Worth A Read - But We Don;t Have Any Other Income

Last updated : 13 April 2017 By CNS Sport

The following post has appeared on Sky Blues Talk tonight and is well worth a read for those unclear about what income Coventry City has -

"What do we get

Obviously match day tickets - because according to Fisher unlike other clubs that's all we get

"We are unlike most other football clubs, in that we do not benefit from non-ticketing revenue. The club does not get either matchday non-ticketing revenues or non-matchday revenues. We are therefore pushed to generate most income via ticketing means, and this puts pressure on the current Season Ticket pricing structure".

The accounts signed by Mr Fisher disclose the following as sources of income

Match receipts
- net receipts from League & Cup matches
- pools
- executive box rental
Commercial activities
- Television
- Sponsorship
- Advertising
- Club lottery
- Shop
- other activities

Similar to other clubs and includes non ticketing income

Now clearly we do not receive stadium sponsorship, we do not own one or occupy one long term. Of course on the other side of that we do not have the 24/7/365 costs of a stadium either. But we do receive shirt sponsorship etc.

Shop sales. Well we used to disclose the shop turnover but that activity has been franchised out so only the net cut that the club takes will now be disclosed. On the other side of that of course is that there are no associated costs (eg purchases, wages, facility costs etc). The club chose to do it this way

We know that the club has access to
- hospitality, its advertised as for sale on the club website
- a share of the F&B net profit, the club does not carry any of the costs or risks in providing it
- a share of the surplus on car parking if enough spaces are taken up
- we know that the club programmes have been franchised out, club chose to do that
All the above confirmed by club or Fisher

We know that the club will be paid the following by the football authorities
- prize money (league & cup)
- solidarity payments
- academy & other grants
- in 2017 a share of the Wembley gate money
same as other clubs (Wembley excluded)

Car parking. Originally at the Ricoh CCFC had access to income from 900 spaces, it was in the lease & licence they had, currently they get a cut of the net surplus (which has not been much). Some clubs have no parking of their own. At the BPA would there be room for any parking?

We do not receive money from non match day hospitality, conferencing or events unless the club choose to organise such income sources. This could be done at the Ricoh, at BPA or some other venue. Other clubs source such income at their own stadiums but they also pay the 24/7/365 costs of running and upkeep of the facilities whether the facilities are used or not. The club haven't seemed to try to create this income source for years
Say the club could generate £1m net turnover pa at its own stadium, in such net income say the direct costs were 60% (Fisher once suggested the net surplus should be at least 30%) of that then the effect on the SCMP in L2 would be 400k x 55% = £ 220K. Of course if the stadium is shared with CCFC only a tenant then the effect could be halved = £110k.

You cant spend the whole turnover on the squad because you have to pay the costs that create the source of income in the first place. Similarly the SCMP budget requires the deduction of direct costs before applying the 60% or 55% multiplier.

Income sources have costs directly related to them, our costs of sources other than match tickets you would logically think are reduced by not having these sources when compared to other clubs. Do other clubs especially in L2 actually make significant surpluses on these other income sources after you account for the costs?

To break even then you have to cover all costs that are paid out. That limits the size of the player budget before the SCMP does

So what is it that all other clubs get that puts us at such a competitive disadvantage?. Does the size of our crowds make up for it and balance the comparison to other clubs? Is the playing field really so uneven at L1 or L2?

or am I missing something?"