Cost to run an NRL team

[NthCronullaLocal]

Sharks run anywhere between 8 and 10 mill and this is average from what i understand. Teams with greater funding from leagues clubs run on a higher budget of a couple of extra million more with extra support staff, training facilities and education schemes etc.

I think the NRL also has a deal with qantas giving each club flights for 25 people to such destinations. Any more and accomodation comes out of clubs pocket

 

[Bib]

Well lets go through some of the costs

Players salaries 3.25mil
Ground hire: ?????
Football equipment including training gear, match day jerseys, footballs etc: ??
Physio: ???
Doctor: ????
Football Staff wages : 1mil???
Admin Staff: ????

Unfortunately i would say it would come close to 10 mil. If they get get 3 mill from the NRL then they still have to come up with 7 mil minimum through sponsorship, merchandise ticket sales etc

Very scary!

 

[spider]

Dont forget a couple more -

feeding the players more so 5 days a week
ground and cleaning staff
game day expenses - police, security, staff
entertainment on game day, insurance premiums

the list goes on

 

[Game_Breaker]

They dont make any profits either. I think only Brisbane made a profit last year.

 

[Perth Red]

Amazes me the clubs only get a total of $45mill when the NRL is bringing in at least $110mill

 

[Winston Smith]

I do know that most teams that travel to Canberra tend to stay at the Crowne Plaza in the city, which is 4-5 star accommodation... the cheapest rooms there are $260 a night per room. Obviously group bookings and those who come back year after year would have some sort of discount.

I'd be surprised if it was more than about half that. My company gets rooms at the Hyatt for about $140.

 

[LeagueLegend]

Amazes me the clubs only get a total of $45mill when the NRL is bringing in at least $110mill

Ofcourse more would be nice.

However, the grant that each club gets from the NRL next year will basically equate to that of the salary cap, the NRL pays travel and accommodation in line with the parameters set (see my earlier posts), so it is then club expenses that have to be met. The NRL also provides a lot of things back to the clubs that they don't have to pay for too - marketing, advertising, there's incentives to move games to the Central Coast, Perth that they cover so the club isn't out of pocket.

 

[legend]

What's a jersey worth in regards to sponsorship? It would have to worth close to 1 million wouldn't it?

Then you have secondary sponsors, match day sponsors, ground signage, catering contracts etc.

I thought a break crowd was about 10,000 and anything above that the clubs had met their expenses for game day and the residual would go back into meeting ongoing costs.

Is it the clubs or the NRL that get the $$$ from merchandise sales or is it split as merchandise is worth around $70 million per annum.

 

[Stagger eel]

Well lets go through some of the costs

Players salaries 3.25mil
Ground hire: ?????
Football equipment including training gear, match day jerseys, footballs etc: ??
Physio: ???
Doctor: ????
Football Staff wages : 1mil???
Admin Staff: ????

Unfortunately i would say it would come close to 10 mil. If they get get 3 mill from the NRL then they still have to come up with 7 mil minimum through sponsorship, merchandise ticket sales etc

Very scary!

you can charaties, marketing and advertising as well...

 

[LeagueLegend]

What's a jersey worth in regards to sponsorship? It would have to worth close to 1 million wouldn't it?

Then you have secondary sponsors, match day sponsors, ground signage, catering contracts etc.

I thought a break crowd was about 10,000 and anything above that the clubs had met their expenses for game day and the residual would go back into meeting ongoing costs.

Is it the clubs or the NRL that get the $$$ from merchandise sales or is it split as merchandise is worth around $70 million per annum.

Jersey/Major sponsors average out at around $700,000 across the NRL
Sleeve sponsors average at $280,000
Shorts average at $250,000

They are per year year figures.

Crowd attendances vary for each team in terms of what they need to break even on game day. Even if you break even on game day that doesn't contribute a lot more to the piggy bank to spend. Game day expenses can be enormous (the big screen alone costs between $8-$10k a game). If the club owns the ground then there are some adavtnages but if you have external caterers then they swallow up most of the money you would stand to make if you did it yourself (ofcourse you have to have the resources to do that too). One Sydney club I'm aware of doesn't make any money from their external caterer until the second last game - so you are going 10 games without a catering income only to have something for 2 games.

I'm not sure how the whole money from merchandise works. Because anything that the club wants to sell has to be licensed throught the NRL, the club receives a % of what is sold. Not sure on how big that % is though, but is definitely worth something.

