‘Riders Report Record Profit; Bombers Small Loss

Published on April 22, 2008 1:34 AM by dbo.

At their annual general meeting Saturday the Saskatchewan Roughriders announced that they recorded a record net profit of $1,737,377 in 2007. The large profit is largely due to the success the club had on the field, winning 12 games, hosting a home playoff game and winning the league championship Grey Cup game. This success translated into selling out 8 of 10 regular season games and one playoff game at Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field and playing to an average of 97% capacity for the year. The team’s success and popularity translated into additional revenue from merchandising and sold-out fund raising efforts Friends of the Riders Lottery and Plaza of Honour dinner.

While the figures released at the meeting match earlier reported numbers, the details reveal some interesting figures:

  • Revenue and expenses eclipsed the previous highs of $15 million to $23 and $21 million approximately.
    • Even with trimming their payroll by $600,000 to meet 2007’s mandatory Salary Management System, expenses kept pace with revenue. While the ‘Riders did pay their maximum rent to the City of Regina for Mosaic Stadium, it appears that expenses are very closely tied to revenue, not more fixed as I would expect for a sports franchise with both a salary cap and a stadium lease cap.
  • Gate receipts increased $1.3 million from 2006 to a total of $7.4 million.
    • Despite the demand for tickets and playing to 97% capacity, ticket sales only accounts for 33% of total revenue. This does not bode well for a gate-driven league.
  • Sponsorship revenue increased 51% or 1.51 million to $3.4 million.
  • Merchandising sales increased $2.8 million or 129%.
  • Football operations expenses increased 14% or $1.13 million over 2006.
    • This means there was an approximate $5 million increase in non-football operation expenses.
  • The amount of League disbursements is not mentioned in any article or report I could find. If anyone has the detailed revenue and expenditure statement and balance sheet they could forward me, please leave a comment.

Earlier, the other team to make it to the Grey Cup final, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers reported a net loss of $264,000 for 2007. The net loss was approximately equivalent to the $262,000 expenditure for the solicitation of proposals for the development of a new stadium or the $300,000 in additional costs for reaching the Grey Cup. Some figures from the Bomber’s financial statements:

  • Operating revenue increased about 12.5% to $13.05 million from $11.6 million.
  • Operating expenses increased about 9% to $13.3 million from $12.2 million.
  • The franchise finished the year with an accumulated surplus of $4.3 million.
  • The Bomber Statement of Operations reports $1.5 million in League revenue, down $400,000 from 2006.

With these financials released, the three public (community owned) franchises in the CFL have now reported their 2007 results (the Edmonton Eskimos reported their results – a profit – back in February). While these three franchises are not a barometer for the whole league, coming from the strong prairie provinces, they do provide the public an insight into the finances of a CFL franchise and the health of the league.

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‘Riders Report Record Profit; Bombers Small Loss was published on April 22, 2008 1:34 AM by dbo.

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This article is categorized under Finances and tagged with blue-bombers, loss, profit and roughriders.

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