Lions feel fan fallout
Bart Sinclair
November 28, 2006 11:00pm
A 14 PER CENT fall in average attendance at Brisbane Lions matches at the Gabba last season cost the club more than $1 million.
Chairman Tony Kelly yesterday highlighted the fall in attendance numbers from 33,000 to 28,200, mainly in daily ticket sales, which resulted in a net loss of revenue of $125,000 for each of the 12 home games this year.
"I think you have to accept most of that can be put down to football performance. That's the nature of the business," Kelly said in explaining the Lions' operating loss of $994,419 in the past year when on-field performance slumped.
"We were coming out of a period where it was as good as it gets with four grand finals in a row.
"That doesn't mean if we get an average crowd of 28,200 we will post another $1 million loss next year.
"The AFL dividend will increase in the first year of the improved television rights deal. And we hope to increase sponsorship which recently was given a significant lift with our three-year deal with Vodafone as naming rights sponsor."
Kelly also pointed to the club's extraordinary run of injuries as another factor in the $1 million operating loss.
The average number of games lost through injury across the 16 AFL clubs is 82.5 but the Lions had players unavailable for a total of 200 games.
"We budgeted for the average and the incredible run of injuries added another $300,000 to our expenses through added player payments," Kelly said.
Last season the Lions used 39 players, the highest in the AFL.
Shrewd investments, principally in the equity market, saved the Lions from recording a much higher loss.
Investment return is listed at $1.08 million in the annual report, up from $680,000 last year.
Some of the cash nest egg the Lions have been able to accumulate in successful years from 2002-05 is invested in the stock market.
"We have been doing that for some time now under strict guidelines and with the best investment advice. But it is only part of our total investment strategy," Kelly said.
"I'm sure prudent investment is a critical part of the financial approach any business should undertake. The option is to park all of any cash in reserve in a fixed deposit where the returns would not have been nearly as high."
Kelly said the Lions also had paid AFL Queensland $150,000 in the past financial year as part of an arrangement to assist grassroots football.
The Lions reserves played as Suncoast Lions in the State League competition.
Kelly is hopeful the Lions' new social club, behind the Chalk Hotel near the Gabba, will be open for business in December.
The club will be run by the Chalk Hotel under a managements arrangement.
Included in the deal is the use of 80 poker machine licences held by the Lions.
As we say at League Unlimited - "AFL fears The Iron Chef"...A study of OzTam television revealed:
1) Only 70,000 Brisbane viewers tuned into last Saturday's night's Lions- Richmond telecast - a 48,000 drop from when the teams met in Round 4;
2) Nationally more people watched Paul Hogan's Crocodile Dundee (320,000) than the Lion's 82 point loss to Terry Wallace's Tigers(278,000) last Saturday night; ( Is this a record low for an AFL game??.. )
3) Nationally five times this season, The Iron Chef has outrated a Lions' game;
4) Last year's best result was 234,000 v St. Kilda in the opening round. This season the high was 169,000 for the MCG Collingwood game in Round 10;
5)Last season's low of 108,000 against St. Kilda was still 38,000 more than last week's ratings.
The Brisbane Lions have become something of a problem child for the AFL in only two brief seasons.
Back in 2004 the Lions looked to be the way forward for the league's developing markets but how quickly it all seems to have fallen apart.
Star players have departed bitterly and controversially, champions and role models for the competition have surrendered to their battered bodies and the club has not only plummeted down the ladder but also recorded a financial downturn over 12 months of more than $2 million.
The city into which Channel Ten was prepared to go prime time each Saturday night has deserted the Lions and other AFL games in tens of thousands this year
Lions face another big loss
12 July 2007 Herald Sun
Damian Barrett
THE Brisbane Lions' on-field problems are being reflected off it, with the club preparing for another operating loss on the 2007 season.
Revenue is down significantly and a sizeable loss is expected, despite major cost reductions that shaved about $500,000 from outgoings at the start of the year.
Lions chief executive Michael Bowers said the books had reverted to 2001 figures, a season in which the club played in the first of four consecutive Grand Finals.
"We're finding that everything seems to be off about 17 to 20 per cent," Bowers said.
"And that is like the cream on the cake for us. We are finding the cream gone and in some places some of the cake is missing as well.
"It is a fickle market up here and that is the thing that has disappointed us more than anything.
"It ebbs and flows a bit and the tide is a bit greater than we thought it would be."
Brisbane's most recent match at the Gabba, in Round 13 against Port Adelaide, attracted 22,000 spectators -- about 10,000 fewer than the ground average in 2004.
While a Bledisloe Cup match and a Brisbane Broncos game were broadcast live into Brisbane that night, the crowd figure concerned Lions officials.
The Lions recorded profits on the 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 seasons, but lost nearly $1 million last year on about $30 million turnover.
The club is debt-free, having been able to invest several million dollars in long-term accounts during the boom of 2001-04, and the 2007 results will be cushioned by money raised at a Melbourne function on August 11 to celebrate the reunion of all Fitzroy and Brisbane players.
"But we are on track to make a loss, no doubt," Bowers said.
"We budgeted on a sell-out for all our boxes and suites. We budgeted on membership being a certain level, tickets being a certain level.
"From last year to this year, our membership and gate receipts we were forecasting are probably going to be about $1.5 million down from where they were."
Brisbane's predictions of a loss have dashed the AFL's hopes of having all clubs record a profit this year. Each club is to be given an extra $1.2 million this year because of the TV-rights windfall.
Bowers said the Lions would ask the AFL for a greater annual distribution to help cover some costs the club says are unique to it, including the running of a suburban Brisbane oval, which is used for training and by other local clubs.
A significant part of the Lions' cash problems relates to the back-ending of several big-name player contracts, including Michael Voss, Justin Leppitsch and Chris Scott.
"If we had our time again, a couple of years ago when we were raking in profits, we possibly would have liked to have accrued some of this year's player salaries into previous years," Bowers said.
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