Where do they get their money?

[magpie_man]

when i look at the crowds and coverage of the super league clubs i wonder how they could possibly have more money to throw at australian-based players than the nrl clubs. i'm not intending to be patronizing here, i'm just wondering where they get their money from.
is there a higher level of privatization in the esl?
are the clubs better at milking the sponsorship dollar?
does their close-proximity to europe automatically drive-up sponsorships and corporate revenue?
or is it more a case that the esl clubs have more efficient budget strategies, where they spend most of their funding on player payments, unlike the nrl clubs who, at the most, spend about 40%?
apologies if this question has been asked before...

 

[roughyedspud]

magic......thats how we do it..:lol:

 

[bartman]

Mate, I wouldn't say many/any of the UK league clubs are rich, or richer than NRL clubs. Only three Superleague clubs I think had profits last year, and that was a record high for the past 10-12 years.

No special sponsorships or way of doing things, and the proximity to Europe has no bearing on the money in the game - which I think is pretty reliant on the TV deal money, just as in Australia/NZ? And don't forget there is no leagues club culture for teams in England either...

It's just the exchange rate I reckon. No big mystery. Nothing more, and nothing less.

 

[t-ba]

Mate, I wouldn't say many/any of the UK league clubs are rich, or richer than NRL clubs. Only three Superleague clubs I think had profits last year, and that was a record high for the past 10-12 years.

No special sponsorships or way of doing things, and the proximity to Europe has no bearing on the money in the game - which I think is pretty reliant on the TV deal money, just as in Australia/NZ? And don't forget there is no leagues club culture for teams in England either...

It's just the exchange rate I reckon. No big mystery. Nothing more, and nothing less.

That every club plays approximately 83 matches a year and charges about 20 quid a ticket probably helps...

 

[Evil Homer]

Gee, and I thought there were only 13 home games for each club in a season. Really looking forward to next year when I can watch up to 60 extra games.

 

[Evil Homer]

WRT funding, t-ba is right when he says ticket prices are a lot higher in England, also merchandise sales, cost of food/matchday programmes etc. The clubs get a reasonable cut of the TV deal too, and also some clubs such as Warrington are privatized and have rich backers.

As bartman says though, there's no real secret. Sometimes clubs get sponsors to help with overseas signings, although this is quite rare. In all honestly I do think it's a bit of a myth that English clubs are throwing money at Aussies - a lot of the time the big-name signings are marquee players and thus are obviously going to demand a good wage. In a lot of cases I would say that the imports are not on significantly more money than they were at their previous club.

 

[deluded pom?]

I'm not too sure about mechandise being more expensive here EH. The average replica shirt here costs about £35-40 ($72-83) try and get a replica NRL shirt for that sort of money. You're looking at twice that amount.

 

[Th1rteen]

Ticketing
Merchandise
Television
Sponsorship

I would say they are the main ones. The fact that all the clubs actually own land and their stadium surely helps too, I'm only aware of Cronulla that actually own their ground, don't the NSW Government own the rest?

 

[roughyedspud]

Ticketing
Merchandise
Television
Sponsorship

I would say they are the main ones. The fact that all the clubs actually own land and their stadium surely helps too, I'm only aware of Cronulla that actually own their ground, don't the NSW Government own the rest?

that last bit is'nt true,half the teams in ESL,especially the ones with shiny new stadiums don't own those,the rundown sh!tholes like knowsley rd,odsal,the jungle & belle vue are owned by the clubs..

lets look at the 4 things you've mentioned though...i'll do it in aussie $'s

ticketing - $4,000,000 - $7,000,000

ESL average is around 10,000, average ticket price i would say is around £15 thats nearly $300,000,leeds and wigan average upwards of 17,000, thats nearly $500,000 a game,times that by a mimimum of 13 homes games thats $3.9 to $6.5 million in gate recipts..then had potential challenge cup & play off home games and we are talking $4-$7million potentially

merchendise - $500,000 - $1,000,000+

at the beginning of the season hull fc sold around 10,000 jerseys @ an average of £40 each (adults are more,kids are less) so thats nearly $1million in jersey sales alone, wigan,leeds,st helens,warrington,maybe bradford & hull kr do similar kinds of business..i'd guess even the small clubs do at least $500,000 worth of merchandising sales?

television - $1.8million a season

everyone gets the same

Sponsorship - $500,000 - $1,000,000

difficult one to gauge, but i'd be very surprised if any ESL made more than £500-600,000 a season from all the sponsor they have plastered across the shirts..

so to sum up,i'd say the top clubs turn over nigh on $10million a season,the smaller clubs around $6-8million....but as someone pointed out above,very few clubs run at a profit...clubs like st helens are losing money because,they argue, that they spend money on keep knowsley road upto scratch..

what you aussies have to remember is our game does'nt run as deep as the australian game, ESL clubs only have to fund about 4 teams,the super league team,reserve team,academy team and then a development squad..the NRL clubs have to support more teams don't they? what with all the feeder clubs and all that?

