What to do with Level 3 - Parramatta Leagues Club

[Hollywood Jesus]

Unless you/Ovo are just talking about the value of assets going down, due to the economic conditions? But in that case the property boom was bound to end, and should have also been factored into budgets in terms of less expectation on returns...

Yeah, cause all these other people across the entire country (who have a better perception of the global economy than Parra Leagues Board) saw it coming and acted, whilst only the current Board were caught by surprise because they were asleep.

 

[Parra Future]

in relation to the leagues club itself, i don't think a massive amount can be done to make back the extra money the club is losing through the increased pokie tax, pokie restrictions and smoking laws. i say that purely because of the geographical location of the club compared to the hub (i'll call it that for the purposes of this post) of parramatta. that's not to say the club can't be improved to make more money. as a start i'd be looking at increasing the price of each drink incrementally by 10c - 20c over the next 12 months. ditto for every meal. this may not sound like much (though from saturday i got the impression hj will cry blue murder) but i use the example of american airlines in 1987. they used one less olive in every caesar salad and saved $40k that year. it was such a small thing that no-one noticed but it still made the organisation a financial benefit. not massive, but it is a start.

i think the club should be looking at setting up ventures closer to the hub. it was posted by a few that the nightclub in the lc should be tried again. i actually think a nightclub could be a good idea but not in the lc. it should be in that hub area. ditto for any new specailised style restaurants or cafes the club was thinking about opening. having a parking lot right outside the club helps get patrons in (this was mentioned at the last meeting) but it doesn't cash in on all the people that don't want to go out of their way to go places.

the club could also try investing in ventures that capitalised on other businesses patronage. i have one concept that i have seen used to great success by an old acquaintece of mine but i don't want to post on here. col, if you want the idea feel free to pm me.

bottom line though, the fc needs to establish financial independence (as a few of us have stated) over the next five years to take the pressure off the lc's finances. this wont happen though unless the fc get some control over the nrl team. i can't see too many sponsors getting involved with our lower grades and feeder clubs as they would with the nrl side, not to the same magnitude anyway.

Thanks Dan. Will do. Just give me another hour or so to clean up my current inbox. The damn thing keeps filling up as fast as I am deleting things. I'll send you my details.

 

[Parra]

Just don't start putting olives in the caesar salad.

 

[Nikki]

I love my freaken olives (altho not in Ceasar Salad).. Thats it! For that reason I am NEVER flying with American Airlines.. :lol:

 

[Parra Future]

I love my freaken olives (altho not in Ceasar Salad).. Thats it! For that reason I am NEVER flying with American Airlines.. :lol:

Holy crap..... I'm glad I didn't write something like "All, I know its late and how bout a crazy idea.... lets get rid of olives"... That really could have opened a can of worms and had me fielding responses for the next 6 weeks.

I think Olives are an acquired taste. One which I clearly don't have. Next time your near my meal and theres olives, I'll holler over to you "Nikki" please get rid of these things for me.

 

[Nikki]

That what happens when we are all out to dinner. I cant remember where we were once, but there was a lazy susan and everyone put their olives on there and spun em on round to me... Yuuum!! Hahaha.

 

[Nikki]

Mind you, in that mindset, you'se can get rid of that garnishy salad sh*t they put on ever meal they serve in Cafe 88. No one eats it!!!

 

[Parra]

We're all out of Waldorf

 

[Parra Future]

Mind you, in that mindset, you'se can get rid of that garnishy salad sh*t they put on ever meal they serve in Cafe 88. No one eats it!!!

The beef in blackbean is alright in Cafe 88.

 

[Suitman]

Holy crap..... I'm glad I didn't write something like "All, I know its late and how bout a crazy idea.... lets get rid of olives"... That really could have opened a can of worms

I think you'll find that a can of worms would be much cheaper than olives.

Now, there's an idea!!

Suity

 

[bartman]

Yeah, cause all these other people across the entire country (who have a better perception of the global economy than Parra Leagues Board) saw it coming and acted, whilst only the current Board were caught by surprise because they were asleep.

:sarcasm: Last I looked other NRL clubs weren't making $6mil losses... I think there was newspaper article on the weekend with the figures posted. I think the current Board needs to "Please explain" why we are among the biggest loss makers in the comp, and using simple excuses like the above don't cut it I'm afraid.

