Western Bulldogs to maul debt

[divvydan]

* Mark Stevens
* From: Herald Sun
* October 08, 2010 12:00AM



THE Western Bulldogs are set to launch an aggressive bid to wipe off their $5 million debt.

Supporters will soon be asked to contribute to a "Bulldoze the debt" appeal, with the club hopeful of clearing its books within three years...

...The "Bulldoze the debt" concept will include a major invitation-only function on the Whitten Oval turf next year. It closely mirror's Melbourne's Jim Stynes-inspired "Debt Demolition" appeal, which has raised $5.1 million so far.

Article in Full

[BulldogBelle]

This is something that needed to be done urgently. The interest alone is killing us!
l hope all give what they can to help clear the debt.

Bulldog for life members will receive something with their memberships - which we can't be far off recieving.

DIG DEEP

[bornadog]

Great News. With The development at WO just about done (Sports Centre to still go up) this is the next one that needs to be wiped.

[Desipura]

Great News. With The development at WO just about done (Sports Centre to still go up) this is the next one that needs to be wiped.

How long have we had this debt?

[Bulldog Joe]

Actually a great idea and should be able to get it cleared.

10,000 members/sponsors/supporters contributing an average of $500 gets it done.

So people get together with enough to afford a combined $500 and you contribute one unit to play your part.

[Desipura]

Actually a great idea and should be able to get it cleared.

10,000 members/sponsors/supporters contributing an average of $500 gets it done.

So people get together with enough to afford a combined $500 and you contribute one unit to play your part.

I cannot afford to fork out therefore I will not. My hard earned is in my membership that I have bought each year since 1984. I also contributed a large chunk back in 1989.

[bornadog]

I cannot afford to fork out therefore I will not. My hard earned is in my membership that I have bought each year since 1984. I also contributed a large chunk back in 1989.

What about forum members all throw in $50 each. I am not sure how many members we have, but say we get 100 to throw in the $50 as a WOOF contribution, thats a nice $5000. Can you and others afford that?

[G-Mo77]

Actually a great idea and should be able to get it cleared.

10,000 members/sponsors/supporters contributing an average of $500 gets it done.

So people get together with enough to afford a combined $500 and you contribute one unit to play your part.

Yeah sorry, can't afford $500 on top of my $800 membership each season. I'll try to contribute as much as I can but currently things are tight and I doubt I'll be able to help all that much.

[OLD SCRAGGer]

I'll certainly TRY and contribute, but $500 is WAY out of my range , I'm on a pension so my contribution will be minimal!!!!

[mighty_west]

Yeah sorry, can't afford $500 on top of my $800 membership each season. I'll try to contribute as much as I can but currently things are tight and I doubt I'll be able to help all that much.

I am in the same boat, my big contribution to the club was going from the stock standard $180 or so membership about 4 or 5 years ago to the full Gold Social Club of just under $700 every year, and have had a membership since the late 70's.

Still trying to convince the missus to shell out more for this Sundays Sale....

[comrade]

Isn't Smorgo almost a billionaire?

[G-Mo77]

Isn't Smorgo almost a billionaire?

Don't know but he does have a lot of money. Can't he just through some change to maul the debt.

[comrade]

From the article...

The Dogs are set to post a significant profit this season, but need to shake the debt.

So we're going to post a large profit but we spend the least on our football department? I know Rose loves to see a surplus but this is a travesty.

Almost every single dollar of that profit should be poured back into our footy department to ensure we're at least on reasonably level terms with the rest of the competition. We'll look back on this period as a huge missed opportunity to really entrench ourselves a potential powerhouse, hampered by our administration's desire to make the books look good.

The executive team must understand that the only way to long term stability is a premiership, not penny pinching every dollar.

Am I out of line here?

[bornadog]

From the article...



So we're going to post a large profit but we spend the least on our football department? I know Rose loves to see a surplus but this is a travesty.

Almost every single dollar of that profit should be poured back into our footy department to ensure we're at least on reasonably level terms with the rest of the competition. We'll look back on this period as a huge missed opportunity to really entrench ourselves a potential powerhouse, hampered by our administration's desire to make the books look good.

The executive team must understand that the only way to long term stability is a premiership, not penny pinching every dollar.

Am I out of line here?

We need to get rid of this debt. I don't know what the interest bill is but even at 10% thats $500k that could be ploughed back into the footy department. We need to think about the long term viability of the club and I am sure its a balancing act between spend and debt reduction.

[divvydan]

Not out of line at all but depends if significant means large and how large.

One thing though, is that footy department spending is generally decided between now and Decemeber and with Hall, the Nab Cup win and extra exposure, the revenue was probably greater than they had anticipated when working out the footy department expenditure.

For next year, the argument for spending on football vs spending on reducing debt has merit on both sides. If spent well straight away, money could potentially see an improvement in performance over the following season and thus possibly a premiership whereas removing debt allows us to save on interest repayments and that saved money can then be put back into the footy department. It would be less initially but potentially have a longer term gain.

Given this Bulldoze the Debt idea, it would actually seem more likely that the club wants to spend money in the football deparment now and needs outside help to reduce the debt, thus trying to achieve short and long term success at the same time.