 

[loiner1]

Leeds turn over about £11m which is about $22/23m

of that they sell about 33'000 shirts, at an average of say £30 (i dont think it will be much more) which is just under £1m or $2m

 

[deluded pom?]

of that they sell about 33'000 shirts, at an average of say £30 (i dont think it will be much more) which is just under £1m or $2m

I find it hard to believe that each Leeds fan has two replica shirts!

 

[Tin Man 4.24]

what you aussies have to remember is our game does'nt run as deep as the australian game, ESL clubs only have to fund about 4 teams,the super league team,reserve team,academy team and then a development squad..the NRL clubs have to support more teams don't they? what with all the feeder clubs and all that?

Do the UK clubs have large junior bases? Is there much of a set-up for kids teams, say 6-15 year olds?

 

[deluded pom?]

The junior game is basically run by BARLA and some schools. Clubs will monitor promising youngsters and take them on "scholarship" schemes when they are about 14. It's not a scholarship scheme as they have in America where school grades are a major part of it. It just means that every so often the kids will be down at the Clubs' training ground getting coaching from pros rather than dedicated amateurs.

 

[Evil Homer]

Do the UK clubs have large junior bases? Is there much of a set-up for kids teams, say 6-15 year olds?

Obviously there is, we're not a developing nation :? Not at the pro clubs themselves though, if that's what you meant. The youngest teams the pro clubs field is U16's, and there's only a handful that field a team at that age group.

The schools game has no central governing body as such as far as I know, and usually fixtures are organised between the schools, or they will host 9's tournaments or whatever. The only official schools competition is Champion Schools which is a knockout tournament that schools apply to enter. As DP said though, the junior game is run by BARLA, which means that junior rugby is almost exclusively played in the winter, which seems pretty stupid to me but that's a story for another thread. Anyway, most amateur clubs in the BARLA leagues field junior sides from about U8's level, coached by either parents, players from the club's open age side or whatever. The RFL have introduced modified rules for junior games between certain age brackets to encourage things like good sportsmanship and passing the ball. As DP says, the best players get signed on scholarships when they are about 13. They continue playing with their amateur team, and then if they carry on impressing can be offered a contract at age 16 to play in the pro club's Academy(U18's) team. Other players may be picked up later, or may go along to play at Academy level as amateurs in the hope of getting signed on and return to play for their amateur teams in the winter. There are junior amateur leagues up to U18 level, but they are usually quite a low standard by that point because most of the best players have moved on to professional clubs or open age teams.

 

[deluded pom?]

Hull & District is one of the few leagues I know that has a junior set up at the younger age group that is played during the Summer months.

 

[dentonblue]

In all honestly I do think it's a bit of a myth that English clubs are throwing money at Aussies - a lot of the time the big-name signings are marquee players and thus are obviously going to demand a good wage.

Nail on the head there - the average wage in the Super League is probably not fantastic but the bigger clubs will always be able to put together a package (salary, accommodation, sponsored car and other promotional stuff) which would be attractive to most NRL players and almost irresistable to those looking for a decent last contract for a couple of years at the end of their career.

 

[loiner1]

I find it hard to believe that each Leeds fan has two replica shirts!

thats what Gary Hetherington Leeds Cheif Exec said on tv a few weeks back

 

[deluded pom?]

thats what Gary Hetherington Leeds Cheif Exec said on tv a few weeks back

Hull sell around 10,000 0n gates of 12,000. I just find it hard to believe that Leeds sell 3 times as many on gates only half as big.

 

[watatank]

Surely its the exchange rate? I mean if they offer a deal worth 400K pounds, then that would be worth $800K or so to Australians right?

 

[roughyedspud]

£1 = $2.06

legend has it matt king is on £300,000,which is $618,000

our salary cap is £1.6million which is nigh on $3.3million which is believe is less than the NRL cap? (about $4million is'nt it?)

we also have something called the20/20 rule, which stops clubs having more than 20 players earning over £20,000 a year.