In Saturday's Age Sport section (page 18-19) is the latest club Audits.

AFL Teams Audit from Last Saturdays Age

The Filth's memorabilia cabinet is valued at $9.1 million,and quite incredible that they didn't even include it in their audit...it's worh is double our entire assets!

Our club has done a fantastic job to get out of the Garbage Bin and back to zero in the last 3 years, but we do need some sustained success to build up a new generation(s) of members.

We also must make some very shrewd business decisions off the field to increase revenue so as to pay top dollar for our football department, otherwise they will just be poached by the bigger clubs.

I really believe we can climb up the ladder on & off the field, it will be tough. We need to play hard exciting footy on free to air-Our jumper and Emblem are fantastic, young kids i hope will want to be proud Demons in time.

The Article is well worth a read if you have not seen it yet...

Surely we must have some memorabilia of worth? Premiership Cups, flags , old guernseys, photos etc? Who decides how much some of this stuff is worth?

I'm envious of Hawthorn and Essendon having 'museums' at their respective grounds, and the couple of times I've been into the Lexus Centre (westpac centre, whatever) I've been very impressed with the amount of stuff they have on display as well. I know we have our cups displayed in the rather limited public space at the front of our admin at AAMI but thats all as far as I know of our history on display (there may be the odd piece at the MCG Sports Museum too from memory).

That's absurd.

It's almost impossible to price memorabilia - it's only worth what someone is stupid enough to pay for it.

I say stupid, because people pay stupidly high prices for it sometimes, and I am at a loss as to why.

That is an overblown estimate and it's not worth including in assets because no club would ever sell their history.

That's absurd.

It's almost impossible to price memorabilia - it's only worth what someone is stupid enough to pay for it.

I say stupid, because people pay stupidly high prices for it sometimes, and I am at a loss as to why.

That is an overblown estimate and it's not worth including in assets because no club would ever sell their history.

exactly... like they are going to sell a premiership cup to somebody so he can put it behind his bar what a load of bollocks

That's absurd.

It's almost impossible to price memorabilia - it's only worth what someone is stupid enough to pay for it.

I say stupid, because people pay stupidly high prices for it sometimes, and I am at a loss as to why.

That is an overblown estimate and it's not worth including in assets because no club would ever sell their history.

Maybe it is based on insurance payments...it was mentioned a number of times in the Article.

Also the fact that the Filth spent $75 million last year, more than double any other Club....we must catch & match them one day....it's a long way off but we must grow each year.

We do, but the MCC own it not us.

For insurance payments on that sort of thing, don't you decide how much you want to insure it for, then pay the appropriate premiums?

I'm not sure there's a precedent of premiership cups being sold...

How the hell do you put a valuation on that?

It's a made up figure.

For insurance payments on that sort of thing, don't you decide how much you want to insure it for, then pay the appropriate premiums?

I'm not sure there's a precedent of premiership cups being sold...

How the hell do you put a valuation on that?

It's a made up figure.

I think the Memorabillia is far more than just Cups. I bought the article to all here's attention to show How much we can grow if we make good & solid decisions.

The Growth of the Filth is quite phenominal over the past decade, although thety have always had the supporter base.

It also shows in my eyes North Melbourne are wasting their time in Melbourne, regardless of sentiment...The cannot survive long term.

I think the Memorabillia is far more than just Cups. I bought the article to all here's attention to show How much we can grow if we make good & solid decisions.

Link....

Memorabilia is only worth what someone else is willing to pay, I being a collector have seen some ridiculous prices. Even though afl/vfl memorabilia is a reasonably small market there is a pretty large demand and most items have increased in the marketplace dramatically over the past decade. Rick Milne is the guy who does the evaluations for most afl clubs

Has anyone worked out what the second table was measuring? It wasn't labelled and it had Western Bulldogs on top with $36 milliion, but nowhere in the article did any of the dollar values match up with that un-named table. By deduction, it can't be assets (Western Bulldogs wouldn't be on top). Any ideas?

Memorabilia is only worth what someone else is willing to pay, I being a collector have seen some ridiculous prices. Even though afl/vfl memorabilia is a reasonably small market there is a pretty large demand and most items have increased in the marketplace dramatically over the past decade. Rick Milne is the guy who does the evaluations for most afl clubs

Agree and value of memorabilia varies according to supply and demand and the economic landscape. They would have to drip feed the market for decades with no certainty they will achieve the paper value.

That is an overblown estimate and it's not worth including in assets because no club would ever sell their history.

They might not sell it, but they may borrow money against it. It's just saying that Collingwood own an asset that is worth $x (whatever it is) which makes them look more attractive to potential creditors. It's got nothing to do with whether they intend on selling it or not.

They might not sell it, but they may borrow money against it. It's just saying that Collingwood own an asset that is worth $x (whatever it is) which makes them look more attractive to potential creditors. It's got nothing to do with whether they intend on selling it or not.

In other words, rubbery figures.

In other words, rubbery figures.

No, quite the opposite actually.

In other words, rubbery figures.

It's not a rubbery figure at all, as the Wealth of the Memorabillia was not included in the Filth audit.

To me Filth memorabillia is worthless, but to those infected with Filth Blood-it would be worth a fortune i have no doubt, just because it aint for sale, doesn't mean it isn't valued.

There are four levels of value for collectables. The lowest being probate. (if you died and your assets were valued as part of your estate). The next being auction value. (Being if you were short of a buck and needed quick cash). Then retail (If you wanted it and was prepared to pay what was asked) and lastly insurance. (Agreed replacement value it you got robbed or suffered some unfortunate mishap like an earthquake that destroyed your treasures. Usually top dollar). All rubbery and depending on circumstance. Where would the filth treasures fit in?

