Wellington Phoenix Community Ownership Model

Wellington Phoenix Community Ownership Model

I think its time to consider this as we all know Terry is having money problems. He also stated that he is considering selling a part of the club anyway.

If a community ownership model was to be implemented how would you make it look and what would you buy?

Personally, If I was making the community ownership model I would do something like this:

* 5000 shares would be put on sale for $100 each (this is assuming 500k funding would need to be raised).

* Anybody could purchase any number of shares

* There would be different levels of ownership with different benefits, this is roughly what I'd do:

$200 (2 shares) would make you a Wellington Phoenix "Member" and entitle you to free merchandise worth up to $20 along with a couple of discounted tickets.

$500  would make you a Wellington Phoenix "Bronze Member" and you would be entitled to several discounted tickets along with $50 worth of merchandise.

$1000  would make you a Wellington Phoenix "Silver Member" and you would be entitled to several free tickets along with $100 worth of merchandise and some discounted tickets.

$2500  would make you a Wellington Phoenix "Gold Member" and you would be entitled to a free members ticket for the whole season along with $200 worth of merchandise and some free and discounted tickets for mates.

$5000  would make you a Wellington Phoenix "Platinum Member" and you would be entitled to two free members tickets for the whole season along with a few games upstairs. You would also receive $400 worth of merchandise.

For small businesses:

$20,000 would would make them a "minor sponsor". They would receive 3 members tickets along with $500 merchandise and stuff which advertises the Nix and confirms them as a sponsor. e.g. Large banner for their store "Wellington Phoenix Sponsor" and similar. A member of the Phoenix team (of their choice) could attend a function or something at some point in the year.

$50,000 would make them a "sponsor". They would receive 5 members tickets along with $1000 of merchandise and stuff which advertises the Nix and confirms them as a sponsor. e.g. Large banner for their store "Wellington Phoenix Sponsor" and similar. They may also get some on screen or on field advertising (but very minor compared to a major sponsor like Sony). The whole starting 11 could attend a function or something at some point in the year (offseason or something)
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Again, these are just ideas but the main thing I am trying to do above is raise money (in the interest of club) but give something back (10 - 15%) to increase interest and reward those who invest. What do you think?

Voting rights are much more significant.  "One share, one vote," or, "one shareholder, one vote"?  I think it would be incredibly foolish to buy into the club without assuming more control of it.  The minimum starting point would be for Terry to open the books.

Yeah.  That's not going to happen.

Also, how many years at a loss of one million dollars a season does that cover Therk?

A futher question.  If we can only get 2,500 season tickets do we really think we'll find 5,000 investors (or sell 5,000 shares) ?

I realise I'm raining on your parade, but these are key questions.

Yeah, voting rights would be a definite (according to share number) - what I came up above is nowhere near what I'd think would be a good finalised membership program but a general direction the club should aim at.

There needs to be some system where one may remain a "shareholder" but lose their rights after a certain amount of time (kinda like the fury 3 year thing).

In terms of the 5000 shares thing - I really think it wouldn't be difficult at all. Don't forget that 1 share is only $100 and I'm sure that many YF members would purchase considerably more than 1. Even myself, as an Aucklander, I'd purchase something like a Bronze membership and I can't even attend more than a few games a season! Additionally, like myself,  I'm sure there would be support from all over the country with a tonne of small memberships being bought (perfect for somebody who cannot attend games with a normal membership but wants to support and be a part of the club)

edit: Also, in terms of the $1m loss a season, this wouldn't be a 100% community ownership model, not at this point anyway so the model may only need to cover 200 - 400k losses every year.
Therk2011-02-16 18:53:22

so basically your talking about floating 49% of the company so the owner terry holds the dominant share???????????

Remember that many of those potential shareholders already pay $300 for a season pass, much more if it's a family deal.  Now you expect them to find more?

If this was the model, could I then watch internet streams with an even bigger sense of entitlement?

Well I don't know what you guys expect - do you expect to profit from this? What do the NQF members get for their $3000?

Please show me a better and still viable model.

You're assuming there is a viable model.  Not convinced there is.

