Charge everyone $100 extra for their memberships if people want pokies gone. Simple
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Yet the (deserved) knock on X_Campbell et al. is they were too focused on non-core football matters.
Whatever they were focused on hasnāt addressed the pokies.
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Who do you think you are, Dan Andrews?
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Not my principles
Why would EFC put any money at all into Windy Hill ? We have no ownership, no control and while some see it as āthe Spiritual Homeā, it is a pox ridden place that the locals can keep.
Wot ? The board has been focussed on revenue to the detriment of the Football program. Now it is turned around, you want it turned back ?
Pokies are legal and a good revenue earner.
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Thatās not entirely correct. XC was excellent at the football related commercial business: Membership, Sponsorship etc. itās the Boards responsibility to devise and work with XC on the ānon coreā commercial business. Instead I think they were too reliant on hitting up the high net worth supporters when they needed to, rather than relentlessly building non core business.
Now XC is departed, test will be to see how the football specific commercials hold up. Hopefully, membership aside, things are going ok but it doesnāt solve the broader position of the club and itās apparent lack of financial strength or performance to exit anytime soon.
I think this is still the case.
The functions are solely directed towards high paying members.
There arenāt too many people who can afford a $350 ticket to a 1993 Premiership reunion.
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We should be able to focus both on football and the business, do both exceptionally well. Like all successful clubs do. Essendon isnāt in rude financial health like youād possibly think.
Windy Hill is to become clubs home of VFL, AFLW. Its facilities arenāt up to required standard as a match venue. Itās also important the club retains the joint as its spiritual heartbeat, despite not training there. Most supporters see Windy Hill as having an important intangible (and tangible) role in ensuring a strong connection between the football club, its community and fanbase.
I mean hitting these really wealthy supporters up for really big bucks.
In what way?
They arenāt paying for seating at Tullamarine.
They do also direct other functions and game day events towards them (but also to wealthy members).
I mean through the fundraising campaigns for the Hangar, saga debt and the discrete fundraising they do.
When I was in the ACT supporters group, composed mostly of public servants , getting glossy pamphlets ā Why not treat yourself?ā Featuring special offers costing thousands per member, I couldnāt possibly afford, they automatically went to recycling.
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Iām lost.
Thatās way too vague.
The only they fund parts of redevelopment is if a coterie ends up running some of the parts of the club (like the Essendonians do with the function rooms).
Some of the wealthier ones sponsor individual players and want some return on that investment too.
Iām not sure where they can use wealthy supporters donations to supplant the yearly revenue the Pokies garners.
Go and read previous annual reports. Theyāve generated tens of millions in donations from āfundraisingā.
Anyhow, they can do that and all clubs do. However many clubs the last decade have build strong non core businesses and strengthened their balance sheets accordingly.
Now, cue those that say weāve been too focussed on businessā¦ fir all that focus, we hold negligible cash and hold negligible liquid assets. Our financial performance whilst sound, hasnāt ensured we are financially strong enough to exit pokies and forsake the revenue it raises annually.
Iām just saying until the club is strong enough financially, and able to replace the lost revenue, it canāt just walk away from pokies. Especially with membership declining this year etcā¦
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IIRC there was some sort of tax deductible arrangement negotiated for donations to the Tullamarine facility, connected to Paralympian access to the Hangar
That doesnāt necessarily mean that money filters to the club as far as profits are concerned.
Parts of that would be collecting for Anzacs, Dreamtime at the G, etc.
We also include āgovernment fundingā in our reports quite a bit too which are more to do with grants to do various things (like the EEA and an expansion to the Hangar).
Iām not too sure there are many cash reserves in football clubs.
For instance, Hawthorn sold off their pokies and paid off all their debts (whatever they were). But the left over money would be going into purchasing other assets, part of the next redevelopment, or send back through the community somehow.
I do agree with you though. Iām not expecting to get out of pokies for another few years. They also need to try and get out of āalcohol in sportsā too. So that would include pubs, etc. Itās getting tougher and tougher to find ethical revenues for a club to just keep things turning over.
This is also occurring at a time before AFLW becomes more professional and starts warranting more resources rather than shared from the AFL program.
For years Essendon Football Club had the reputation for being puritan wowsers.
Sheedy came along and breathed some working class life into the place, and now we seem to have another bunch of puritans who want us to give up alcohol, gambling, social functions and probably making any noise
We can start with new uniforms
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The way you go on about this is kind of stomach churning.
Youāve made your point so many times.
Makes me think itās more than just ābut oi loik pokies!ā, but whatever.
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Iām kind of torn on this.
Do I like pokies? Not overly.
Do I want EFC to run pokies. No.
Do I want to sell our pokie licence so someone else can run the machines? No.
So if we were selling cause there was a ābuybackā then sure sell them. If we are selling to someone else to own and operate them then no.
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All but 4 of the Melbourne-based AFL Clubs have been able to operate without pokies licences. There is no reason why Essendon canāt do the same. I think having poker machine licences damages Essendonās reputation as a sporting club.
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