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

How many of them spend nothing on juniors?

That's obviously not going to cost the whole 6 but it's a start.

Does anyone have an actual figure on what we spend on our juniors?

 

[bartman]

I'd say it would be detailed in the FC Annual report, available to FC members.... you should join up HJ.

Well if the LC's grant to the FC is $6mil... Given the NRL operations have been nominally under the LC (and not the FC), I'd presume they would simply include those costs (including staffing) under the LC budget before they start mentioing grants as a reason for the LC not making a profit - because wasn't that supposed to be the idea of shifting NRL responsibilities in the first place? To guarantee the NRL team salaries?

 

[spiderdan]

I raised this point last Saturday and got zero response. It was as if me bringing up a reason why changes might not automatically and magically work was akin to heresy.

nah mate i totally agree with you on that as well as the fc needing to make more money for itself. i think a few people had some things to say and some stuff just got drowned out.

you also raised the point of the fc using some of its lc grant money to invest in other areas/states frommemory which i think would be a smart option too.

 

[bartman]

I wonder how long we'll hear the same tired excuses for not making LC profits when this is the actual trend...

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/punters-back-on-pokies/2009/02/05/1233423405363.html

Punters back on pokies despite smoke ban

Jano Gibson Urban Affairs Reporter
February 6, 2009




THE $1.7 million-a-day impact of the indoor smoking ban on poker machine revenues is over.
An extra $500 million was fed into club slot machines in December compared with the previous December, when the ban was just six months old.
The increased turnover yielded an additional $40 million in revenue for clubs and was just $8 million shy of the amount collected in December 2006.
While part of the boost could be attributed to the Federal Government's $8.7 billion stimulus package in December, it appears gamblers had already adapted to the smoking laws many months earlier.
The chief executive of Clubs NSW, David Costello, said there had been a steady rise in monthly poker machine revenues since July last year.
"Growth in five out of the past six months, combined with the recent fall in petrol prices and interest rates, suggests that the worst of the smoking ban impact is behind clubs," Mr Costello said.
At the same time there has been a marked decrease in the number of clubs - and particularly hotels - receiving special "hardship" tax provisions on poker machine revenue.
The NSW Government last year introduced a tax deferral scheme for clubs and pubs experiencing more than a 15 per cent downturn in poker machine revenue compared to the 12 months before the ban.
In September, 241 hotels with a tax liability worth $18.6 million were granted permission to defer payments. But by the December this had dropped to 114 hotels with a tax liability of $10 million .
The chief executive of the Australian Hotels Association, Sally Fielke, said it would be wrong to speculate that hotels were out of the smoking ban doldrums.
"The decrease in hardship applications for the December quarter related more to the fact that venues were unaware they had to reapply for the quarter than any marked recovery in gaming revenue for that quarter," Ms Fielke said.
The Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing's 2007-08 annual report revealed the state's clubs and pubs received $1.7 million a day less in poker machine revenue during the first 12 months of the ban than in the previous year.
Mr Costello said 34 clubs had closed or amalgamated as a result. He said the recent turnaround in revenues could be attributed to smokers adapting to the indoor smoking ban.
"A similar trend occurred in both Victoria and Queensland where, after a year and a half, smokers decided the atmosphere of a drink and maybe a punt at their local club was more enjoyable than a night spent smoking in front of the TV."
However, the anti-poker machine campaigner Senator Nick Xenophon said the ability for NSW venues to move their gaming machines to outdoor smoking areas was the real reason for rising revenues.
"This isn't about problem gamblers going longer without a smoke. This is about venues finding loopholes so problem gamblers can keep smoking and keep gambling," Senator Xenophon said.

 

[strider]

ovo said december was a good month for pokies at the last meeting .... altho he felt it was probably due to the cash injection from the govt

hey we could get lucky this year - Kevy might keep propping up the LC :thumn

 

[Gronk]

To put things in perspective, the Premiers made a loss last year and their private owners had to inject cash to balance the books. Manly have had to do a deal to put the Leagues Club premises into private hands. Something St George did last year in selling a large chunk of the Illawarra Steelers Club to the family that own WIN TV just to extinguish debt.

