Financial Support for the Club- Fundraising Structure and/or 3rd Party Sponsorship *Poll Added*

[Nicholas2230]

We should try figure out a way to start a third party sponsorship but somehow run it almost as an agency so that we pool moneys together from lots of small business around the shire and beyond who would like a player to promote/attend something but could never afford it by themselves as a one off to form one large amount of money. Kind of like a rent a player situation, to be on call for say one event per business for the year... If we ended up getting 100 business's at $2000 ea. We would be at $200,000. Plus we could all also become members but for our money we just get a meet and great with the players or maybe a dinner?

 

[slide rule]

Good luck with it, but I just can't see it coming up with any significant sum of money at the moment.

Personally, I'd rather concentrate getting the club itself back on track financially, rather than using money to buy a Rugby League Mercenary that will be gone and forgotten in two years when their contract is finished. It might look flashy buying a great player, but IMO there are better ways to contribute to the club at the moment which will have a longer lasting legacy.

 

[gando2230]

Good luck with it, but I just can't see it coming up with any significant sum of money at the moment.

Personally, I'd rather concentrate getting the club itself back on track financially, rather than using money to buy a Rugby League Mercenary that will be gone and forgotten in two years when their contract is finished. It might look flashy buying a great player, but IMO there are better ways to contribute to the club at the moment which will have a longer lasting legacy.

Good point slide rule.

Just a thought what about picking a future 1st grader from the 20's or younger SG Ball

For example a sharks local junior C.Towsend, S. Mills, T.Grubb + many others
and supporting them most of the "kids" work then go to training.
A Sharks forever "Scholarship"

Instead of taking a punt in 1 player maybe top up 3 local juniors,
Making the Kids want to stay and play 300 games for the sharks?

 

[ABshark]

Cowboys Supporters

Supporters donate $55,000 to cowboys

Cowboys Media Release
SUPPORTERS DONATE $55,000 TO COWBOYS

THE North Queensland Toyota Cowboys’ development and academy programs will today receive a $55,000 boost thanks to the Cowboys Supporters Team.

The loyal group of ardent Cowboys supporters has raised the funds over the past 12 months and will hand over a cheque to the club at the Cowboys Leagues Club today.

Today’s donation takes the Supporters Team’s fundraising total to $270,000 over the last five years.

The Supporters Team’s continued dedication to the Cowboys has included running the doubles at each NRL home game at Dairy Farmers Stadium and the popular Supporters Thursday evenings at the Cowboys Leagues Club.

Each Thursday, two members of the Cowboys squad visit the Leagues Club to mingle with supporters, giving the club’s fans the chance for an informal chat with the players, as well as grab a photo and an autograph.

The Supporters Team also runs raffles that will assist with the development of the next generation of Cowboys.

Toyota Cowboys General Manager – Football Peter Parr said it was important to recognise the hard work of the Supporters Team.

“What they are doing is great for our club and great for grassroots rugby league in North Queensland,” he said.

“Their time and effort helps develop and encourage this region’s rugby league talent.

“Having North Queensland juniors play for the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys is one of this club’s primary goals and the money our Supporters Team raises helps us to achieve that.”

The cheque was accepted by Cowboys players Ray Thompson and Michael Morgan, who are prime examples of young North Queensland talent who have made it to the NRL for their home club.

Thompson, who was a Townsville Centrals junior, and Morgan, from Townsville Brothers, came through the Cowboys’ development programs.

“We’re a group of volunteers whose main aim, as well as comradeship, is to raise funds for the Top Gun Academy,” Supporters Team secretary Peter Woodman said.

“We know the players have to start somewhere and we’re happy to play our role.

“We get to meet the young players in their very early days and it gives you a thrill to see them come all the way through to NRL level.

“It gives us the drive to continue.”

Pretty interesting I reckon. Good on them for doing what they are.

Good luck with it, but I just can't see it coming up with any significant sum of money at the moment.

Personally, I'd rather concentrate getting the club itself back on track financially, rather than using money to buy a Rugby League Mercenary that will be gone and forgotten in two years when their contract is finished. It might look flashy buying a great player, but IMO there are better ways to contribute to the club at the moment which will have a longer lasting legacy.

What if the sponsorship was for someone like Luke Douglas? Realistically, it seems unlikely that he will ever leave the Club and in most eyes is seen as a future captain.