 

[marshall stalin]

Dont forget a couple more -

feeding the players more so 5 days a week
ground and cleaning staff
game day expenses - police, security, staff
entertainment on game day, insurance premiums

the list goes on

Do they pay FBT for feeding the players as it is not tax deductable for the club or players. i can remember from the master of taxation course i completed about the 1970's league player who claimed food (steak) and beer as a work related tax deduction as he claimed the coach told him he had to " beef" up to stay in first grade. The ATO didn't buy that argument though.

which club did the player come from in the 70's do you think - a hint - a club known they say for beer and steak nights as well as visiting a hotel close to a major railway station not far from their then home ground.

 

[marshall stalin]

Amazes me the clubs only get a total of $45mill when the NRL is bringing in at least $110mill

a large slice of 65 mill goes to repay news limited from the super league days

 

[Perth Red]

The NRL doesn't pay for games to be taken to other venues. The local area pays for that. It cost the WARL $300,000 to host last years game!

 

[LeagueLegend]

The NRL doesn't pay for games to be taken to other venues. The local area pays for that. It cost the WARL $300,000 to host last years game!

The NRL does contribute. Anyhow, the state leagues receive grants from the NRL/ARL as well.

 

[Perth Red]

The WARL made a 50 grand loss on hosting last years game, this wasn't covered by the NRL. The ARL give grants to the WARL for development officers and admin costs. only. If WA wants to host NRL games they have to give a guaranteed amount to the "home" team and cover travellling expenses as well as ground costs etc.

Logically you would think the NRL would pay for these games as part of its strategic plan to grow the game, then again when has logic ever come into the equation?

 

[LeagueLegend]

I get the feeling your anti-NRL.

 

[Perth Red]

Nope, they are making great strides forwards in many areas and have shown good leadership on some issues. There lack of long term strategic vision for where the NRL will be in 20 years concerns me as does the fact it is partly run by News Ltd meaning that TV deals (our main source of income) must be influenced because of this. The growth of other sports and if we are maintaining our advantage over them is also of some concern.

Overall the game is in good health and moving forward. I would like to see more strategy for growing the game in non heartlands as well as greater appreciation that Sydney is no longer as big an influence on a National league. I would give them a 6.5 out of 10

 

[DINGb@T]

So our best guess is that it takes about $15-20 million to run an NRL team, the break even mark for crowds is different for each club, although 10,000 is about right?
My guess is that the Broncos break even mark would be somewhere around the Roars' as they both share Suncorp- 20,000. With an average of 30,000 speccies a game you can see why they're the only club to make a profit (which was over a million dollars wasn't it?).
The knights and cowboys also have good crowd figures- anyone know whether they make a profit, especially considering they're league devoted stadiums?

 

[LeagueLegend]

I knew I had this somewhere but until now didn't now where. This is from an article in BRW from March this year. All figures quoted come from a combined "Internal NRL Document"/Brisbane Broncos/BRW.

Brisbane 17.7(Value$m) 20.30(Total Revenue $m) 20.30 (Game Revenue $m) - (Leagues Club Grant) - (Other External Funding^)
StGeorge/Illawarra 14.0/15.03/11.13//3.90/-
Melbourne 13.0/13.20/7.55/-/5.65
Canterbury 12.0/12.55/8.55/4.00/-
Newcastle 12.0/12.76/12.76/-/-
Sydney City 12.0/12.39/8.98/0.72/-
Parramatta 11.0/11.50/8.60/2.90/-
Canberra 10.5 11.09/7.05/2.60/1.43
North Queensland 10.0/10.68/9.78/-0.90
New Zealand 9.0/9.80/9.70/-/0.70
Wests Tigers 9.0/9.70/7.20/2.50/-
Penrith 8.5/9.30/ 7.40/1.90/-
Cronulla 8.5/9.20/7.70/1.50/-
Manly# 5.0/8.60/7.60/1.00/-
South Sydney* 3.5/9.70/ 9.00/0.70/-

^Includes News Ltd funding for some teams
# Based on value of private stake
*Based on takeover offer

Now I don't necessarily agree with all figures but it is by the far the best insight that anyone has been able to come up with as to the value of the club, how much they make and how much "top up" from either News Ltd, Leagues club etc.