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Hi
This has probably been posted before and I realize it's old news but I do think it is interesting to see the costs involved in running a club ( for us uninformed average supporters )
From the INJURY.COM.AU site.
Costs of fielding a professional football team
11-04-2004, 06:18 PM
Costs of fielding a professional football team Post #1
Location: Sydney Medical costs have been cited, correctly, as a major inflating cost that makes a professional sporting team very expensive to run in 2004. This article by Rod Nicholson appeared in Sunday Herald Sun (11/4):
Football is a costly business. Simply ask the people running football departments who have to look at the big picture and pay for everything from coaches and players down to the boot-studder. Then there's the things you didn't consider
EVERY game, every week, football clubs outlay amazing amounts of money to put on the best show possible.
The obvious costs are the players -- most clubs spend $6.1 million on the people who put on the show.
And, of course, there is the coaching staff, the support staff, the runners and the trainers, all visible contributors.
But there is more, much more, behind the scenes.
To the tune of almost $380,000 per game per club!
Yes, that's what it costs every week so that the club can field its best-prepared players.
That is simply the costs of the football department, and does not include considerable amounts from the finance, marketing and membership sections, or ground management, gaming and social club areas.
These areas combined with the football department take the cost of running a football club to more than $22 million a year.
Yet profits are minimal: for some an elusive dream.
As senior Carlton official Col Kinnear said: "Other companies would be out of business if they turned over so much money for so little return."
The $377,182 weekly outlay is about recruiting, accommodating, maintaining and training the players.
It involves medical costs, massages, videos, transport, footballs for training, the cost of hiring a swimming pool and a host of "behind-the-scene" costs.
Every club has video operators, statisticians, doormen and bootstudders who are hidden from public view. So, too, are the weight and physical education instructors, the dietitian, the property stewards and the scouts.
Clubs actually have more than 70 employees on their football department books, not including the 43 players. Of course, there also are the volunteers, without whose contributions the balance sheet would explode.
When Carlton won the premiership in 1987, only 45 people were on its football staff. Now the club has 74, and the costs are spiralling in proportion to the employees. In that premiership year the Blues recorded a profit of $650,806 but set aside $415,000 to cover legal costs.
Today the club is struggling. Imagine its plight as a cellar-dweller, but with increasing costs and without the bonuses associated with premierships and its membership base? Most clubs are in the same boat, desperate for membership money, sponsors and benefactors to offset the crippling costs.
However, cutting costs is a dangerous proposition, as Kinnear explains.
'YOU cannot have players worth $6 million and not have the best medical staff and facilities available to them," he said.
"The on-field performance is vital to so many other areas -- sponsorship, marketing, membership. You cannot afford to drop your guard in regard to players and the support you give them, otherwise you risk impacting poorly in all other areas."
Kinnear said rising costs were inevitable, led by the incremental increases in the salary cap.
"More than that, the cost of everything simply goes up. And the way football clubs are run these days demands extra costs," he said.
He cites the change in training hours.
In past eras the players assembled for training on Tuesday and Thursday nights. The modern regimen is for training throughout the day. This forces the employment of doctors, physios, masseurs, dietitians and property stewards during those hours.
"They are key people, and if the players are here, the key people have to be here, too," Kinnear said.
"If you can reduce the number of games players miss through injury, you automatically have your players on the ground more often and it is cost-effective.
"The players have massages, do gym work, eat nutritional meals, perhaps need medical attention and then train. It is all in a day's work, and you must have top quality specialists on hand to help."
The medical staff, plus supplies such as bandages and medicines, add more than $400,000 a season.
Kicking balls at training costs -- a massive $16,000 for the footballs. Boots add another $30,000, and playing strip more than $20,000.
Fringe costs also add up. Junior players, or an injured player, may require taxis to the ground.
Then there is laundry and dry cleaning. Towels and training gear must be kept clean.
When players and officials step out, they too must be appropriately attired.THE club logo and those of sponsors must be on clean jackets, tracksuits or travel gear. And when the players take a plunge to ease match pains and strains, some clubs must pay pool hire.
Obvious costs such as levies to support the TAC under-19s and a club's VFL associate consume more than $120,000, and the relocation costs and transfer fees for players is another sizeable outlay.
Food and drink, organised by the dietitian, must be available at all training sessions, on flights, at interstate hotels and on match day. Nutritional meals and bottled water are imperative. The bottom line is more than $30,000.
The cost of interstate travel also is considerable. While mostly supported by the AFL, a football club still must pay for extra personnel. Carlton, for example, took 23 players and 28 officials to Perth for the opening game of the season.
One of the vital ingredients in the football world these days is the use of technology. Coaches demand it, players need it. Add the statistics, and players and coaches have a mountain of information about a performance, the day's match and next week's opponents.
Video cameras, blank tapes, video operators, statisticians, televisions and databases are as much apart of football today as strapping and liniment oil.
"If we could get a sponsor for Internet technology, we would save a fortune," Kinnear said.
"And if anyone could invent re-usable tape, he would make a fortune and save clubs a fortune. People have no idea how much tape is used, and discarded, every training session and match day. And it all costs."
Because a club is a family, another expense is providing creche facilities on match day.
Then there are special functions (best and fairest awards and milestones) that are important to the club and its supporters.
Clearly the financial spiral that has engulfed the game in the national competition is a far cry from the chook-raffle days of the suburban competition.
Two decades ago, in 1976, Hawthorn won the premiership and declared a profit of $32,000 from income of $414,000.
Today the $32,000 would not pay for lunches and bottled water, and the income of $414,000 would almost evaporate paying for one football match.
The Hawks' administrative costs that year were $57,000. Today a club must find more than $8 million for similar activities.
Nobody should doubt the spiralling costs. Only seven years ago clubs had to budget for expenses of about $10 million, with player payments under the salary cap of $2.9 million.
Today they must look at more than $22 million with a salary cap of $6.12 million.
Club members will know all about it. Clubs spend more than $100,000 on postage and another $100,000 on phones.
Fines and legal fees also add to the football club balance sheet.
So while you cheer your favourite players and instantly recognise your coach and his support staff, consider the hidden costs that are necessary to put your team on the paddock. And then hope they are worth it!
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