 

[Mark^Bastard]

Guys just a note, the entire purpose of this is because at the moment clubs are rorting the cap LEGALLY because they are cashed up clubs. The NRL allow this. We are not a cashed up club with connections. If we want to even be on a level playing ground with these clubs we need to spend more on marquee players. Although investing money directly into the club is a good idea, the club will still be limited by the salary cap and will still not be competitive to the extent that these other clubs are (including the Knights now that Tinkler has control).

So paying for juniors is a nice idea but it's completely different to what I'm suggesting.

 

[snowman]

after seeing what the cows fans have done, we should be able to set up a fund for a marquee player allowance...

but, say we went for idris... and we got him with out fund at 250k for 3 years...
does this mean every year for 3 years, we need to each coff up $100 to pay idris his wage, and then another $100 for the next marquee player we want?

 

[Nicholas2230]

We should start running doubles at shark park!

Debt demolition is a great idea! I'm sitting in my office on South Melbourne right now and from what the blokes at the office say they got themselves a fair bit of money!

 

[Mark^Bastard]

after seeing what the cows fans have done, we should be able to set up a fund for a marquee player allowance...

but, say we went for idris... and we got him with out fund at 250k for 3 years...
does this mean every year for 3 years, we need to each coff up $100 to pay idris his wage, and then another $100 for the next marquee player we want?

Yeah but you only really need one or two marquee players each year so the money should always be similar each year.

Even 50 grand a year as a 3rd party payment could make a massive difference to the team I reckon.

 

[snowman]

mate, if we signed idris one year, cronk the next, and cameron smith the next, i would fork out 500 bucks a year...

so, how do we get this process rolling?

surely if we made some kind of fund, we could get into a process of debt demolition (nice line nikki) and a marquee fund.

 

[ABshark]

AB, to be honest I'm not interested in buying the club. From what I understand at the moment the club is sort of owned by the members anyway.

However, I'm interested in being a co-operative 3rd party sponsor.

What you have posted is absolutely correct, however Tinkler will be using his mining contacts to give Snowden 3rd party deals that don't come under the marquee allowance. Brisbane also do this, Lockyer is on 250k a season in the cap. It's not in the spirit of the game and yes it is cheating but others are doing it already. There is no reason why our payments couldn't be genuine 3rd party ones.

Guys just a note, the entire purpose of this is because at the moment clubs are rorting the cap LEGALLY because they are cashed up clubs. The NRL allow this. We are not a cashed up club with connections. If we want to even be on a level playing ground with these clubs we need to spend more on marquee players. Although investing money directly into the club is a good idea, the club will still be limited by the salary cap and will still not be competitive to the extent that these other clubs are (including the Knights now that Tinkler has control).

So paying for juniors is a nice idea but it's completely different to what I'm suggesting.

Mark,

As I said above I like the premise of a supporters' fund for keeping players at the Club, but at this stage I really feel that we don't know enough about how the salary cap works with third party payments and the exact rules. We're in the dark. How could we find out more?

Also, my initial thinking more along the lines of ensuring the Club's survival and more specifically, prosperity, in the short to medium run. As it stands, we do 'own' the Club, but only to the extent that you or I buy voting rights each year (in essence, 'join' the Club).

What I am suggesting is restructuring that would allow for us all to be actual, permanent financial owners of the Club, and hence raise a considerable amount of capital in the process which could be used by the Board as they see fit. Such a structure would also allow for further capital raising in the future to help finance major projects such as Stadium works or the like.

If I recall correctly, Football Club voting rights currently cost $35/year and you need to have them for three consecutive years in order to vote on FC matters. That's $105 already!

I think any such plan would have to involve a number of medium sized backers as well as regular supporters. The likes of Dean Treister may be a starting point. The Sutherland Shire Council and the various community Clubs such as Tradies could also be interested given they would then get a seat at the table in terms of running the Club.

In essence, the idea is to turn 'Supporters' in to 'Stakeholders'.

Maybe we start a club called the Great Whites as mentioned before (like the CSSC) it costs $520 per year to be a member or $10 per week, money is used as 3rd party sponsorship towards players and other things as they come round like the HPU for example.

A board would deal with the club and take options to the members to vote on the allocation of funds!

This is another good idea, good stuff kiwi. I think the possibility of some sort of direct debit donation scheme certainly has legs. Again, it couldn't be started by the Club because it would just make it look like it was going under, so it would have to begin with a group of supporters who want to contribute.

I actually think this might be a good way to go about tackling the Club's debt problem- a la the Melbourne Demons' "debt demolition" that was mentioned earlier.