Many people here post with a grass is greener on the other side of the hill attitude. Times are tough and it would seem that no Sydney based club is anyway near finding the solution.

Manly on course to self-destruct as leagues club plan falls apart

By Brent Read
February 05, 2009
EXACTLY four months after winning the premiership, Manly is threatening to implode amid internal ructions and the collapse of a proposal by joint owners Max Delmege and Scott Penn to re-develop the ailing Manly Leagues Club.
The leagues club proposal, valued at $15 million and ratified by members last July, was hailed as the final step in the Sea Eagles' return to profitability.
However, The Australian can reveal the deal is now off the table and the Penn family is ready to step in with a counter-proposal.
Sources revealed Delmege could also go it alone, creating the prospect of the football club co-owners butting heads over the future of the leagues club. Penn declined to comment. However, leagues club chief executive Peter Spray confirmed the Penn-Delmege proposal would not go ahead and the leagues club board was considering its options.
"There's nothing on the table at the moment," Spray said.
Asked what led to the collapse of the joint venture, Spray said: "It's a lot to do with the ability to raise finances in the current climate. The banks have changed their rules. The original proposal was built around financing a fair portion of the purchase."
Penn and Delmege, who have injected millions of their own money into keeping Manly afloat, each own 41.5 per cent of the football club.
The proposal to purchase the leagues club as a partnership was viewed as a further illustration of their commitment to the club.
It was also expected to end the football club's reliance on its owners for money. Even though the Sea Eagles won their seventh premiership late last year, the club still traded at a loss and required an injection of cash from Penn and Delmege.
The leagues club proposal now has the potential to drive a wedge between the club's most influential powerbrokers. Without the financial input of Penn and Delmege, Manly's place in the NRL would be in serious jeopardy. While the families have been happy to prop up the club with their own money, Penn conceded it couldn't go on forever.
"We have been running it as a responsible business for very much the last three or four years because we have to," Penn said.
"But with private owners there's a limit. We're now back to as close to break-even as we have ever been and that's where we want to stay."
That's why the leagues club re-development was considered so important. Without leagues club support, the financial stress is amplified on the owners.
Tensions at board level are understood to be at breaking point, in part over the collapse of the leagues club joint venture.
"If we can get these things wrapped up we're in for an exciting five years-plus ahead," Penn said. "We have our model right, we have the right people, we're ready to play."
Chief executive Grant Mayer, who has presided over the club's transformation from battler to premier, has been caught in the crosshairs. Mayer's future has been the subject of ongoing speculation amid reports his relationship with Delmege has soured.
Delmege, who was unavailable for comment, has publicly backed Mayer yet the rumours persist. Penn stressed the chief executive had his full support and would like to see Mayer's contract extended beyond this year. "He's been instrumental in getting us to where we are and we want him to be part of the future," Penn said.
The backroom bickering comes as coach Des Hasler prepares to take his side to England to play in the World Club Challenge against Super League champion Leeds on March 1.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,25010161-23214,00.html

 

[bartman]

ovo said december was a good month for pokies at the last meeting .... altho he felt it was probably due to the cash injection from the govt

hey we could get lucky this year - Kevy might keep propping up the LC :thumn

Ah, Ovo nor any of the current board weren't at the meeting I went to.

If Parra or the leagues club ran some promotions trying to get people to spend half of Kev's $950 in the Club in April, then yeah, that might kick things along!

They'll have to rename the Reno room the Rudd room though...

 

[Yodaeel]

What was the meeting mate. OVO

 

[The Colonel]

To put things in perspective, the Premiers made a loss last year and their private owners had to inject cash to balance the books. Manly have had to do a deal to put the Leagues Club premises into private hands. Something St George did last year in selling a large chunk of the Illawarra Steelers Club to the family that own WIN TV just to extinguish debt.

Many people here post with a grass is greener on the other side of the hill attitude. Times are tough and it would seem that no Sydney based club is anyway near finding the solution.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,25010161-23214,00.html

The difference with Steelers and Manly Leagues Clubs, is that both have been long running problems for both clubs over a long term. Neither Manly nor the Steelers clubs have made grants to their football clubs in the past five years at least.