Imperial]

Thanks for breaking this down, what's the horizon for the development to be ready?

I don't know; hopefully we will hear more about this in the near future.

[Bulldog4life]

Not just the commission, but the clubs that it represented indirectly/ directly. I'll never forget how much every club in the land (and their supporters, even those who barracked for Fitzroy) wanted us dead and I will have no sympathy for them ever when they themselves feel pain and find themselves on the brink.

History is filled with downtrodden people, entities, clubs or whatever forgiving and forgetting without any penance, sympathies or apologies offered, and it's bullshit. I won't forget, I won't have sympathy. We'll be strong, they've had their chance.

Not exactly right Jee. Richmond cheer squad were can collecting. Collingood organized with us a match at Skinner Reserve with the old players. There were a lot more examples which my blurry brain can't think of at the moment.

[Grantysghost]

Not exactly right Jee. Richmond cheer squad were can collecting. Collingood organized with us a match at Skinner Reserve with the old players. There were a lot more examples which my blurry brain can't think of at the moment.

Geelong and Footscray cheer squads used to be very close.

[bornadog]

Not just the commission, but the clubs that it represented indirectly/ directly. I'll never forget how much every club in the land (and their supporters, even those who barracked for Fitzroy) wanted us dead and I will have no sympathy for them ever when they themselves feel pain and find themselves on the brink.

History is filled with downtrodden people, entities, clubs or whatever forgiving and forgetting without any penance, sympathies or apologies offered, and it's bullshit. I won't forget, I won't have sympathy. We'll be strong, they've had their chance.

Had some nuffy on twitter try to stir me about losing the GF, after I made a comment about the opening round Wednesday match. After a few tweet exchanges from me and several others, the Melbourne supporter said having you got some tin rattling to do.

He shut up after I showed him the balance sheet and profits we have been making. I am with you, no sympathy for any team that suffers - it is the supporters that save them, just like the Fitzroy supporters who gave up.

[jeemak]

Not exactly right Jee. Richmond cheer squad were can collecting. Collingood organized with us a match at Skinner Reserve with the old players. There were a lot more examples which my blurry brain can't think of at the moment.


Geelong and Footscray cheer squads used to be very close.

I prefer my revisionist version of history, thanks.

[jeemak]

Had some nuffy on twitter try to stir me about losing the GF, after I made a comment about the opening round Wednesday match. After a few tweet exchanges from me and several others, the Melbourne supporter said having you got some tin rattling to do.

He shut up after I showed him the balance sheet and profits we have been making. I am with you, no sympathy for any team that suffers - it is the supporters that save them, just like the Fitzroy supporters who gave up.

You're hardcore BAD.

I mean I thought I had some pretty severe edges on this stuff. :)

[bornadog]

Financial powerhouse clubs take $8 million hit from AFL (https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/financial-powerhouse-clubs-take-8-million-hit-from-afl-20211209-p59g85.html)

Financially powerful clubs Collingwood, Richmond, Hawthorn and West Coast will receive only the guaranteed minimum of $8 million per club in 2022, a reduction of $2 million on this year’s allocation, under the AFL’s new funding model.


In adopting a new funding model that reduced the “base” amount for clubs from $10 million to
$8 million, the AFL has singled out those four wealthy clubs to lose all the $2 million per club that the league has put in a pot for redistribution.


Under the new “variable” funding model, industry sources said Essendon were expected to receive up to half - $1 million or so - of their lost $2 million for a total package approaching $9 million, and are in the next band of relatively prosperous clubs who do not get the full $2 million back, while Carlton - a club with the capacity to be a financial heavyweight - expect to be funded to the tune of around $10 million, essentially getting back most or all of the $2 million every club initially loses.


Under the redistribution, expansion clubs Greater Western Sydney and Gold Coast are set to be given a larger share of the allocation to the 18 clubs, compared to 2021 - a measure of the AFL’s investment in those clubs and the time it will take for them to become independent.


The expansion teams have consistently been funded to the tune of more than $20 million, covering their player payments and most of the soft cap, over the past several years, except for the COVID-curtailed 2020, when AFL revenue shrank.


Of the $36 million the AFL has taken from all clubs, more than $26 million will be re-allocated to 14 of the 18 clubs, on a needs basis - a move that has already drawn the ire of Richmond, Collingwood, Hawthorn, the Eagles and Essendon.


The loss of $2 million each to the first four of those four clubs means that, in effect, as one source from a wealthy club pointed out, there will be a gap exceeding $6 million each year between what the AFL provides to the richer clubs and the total player payments (TPP). In the past, the AFL fully funded the player payments.


The AFL will retain between $8 million and $10 million from that $36 million pot, which will be re-directed to clubs that have special needs during 2022 - a plan that is mindful of the unequal and unpredictable impact of the pandemic upon clubs in different states.


The AFL view is that the greatly reduced football department costs (the soft cap is still more than $3 million below the 2019 total of $9.7 million) means the rich clubs have been more profitable in 2021 and can afford the funding cuts.


North Melbourne and Sydney are slated to have their funding slightly increased in 2022.


But most AFL clubs will receive a little less in the first instance. Grand finalists Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs are set to have their overall funding reduced - both clubs having stronger balance sheets than ever before, having enjoyed on-field success and sold their pokie venues for excellent prices, the Demons selling the Bentleigh Club for $23.7 million this year.


St Kilda, which has been easily the greatest recipient of AFL funding of Victorian clubs over the previous four years - topping $20 million in 2017, 2018 and 2019 - will also have their funding reduced compared to the already reduced 2021 outlay. The Saints have, however, cut their debt, which had topped $12 million at one stage.


The Brisbane Lions, who have recovered strongly from a fiscally fraught position and made a profit to $3 million this year, are expected to receive about the same as they did in 2021.


The Swans offer an example of how the pandemic hits clubs differently, depending on whether games are played in their state before crowds. They lost $6.1 million in 2020 due to the COVID-19’s impact on their largely crowd-free home games, but have fared far better to record a small profit this year.


The AFL has shed about $700 million in revenue over the course of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, forcing major cost cuttings and wiping out their cash reserves and future fund but avoiding any debt.

[Axe Man]

Had some nuffy on twitter try to stir me about losing the GF, after I made a comment about the opening round Wednesday match. After a few tweet exchanges from me and several others, the Melbourne supporter said having you got some tin rattling to do.

He shut up after I showed him the balance sheet and profits we have been making. I am with you, no sympathy for any team that suffers - it is the supporters that save them, just like the Fitzroy supporters who gave up.

I thought you were going to say shotgun, but your method works too I guess.

[Axe Man]

I don't know exactly how the AFL work out these club distributions but they absolutely should be to address inequities that the clubs have little to no control over. Stadium deals, severely compromised draws, contrived blockbuster games, historical supporter bases and the like.

Clubs should not be punished for a healthy balance sheet achieved through good fiscal management, nor clubs rewarded for running their club into the ground.