 

[fitz]

I think this thread needs to be split into two.

One thread for discussion of AB's original concept and another for the Member-Funded 3rd Party Sponsorship because I think the two ideas are valid but it may be cross-purposed to discuss the two in the same thread

 

[ABshark]

AB,

I have been advocating for quite some time the co-branding of many sports under the Sharks umbrella.

There could be some incredible synergies, efficiencies and promotional opportunities available in such a move.

CSCSC
Cronulla Sutherland Combined Sports Club

I can also see it not only operating as a combination of sports clubs but also their licensed Clubs as well. Sharkies Bowling Club, Sharkies Sailing Club, Sharkies Surf Club etc.,

I know there is the whole talks about merging of the Licensed Club with another Club - much like the Tradies merger - perhaps there may be an opportunity to not just look at one big partner but many smaller Clubs.

Anyway, it's just a thought and now the reason for me being awake at this unholy hour is snoring away, I'm going back to bed!

fitz,

That's a great idea. A group of licensed Clubs in the area who have it as their mission statement to support Shire sport and the Shire community at large, and led by an internationally recognised brand, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.

I'm not a Shire local, but it seems to me that the Shire has a great untapped resource- its sense of shared identity. The fact that our drawing area is limited geographically and that we're surrounded by Dragons (and to an extent Bulldogs) territory is somewhat of a negative from a growth perspective, but that same characteristic could also make it more possible to get everyone pulling in the same direction, so to speak.

Imagine Shane Watson, Paul Gallen and a local Ironman (Chris Allum?) appearing together at community events as representatives of the same entity. Not to mention the sponsorship opportunities...

As you can see, I like the idea! Do you have any idea whether anything such as this has been considered by the Club?

 

[slide rule]

fitz,

That's a great idea. A group of licensed Clubs in the area who have it as their mission statement to support Shire sport and the Shire community at large, and led by an internationally recognised brand, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.

I'm not a Shire local, but it seems to me that the Shire has a great untapped resource- its sense of shared identity. The fact that our drawing area is limited geographically and that we're surrounded by Dragons (and to an extent Bulldogs) territory is somewhat of a negative from a growth perspective, but that same characteristic could also make it more possible to get everyone pulling in the same direction, so to speak.

Imagine Shane Watson, Paul Gallen and a local Ironman (Chris Allum?) appearing together at community events as representatives of the same entity. Not to mention the sponsorship opportunities...

As you can see, I like the idea! Do you have any idea whether anything such as this has been considered by the Club?

On another note, I think this could eventually work in our favor. In some ways it must be expensive for them to split their resources across two areas which have a massive gap between them. If we were to become stronger, having us in between their territory could become extremely difficult for them... It would be easier for someone living on the St George side of the bridge to attend all Sharks home games than what it would be to attend all Dragon home games. The Illawarra is a huge geographic region, but it is not very densely populated. Therefore it must be relatively expensive to effectively reach out to that whole community. If they aren't managed well, I think there is a potential for St George Illawarra to spread themselves to thin.

 

[The Shire]

Basically from what we all have said the logical process is to go from a business entity eg believers or the great white idea.

> Establish whether the club would be available to have shares bought into the ownership.
I highly doubt this because

• the current climate with the development.
• a vote needed again for another massive deal.
• also a large amount of debt and banks uncertainty.

> the purpose of the entity
There is no reason a fund cannot be started where ideas are floated and the money invested is decided among the doners.
The ideas floated go to a vote and the more money one has donated stipulates the amount of say they have in where the money goes.
eg $50 buys one vote.

I think the debt has to be wiped asap because the long term security will allow us to raise money for marquee players and ensure our existence which is a thousands times more important than idris.
obviously the flow on effects of having idris are large, but the flow on effects of a large debt is collecting interest on the debt.
im sure if you asked irvine whats more important he would say clearing 200k off the debt.

but hey we can sort out where the money goes once we have it :cheers

Top stuff AB and Fitz

 

[kiwishark]

Basically from what we all have said the logical process is to go from a business entity eg believers or the great white idea.

> Establish whether the club would be available to have shares bought into the ownership.
I highly doubt this because

• the current climate with the development.
• a vote needed again for another massive deal.
• also a large amount of debt and banks uncertainty.

> the purpose of the entity
There is no reason a fund cannot be started where ideas are floated and the money invested is decided among the doners.
The ideas floated go to a vote and the more money one has donated stipulates the amount of say they have in where the money goes.
eg $50 buys one vote.