Totally unworkable i fear. The problem is not short term investment needed, but a business where any prospect of profitably is quite some way off.

The phoenix is not much more than a charity. Terry is the benefactor. Not sure how a short term cash injection from a bunch of fans makes the club survivable. Where will the cash come from for the season after next?
zonknz2011-02-16 20:49:08

It's difficult to see how The A-League rights could be split into internet/non-internet rights pools to allow any sort of non-sky streaming. This is the problem with a combined producer / seller pay-tv system.

So yes, you're right - you're quite happy to f**k the club over in the short term rather than support it when it suits you.

But that's another thread. The grownups are talking here.

 

Maybe we could get the nice guy who writes the swiss ramble to look at the 'nix.

I fear it may make some pretty grim reading :(

http://swissramble.blogspot.com/
zonknz2011-02-16 20:58:40

Sorry Mrs Brady Old Lady

That is the biggest issue with a community ownership plan. The best example I can think of, is the MyFootballClub website that brought Ebbsfleet Utd a few years ago. They started with 30,000 paid up members, and within a few years were down to 800.

My take on this (much the same as others above) is that this isn't really an option until the club is breaking even.  Until then the best way of supporting is to buy a membership

Well said that man!

Not that I think we are anywhere near it, but in a 34k seater stadium, what would be the maximum level of membership that the club would be willing to accept (given that the price per game is substantially less than a casual ticket)?

Edit: This is a grown-up question too.
Junior822011-02-17 00:08:04

How do you know the club isnt breaking even if it doesnt provide public accounts?

Not to PAYE - we know that much.

If it's voting by share numbers, then it's not community ownership - it's just going public with some bells and whistles.

Seriously: a community model is worth looking at if Serepisos goes bust, but he won't hand his club over to the unwashed masses.  He might take your money, but your views on how the club should be run are not going to be admitted.

We're talking about a few thousand voters.  It's not practical to gather that body for day-to-day affairs.  A committee with regularly published minutes would need to deal with those matters.  The larger body would vote to elect and recall committee members.  (It seems to me that fixed terms for committee members is a mistake: they should be answerable at all times to the voters.)

Serepisos used to say that it cost him $1 million.  It's also quite suspicious that he never claimed to have a break-even year due to selling McKain's contract for $1 million.

By the way, companies that aren't making a profit are good investment choices if their bottom line can be improved.  I think that a fan-owned and operated club would have lower administration costs.  It might even have additional sources of revenue.

I think also, investors would be looking at the 'business' of the Nix, as opposed to just the first team and merchandise.

That would likely include an academy for young players, that they can then contract, and sell off (that sounds a lot like slavery doesnt it) making tidy profits along the way.

I believe that is how football clubs make profits, fro the trading of players, along with the rewards that come from tv deals, winning competitions, and then memberships and merchandise.

Hard News2011-02-17 10:30:08

mckains sale might have offset most of the losses brough forward from the last two season. I reckon the break even mark was resting on us making the top 4 and getting home finals again

Without opening the books, it's impossible to tell.  But my suspicion is that the management are fairly handsomely rewarded - certainly, they're better paid than they should be while overseeing regular losses.

Unless my memory is failing (always a possibility!) the club doesn't receive anything from selling tickets to a home final.

I don't pretend to know the state of the club's finances.  My position is merely that the statements by the club's management don't sit well with known extraordinary income.  Of course, you can guess whatever reasons you like for that money disappearing (new car, perhaps? ) but without the books being open, we just don't know.

i think you're barking up the wrong tree there, this is all pretty wild speculation - remember as well that the books will have to go the FFA under the terms of the licence.

I disagree with that - it's a quirk of NZ company law that private companies don't have to file publicly available financials, but it's pretty common elsewhere and for most sporting teams to publicly announce results. I don't see what anyone would lose - I disagree with stripes that there's any issues but in the same token it would remove any doubt and stop that kind of speculation.

Community ownership models outlined here [admittedly in the US] http://www.newrules.org/governance/rules/communityowned-sports/community-owned-sports-teams-examples