Collingwood 2014 Financials

Collingwood News The Collingwood Football Club has announced a net profit of $2,017,992 for the financial year ending October 31, 2014. The result is the 14th consecutive profit Collingwood has recorded and was largely generated off the back of record membership of over 80,000 (80,793) – a new club and AFL record. The club carries no debt and its net asset position sits at $37,085,589. Collingwood President Eddie McGuire said the profit reflected the all-important contribution members make and years of strategic planning and work to create a football club capable of standing on its own two feet, year after year. “I’m very proud. Our members continue to stand behind their football club and never has that support been more important because every cent comes back to Collingwood. Membership is the only area the AFL can’t touch,” McGuire said. “We exist in an increasingly difficult environment and in that environment we remain not only independent and in control of our future but prosperous, able to uphold, through the many philanthropic causes we support and serve, our commitment to the greater social good. “The need to be financially healthy and independent is a must. We know that to provide our players, coaches and staff with the best opportunities to succeed we must continue to invest wisely and to do that, on our terms, we must continue to produce results like the one we produced this year. “Without outstanding support from our members and corporate partners, and strong leadership, things could have been very different.” Collingwood Chief Executive Gary Pert said the result would enable the club to continue to invest in the football program and ways in which it can provide better experiences and create more value for members. “This is a very strong result created in the face of some significant challenges,” Pert said. “We didn’t play finals and the consequences of an experimental fixture had a considerable impact on us and yet we remained profitable and robust, which is really significant because our investment in the club’s two key stakeholders, the players and fans, has to continue. “We became a more efficient operation in 2014. This streamlining, coupled with the invaluable support of our members and corporate partners, meant we were able to continue to strengthen our football program. “While we have had to address the impact of the AFL’s recently introduced football department spending cap, we have been able to bolster the program in the areas of player welfare and skill acquisition. “Our commitment to improving our service and returns to members has also been able to grow, with a further investment in the relationship through the club’s own media channels planned. “This is a result that demonstrates how important it is to be strong off the field so that you can be strong on it.” The Collingwood annual general meeting for the 2014 season will be held on February 12, 2015, at Melbourne Park. Full details of the AGM will be communicated to members. Highlights of Collingwood’s 2014 financial year include: Net operating profit of $2,017,992 Total revenue of $76,819,714 Record membership 80,793 Net assets $37,085,589 Collingwood carries no debt

SUPERFOOTY THE PIES have lauded a fan-friendly 2015 fixture after the AFL’s Sunday night experiment against Carlton shredded $750,000 from their bottom line. Collingwood has announced a $2.017 million profit for the 2014 season, a figure that included a $2.5 million drop in match-day and membership revenue. The Pies’ association with the Beach Hotel finally ended after they sold it for $1.3 million, with $3.064 million of depreciation on their Westpac facilities also reducing the size of their profit. The AFL used the Pies as the centrepiece of their aborted Sunday night experiment, with just 40,936 watching a June game that was the worst MCG attendance between the arch-rivals since 1921. “It is another strong result for us. We finished 11th and were still profitable and it is a testament to the members and the support they give to the club,’’ Pert said. “Our gate receipts were quite a bit what we budgeted for. We had already dropped our numbers when the fixture came out and even then we didn’t hit those. “I would suggest the (Collingwood-Carlton) game cost us around $700,000 to $750,000. Not only in gate receipts but our corporate events too. This one was totally out of kilter with anything we have had.” Six of Collingwood’s nine night games in 2015 are on Friday, with two on Thursdays but no Sunday night games. The Pies this year contributed $893,165 to AFL revenue sharing through the gate levy and will next year pay a $500,000 revenue tax and about $200,000 in the footy department spending tax. And while a review of the business has slashed some costs this year they have also hired a new skill acquisition coach and a second welfare manager. The Pies actually spent $450,000 less on their footy department this year but are unlikely to get under the footy department tax which hits 75 cents on the dollar by 2016. “Our ambition is to get as close to that target as we can without compromising our strategy in any way,’’ Pert said. “We are not going to compromise recruiting and the footy program and we believe if we run things tightly we can go pretty close to the soft cap targets without feeling any compromise.” Collingwood has announced a net profit of $2,017,992 for the financial year ending October 31, 2014.