I think the debt has to be wiped asap because the long term security will allow us to raise money for marquee players and ensure our existence which is a thousands times more important than idris.
obviously the flow on effects of having idris are large, but the flow on effects of a large debt is collecting interest on the debt.
im sure if you asked irvine whats more important he would say clearing 200k off the debt.

but hey we can sort out where the money goes once we have it :cheers

Top stuff AB and Fitz

Im in!!!!!

 

[Born&bred]

Basically from what we all have said the logical process is to go from a business entity eg believers or the great white idea.

> Establish whether the club would be available to have shares bought into the ownership.
I highly doubt this because

• the current climate with the development.
• a vote needed again for another massive deal.
• also a large amount of debt and banks uncertainty.

> the purpose of the entity
There is no reason a fund cannot be started where ideas are floated and the money invested is decided among the doners.
The ideas floated go to a vote and the more money one has donated stipulates the amount of say they have in where the money goes.
eg $50 buys one vote.

I think the debt has to be wiped asap because the long term security will allow us to raise money for marquee players and ensure our existence which is a thousands times more important than idris.
obviously the flow on effects of having idris are large, but the flow on effects of a large debt is collecting interest on the debt.
im sure if you asked irvine whats more important he would say clearing 200k off the debt.

but hey we can sort out where the money goes once we have it :cheers

Top stuff AB and Fitz

I think this is more where I'd like to head - establish a "club" so to speak where we all pay a decent amount to join (good starting income generated). We can donate more throughout a year as we can afford (different amounts to cater for whatever people can afford) - the voting rights are weighted against total contributions by each member - and we vote on what the money goes to.

No need to overly specify what we're intending to donate to....

But if we can generate a sizeable amount by this, then we'll really be making a difference as supporters.

 

[Lumpy]

Lets get it done.

 

[Jasonstevenswedgie]

Originally Posted by kiwishark
Maybe we start a club called the Great Whites as mentioned before (like the CSSC) it costs $520 per year to be a member or $10 per week, money is used as 3rd party sponsorship towards players and other things as they come round like the HPU for example.

A board would deal with the club and take options to the members to vote on the allocation of funds!

Was thinking bout this last night, as members will come and go over the years it can/will greatly effect the amount the fund can contribute to the club as a sponsor third party or general on a year to year basis. What i was thinking was that the funds could be put into a monthly income generating type of investmest (low risk). The amount we could sponsor the club in the initial years would be limited but it would be a guaranteed amount basically for ever And as our fund grows over the years so does the amount we sponsor greating a lasting leagacy.
You could have varying input levels
eg one coffee a week fund ($5 a week, $210 pa)
two coffee a week fund ($10 pw, 520pa)
You could even wonder around the local train staions with a save our sharks bucket and collect gold coins, or games if that wont affect the salary cap rules.

In 5 years i imagine a fund like this could be giving the club some major dollars

 

[The Shire]

Was thinking bout this last night, as members will come and go over the years it can/will greatly effect the amount the fund can contribute to the club as a sponsor third party or general on a year to year basis. What i was thinking was that the funds could be put into a monthly income generating type of investmest (low risk). The amount we could sponsor the club in the initial years would be limited but it would be a guaranteed amount basically for ever And as our fund grows over the years so does the amount we sponsor greating a lasting leagacy.
You could have varying input levels
eg one coffee a week fund ($5 a week, $210 pa)
two coffee a week fund ($10 pw, 520pa)
You could even wonder around the local train staions with a save our sharks bucket and collect gold coins, or games if that wont affect the salary cap rules.

In 5 years i imagine a fund like this could be giving the club some major dollars

yeah i like the idea

the bulk of the money would be raised on gameday fund raisers etc but the right to vote on how that money is spent i think is a great incentive for people to stay connected and is a solid base for starting the entity

i believe we could get 100 people to initially to join - $100 joining fee
Right to vote - $50
That gives us a base of $15,000

raise say 30 k before seasons end

and have 50 k ready for next year which the 100 people (or more by seasons end) vote on.

the more people that join the more awareness, contacts and word of mouth.

wouldn't be surprised if by year two we could raise say 150k

just thoughts but i am excited. we have to do this. it sounds fun as well.

 

[BlackWhiteBlue]

ok, serious question, involving tax and relevance. COULD sharksforever.com become some sort of 3rd party sponsor to the Sharks/players. meaning that its need an abn, tax file **** etc, or is it too closely linked the Sharks club?