Forgive my ignorance on financial matters, but I gather having no assets is bad. Why the hell do we have no assets? Do we need to rectify this? And with such poor revenue affecting our ability to compete with the massive FD expenditures of the big clubs, where do we find the extra cash to obtain assets without borrowing and risking further debt? Unless revenue increases dramatically (ie. membership, attendances, interest, sponsorship etc.), we are still in a very weak financial position that places us at a clear competitive disadvantage in the short and long term.

Basically its what has been said before. WE have paid down out debt and now need to build a non-football revenue base. To reply on sponsorship and membership only will put us back in debt.

The other disadvantage we have is the lack of a share in our original home ground. It were given on paper our percentage share of the MCG we'll be the richest club in assets

Next time I catch up with our CEO I'm going to have a chat about his plans to build the non football base for the future.

Forgive my ignorance on financial matters, but I gather having no assets is bad. Why the hell do we have no assets?

Where did you get the idea that we have no assets? If you've got no assets then you've got no business - cash in bank is an asset for example (i.e. at the very least, I doubt our bank balance is $0). Take a look at our financial report when it comes out later in the year; you'll see we have millions of dollars in assets - as will all the clubs.

where do we find the extra cash to obtain assets without borrowing and risking further debt?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with borrowing money and being in debt - this is an essential part of any business of any decent size. The issue we had with our previous debt is that it was significantly hurting our cashflow. If we borrow money for smart investments (like this poker machine venture for example) then any short term hit we take on cash flow should be cancelled out and then some with the revenue coming in.

I know we have our cups displayed in the rather limited public space at the front of our admin at AAMI but thats all as far as I know of our history on display (there may be the odd piece at the MCG Sports Museum too from memory).

Check out both the National Sports Museam at the G, as well the MCC Museum (also at the G!),

there's a stack of memorabilia there, starting with the very first rules and onwards. Match that Collingwood!

I think most of the cups are stored at the NSM as well (including the first official cup, which we won)

Value: much more than Collingwoods, this is national treasure stuff, not suburban football relics.

Where did you get the idea that we have no assets? If you've got no assets then you've got no business - cash in bank is an asset for example (i.e. at the very least, I doubt our bank balance is $0). Take a look at our financial report when it comes out later in the year; you'll see we have millions of dollars in assets - as will all the clubs.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with borrowing money and being in debt - this is an essential part of any business of any decent size. The issue we had with our previous debt is that it was significantly hurting our cashflow. If we borrow money for smart investments (like this poker machine venture for example) then any short term hit we take on cash flow should be cancelled out and then some with the revenue coming in.

I think Pringle is referring to why we appear to have a lot less assets than other clubs, in terms of worth.

My understanding is that this was a result of being a part of the MCC for such a long time, and then when we broke away out o necessity, we pretty much had to start from scratch.

It's something that to this date we've had trouble overcoming.

Correct?

I think Pringle is referring to why we appear to have a lot less assets than other clubs, in terms of worth.

My understanding is that this was a result of being a part of the MCC for such a long time, and then when we broke away out o necessity, we pretty much had to start from scratch.

It's something that to this date we've had trouble overcoming.

Correct?

That is correct, we left without our inheritance. If we had left with the value of what we contributed to the MCC its unlikely the MFC would have been in financial strife, at least not at this time in its history. BUt when we left football was a very different world. But you have to hand it to the pies they have maximised their assets i.e. fans and other assets.

When you look at the turnover of the club we're not far behind most other Victorian clubs, including the current big ones.

2009 total payments from the AFL Annual Report show the total payments

The press seems to get hung up on the Special Distribution, but it is far more complex than that. Payments to each club were a base of $5,673,242 and then Other Payments which includes Special Distribution, game buy-out agreements, distribution of the AFL's signage rights at Etihad Stadium, prizemoney, travel subsidies and promotional funding to help clubs develop the game around Australia. These "Other Payments" range from $1.7M for Adelaide to $4.7M for the Bulldogs, Collingwood $3.9M and Melbourne 3.1M. It does not say if it includes payments from AFL Membership.

Adelaide 7,406,705

Fremantle 7,495,936

West Coast 7,545,570

Brisbane 7,552,619

Port 7,592,931

Hawthorn 8,207,374

Sydney 8,383,047

Richmond 8,404,196

Essendon 8,549,490

St Kilda 8,750,425

Melbourne 8,809,616

Geelong 9,021,578

Collingwood 9,068,940

Carlton 9,201,340

North Melbourne 9,411,077

Bulldogs 10,406,678

2010 Annual report should be out later in March. I'll do an update then.

(Seem to have stuufed up the font somehow - sorry)

Just for info and so that the journo's don't go down this band wagon again, Melbourne was the 6th best funded club in 2010 by the AFL, and in a band of 5 clubs receiveing between $8.7m and $9m. Compared with the funding that the Bulldogs and North continue to recieve there is no way that people can claim that we are getting special treatment. Also make sure any Collingwood whingers are told teh facts next time they say they are propping up the other clubs - 2 years in a row now they have been in the top 4 recipients - admitedly some of that is due to prize money for finals.

Adelaide 7,713,536

Brisbane Lions 7,821,850

West Coast 7,871,174

Fremantle 7,969,640

Port Adelaide 7,988,806

Hawthorn 8,242,014

Geelong 8,706,138

Richmond 8,740,581

Essendon 8,828,287

Sydney Swans 8,873,054

Melbourne 8,965,924

Carlton 9,641,916

North Melbourne 9,809,944

St Kilda 9,851,727

Collingwood 10,291,860

Bulldogs 10,661,507

Source AFL 2010 Annual Report