Why Wigan Warriors lost £1.4m last year

Discuss all things Wigan Warriors. Comments and opinions on all aspects of the club's performance are welcome.
DaveO
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Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2002 5:32 pm

Re: Why Wigan Warriors lost £1.4m last year

Post by DaveO »

ancientnloyal wrote:Surely being a rich owner means spending cash... like Man City... or else we’d have Betty from the Chippy running the Club wouldn’t we.
I’ve always argued there is no money to be made by ownership of an RL club. I know breaking even is a nice aim to have but I don’t think it’s feasible. Saints who announced positive results recently would have made a loss if the directors hadn’t rolled the interest payments due on loans into the overall debt they finance by those loans.
Exiled Wiganer
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Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:18 pm

Re: Why Wigan Warriors lost £1.4m last year

Post by Exiled Wiganer »

This is a grim set of results, any which way they are looked at. How could they get the Oz trip so wrong as to lose hundreds of thousands of pounds? Sounds like something fishy here to me, as they must have known they weren’t going to get 40k for a friendly when we “only” got 30 odd for the WCC. It feels like a self inflicted wound.

The upsides are 1) we have freed up a decent sum by being able to move away from orrell, 2) IL can afford it and will pay it and 3) he has shown he is willing to invest in what looks like the most exciting set of signings in many years, with French looking an excitement machine in the Amos Roberts category. We were always going to renew, but hopefully many others will either renew or at least get along to the big games. We have broken even in the past, so must be able to do so again.
morley pie eater
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Re: Why Wigan Warriors lost £1.4m last year

Post by morley pie eater »

As a sales pitch, "the club is losing money, crowds are down, good players have left for Aus" is not the way to sell more season tickets and increase gates. It might appeal to those already committed, but the majority of the population want to do what's fashionable/popular. An invitation to join a sinking ship doesn't seem like a good start.

I'd guess that the age of season ticket holders is significantly above average. A marketing strategy needs to aim to get young kids involved and keep them into their 20s. They need excitement and atmosphere at games, and that's something that existing fans can contribute to. The doom and gloom-mongers have the opposite effect and therefore are part of the problem, it seems to me. I rarely go to a home game without being near to someone who's moaning all game.
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DaveO
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Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2002 5:32 pm

Re: Why Wigan Warriors lost £1.4m last year

Post by DaveO »

morley pie eater wrote:The doom and gloom-mongers have the opposite effect and therefore are part of the problem, it seems to me. I rarely go to a home game without being near to someone who's moaning all game.
That is nothing new. When Andy Farrell was playing at the height of his powers and winning us games by last second touchline conversions there was someone sat near me who was forever having a go at him. You’d think AF had eaten his babies they way this chap went on.

I don’t think that sort of thing makes one iota of difference compared to major issues like the player drain we experienced.



Wintergreen
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Re: Why Wigan Warriors lost £1.4m last year

Post by Wintergreen »

If Wigan RLFC, the biggest name in rugby league, lose money in this salary capped (and very low salary cap at that) era, then there are 2 possible reasons:

1. Complete mismanagement.
2. RL in this country is no longer viable.
DaveO
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Re: Why Wigan Warriors lost £1.4m last year

Post by DaveO »

Wintergreen wrote:If Wigan RLFC, the biggest name in rugby league, lose money in this salary capped (and very low salary cap at that) era, then there are 2 possible reasons:

1. Complete mismanagement.
2. RL in this country is no longer viable.
Depends what you mean by viable I suppose. I have never believed the game could exist as a pro sport and be self financing at club level.

It needs sponsorship. People going on about attendances miss the point. An average of 13k per season increase compared to 10k would only cover about half of the £1.4m loss if they all bought season tickets costing over £240. Which they won’t anyway as that is at the more expensive end of the season ticket prices.

13k as an average is a huge ask these days IMO.

So I don’t think it’s possible to cover the costs via increasing the attendance. It would certainly help but the club needs to secure major sponsors and/or needs an owner who can just chuck money at the club as if they have a bottomless pit of cash.

IL needs to go and find a sponsorship that adds at least £500k a year (assuming the costs associated with the Oz trip were a one off so we don’t really need an extra £1.4m income) as well as working to increase the attendance.

Is he up to it? Is anyone interested in chucking that much cash at an RL club?

I am not convinced he can find such a major sponsor. Remember Housing for Homes? Who the F were they?

Caboosegg
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Re: Why Wigan Warriors lost £1.4m last year

Post by Caboosegg »

DaveO wrote: Sun Sep 08, 2019 3:30 am
Wintergreen wrote:If Wigan RLFC, the biggest name in rugby league, lose money in this salary capped (and very low salary cap at that) era, then there are 2 possible reasons:

1. Complete mismanagement.
2. RL in this country is no longer viable.
Depends what you mean by viable I suppose. I have never believed the game could exist as a pro sport and be self financing at club level.

It needs sponsorship. People going on about attendances miss the point. An average of 13k per season increase compared to 10k would only cover about half of the £1.4m loss if they all bought season tickets costing over £240. Which they won’t anyway as that is at the more expensive end of the season ticket prices.

13k as an average is a huge ask these days IMO.

So I don’t think it’s possible to cover the costs via increasing the attendance. It would certainly help but the club needs to secure major sponsors and/or needs an owner who can just chuck money at the club as if they have a bottomless pit of cash.

IL needs to go and find a sponsorship that adds at least £500k a year (assuming the costs associated with the Oz trip were a one off so we don’t really need an extra £1.4m income) as well as working to increase the attendance.

Is he up to it? Is anyone interested in chucking that much cash at an RL club?

I am not convinced he can find such a major sponsor. Remember Housing for Homes? Who the F were they?
How do you attract sponsors.... by having good attendance so their adverts can be seen.

If the gates increased to 13k it may help attract better sponsors.
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1. We don't know them.
2. We do know them.
No straw damn us
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Re: Why Wigan Warriors lost £1.4m last year

Post by No straw damn us »

Housing for Homes I believe is one of IL's companies. We couldn't get a sponsorship deal of a sufficient value and rather than undersell the club, as once someone finds out the value of that deal it's difficult to get it back up again, IL took the sponsorship on himself. Saints did the same a few years back with Comodo.
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