Mariners Financial Crisis in the Daily Tele

[Muppet]

Dare I say it is this the beginning of the end for our beloved Mariners. mounting tax bills
, unpaid wages and super. It has all the hallmarks of Wellington and Nth QLD. Our saving grace is the COE which at this point is worth nothing to the club.

Unless we get a white knight i fear this is our last season. Let's hope it does not come to this. It makes the calls for Turnbull to relinquish his control all the more louder.

 

[Ted]

It's hard to give 100% for your boss (no matter how much you love your job) when your wages are delayed or worse....

 

[pjennings]

Dare I say it is this the beginning of the end for our beloved Mariners. mounting tax bills
, unpaid wages and super. It has all the hallmarks of Wellington and Nth QLD. Our saving grace is the COE which at this point is worth nothing to the club.

Unless we get a white knight i fear this is our last season. Let's hope it does not come to this. It makes the calls for Turnbull to relinquish his control all the more louder.

I don't know that it is quite that bad. However, the FFA should make sure that the players are being looked after. The FFA needs to confirm that, as claimed by Peter Turnbull, the club would be turning small profits year in, year out if the TV deal covered the salary cap. If that is the truth, and Buckley is tying to do the media deal in the next 12 months, not 2013, then this could just be a short term problem. If things are worse then you may well be right, though with the TV deal pending the last thing the FFA needs is a club folding.

 

[midfielder]

Does anyone have any idea of the amount ... over or under one million ... over or under two million...

 

[Muppet]

I don't know that it is quite that bad. However, the FFA should make sure that the players are being looked after. The FFA needs to confirm that, as claimed by Peter Turnbull, the club would be turning small profits year in, year out if the TV deal covered the salary cap. If that is the truth, and Buckley is tying to do the media deal in the next 12 months, not 2013, then this could just be a short term problem. If things are worse then you may well be right, though with the TV deal pending the last thing the FFA needs is a club folding.

You forget that we have the ACL coming up which poses huge financial costs on the club. I suspect this may be the litmus test on whether the club can survive. To not pay some of the players suggests to me major difficulties. I would not be surprised if the club withdrew from the ACL.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Dare I say it is this the beginning of the end for our beloved Mariners. mounting tax bills
, unpaid wages and super. It has all the hallmarks of Wellington and Nth QLD. Our saving grace is the COE which at this point is worth nothing to the club.

Unless we get a white knight i fear this is our last season. Let's hope it does not come to this. It makes the calls for Turnbull to relinquish his control all the more louder.

I suspect that if we cannot pay the bills the FFA will take over until a buyer acn be found a la Adelaide and Brisbane.

Things may have to get worse before they get better.

 

[Forum Phoenix]

If there was ever a club that could make a successful public offering in Aus, it would surely have to be the Mariners wouldn't it?

It's not good. Obviously. but if the Mariners with all their exceptional community initiative and vision can't make it work, and if that happens and we won't be supported by the FFA, then really, the FFA might as well chuck it all in.

 

[midfielder]

I suspect that if we cannot pay the bills the FFA will take over until a buyer acn be found a la Adelaide and Brisbane.

Things may have to get worse before they get better.

The difference is the COE ...

 

[universalmind]

To put it bluntly. You are high if you think the ffa will step in. We are not not a major demographic. If we can't pay the bills we will get cut loose.

 

[gull]

To put it bluntly. You are high if you think the ffa will step in. We are not not a major demographic. If we can't pay the bills we will get cut loose.

....and the FFA are keen to move a team to Western Sydney.

 

[dibo]

The difference is the COE ...

Separate company. FFA can't touch it.

 

[dibo]

To put it bluntly. You are high if you think the ffa will step in. We are not not a major demographic. If we can't pay the bills we will get cut loose.

I disagree. FFA can't lose another club.

 

[starfish]

To put it bluntly. You are high if you think the ffa will step in. We are not not a major demographic. If we can't pay the bills we will get cut loose.

FFA have already stepped in and paid the staff and players wages in September. COE is not going to return a profit for a long time. Either Turnbull goes or he fins an investor who is prepared to let him lose their money.

 

[dibo]

....and the FFA are keen to move a team to Western Sydney.

They are keen to have a club in western Sydney, but that's not the same thing. They couldn't get someone to put up the cash for Rovers, so they're going to struggle to get someone for a new WS club, transplanted or new. It's less risky for them to try to do what they've done in Newcastle.

 

[Roy Law]

Considering the fall out from the axing of North Queensland I can't see the FFA even contemplating closing or moving the Mariners. Too much tradition has already been established on the Coast. They stepped in to help Perth, Wellington (like we need a New Zealand team?), Adelaide, Brisbane and would have done so for Newcastle so don't get too miserable: the Mariners will be on the Coast for a long time yet!

 

[nero]

Not good reading. I hope the Mariners can find a wealthy backer over the next year or so. That new TV deal really needs to cover the wages of each club or watch not just the clubs fold but the ffa too.

 

[midfielder]

Separate company. FFA can't touch it.

Thats the issue...

 

[true believer]

i've said it before.put a sum out there, that you want and offer shares
i'd love to have a share holders certificate

http://www.packers.com/community/shareholders.html

 

[adz]

We always keep coming back to this share idea...

How many shares, at what price?
Why would selling shares be any more successful than selling memberships (we have around 3,500?)
As has been mentioned by others (and ignored), people usually expect a return on their investment when buying shares. What happens in year 2... 3.... etc. Do we have to buy more shares every year?

 

[dibo]

It's an idea that is attractive, but let's unpack it a little bit, starting with a look at the Packers example (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bay_Packers):

There are 112,015 people, representing 4,750,934 shares, that can lay claim to a franchise ownership interest. Shares of stock include voting rights, but the redemption price is minimal, no dividends are ever paid, the stock cannot appreciate in value (though private sales often exceed the face value of the stock), and stock ownership brings no season ticket privileges. No shareholder may own over 200,000 shares, a safeguard to ensure that no individual can assume control of the club. To run the corporation, a board of directors is elected by the stockholders.

The last stock sale was priced at $200 per share. At that price, for each million dollars of capital raising, we'd need to sell 5000 shares.

Educated guess time - we're apparently fine if/when the new TV deal comes about. Let's assume that's going to double our TV grant, we're looking at needing another $2 million p/a.

That means we're going to need to raise $4 million to get to 2013, or we need to sell 20,000 shares. That's about six shares per member.

Remembering that many of our members are kids, we might be talking about somewhere up around 10 shares per adult member.

Football clubs eat money, so the first equity offering won't be the last. *Excess* demand will therefore be limited because there is extra stock being issued, so you can't grow the value of the share. They're not going to pay dividends, because they'll reinvest any cent they *do* make (if they ever make any)/

Can you and all your mates even afford to drop $2000 on something to make you feel good, where you know you'll get no return on your money, and in all likelihood the club will come knocking again in a couple of years?

It's one of those really nice warm fuzzy ideas that has a few pretty major practical difficulties to it.