I will attempt to answer this one in part as Greg Westaway (GW) discussed this at the meeting today. He made it clear that Burkie and Thomo will have roles related to footy and the other board members have been strategically selected for the other matters, which includes sponsorship.To the top wrote: . . . And tell me Nathan, when you refer to the loss of sponsors, are you aware of any particular reasons for those losses, because there must be reasons, and what are the connections any incoming Board members have which will deliver major and significant sponsors to the St Kilda FC, and address the falling revenue you have identified? Because St Kilda FC need people on the board who have such connections and can deliver those connections to St Kilda FC and its revenue stream.
And tell me Nathan, how much can you improve the revenue base of St Kilda FC by to accommodate your laudable extra spending on the football department and, in the absence of this improvement in revenues, would you go back into debt to accommodate such spending? And who will lend to St Kilda FC and on what basis?
The short staffing at the club is a key cause of most sponsorship issues - although the larger sponsors come and go for various reasons - often because the original idea is for branding reasons principally - a little like why Telstra has withdrawn from the ‘Dome’ and the ‘Stadium’ - its had its life and its not necessary to continue spending.
GW believes that you need to spent to grow but the spending must be done wisely and he believes that you must have the appropriate staff in place and they must be paid appropriately to get the best results. Marketing Executives need to be the best available and paid on salary and good commissions to get the best outcome. He believes that the staffing situation at the club is skinny and the staff are overworked and that is one key factor that has caused some leaving, sponsors not being effectively serviced and new business being skinny.
He is a sponsor and knows many of the mid range sponsors and he elaborated a bit but its best not mentioned on a public forum regarding specifics. Its not just the big boys moving on – the mid range sponsors are too – in fact one is suing the club for not actually providing the service that was paid for. GW believes that all sponsors need to be serviced and offered value for money.
Vodafone said that they were having trouble with St Kilda negotiations this year but they are probably also moving away from branding now and Carlton can offer them contra-deal business as well as exposure.