A-League football club Western Sydney Wanderers could break even financially as soon as the upcoming 2013-14 season. The club is even set to cap its membership numbers after a surge in sales. The improving finances for the Wanderers will be a major point of the information memorandum being prepared by investment bank UBS. It was hired by Football Federation Australia – which established the Wanderers only last year – to find a private buyer in a deal that could value the club at up to $15 million. The memorandum will be released within a month, with expressions of interest to be received well before the start of the 2013-14 season in October. Wanderers executive chairman Lyall Gorman told The Australian Financial Review the club has already sold almost 14,500 memberships for the upcoming season. The Wanderers debuted in the competition last year, and the club initially budgeted for between 9000 and 10,000 members for next season. The club is also set to announce two new major sponsors, one as soon as this week. Both factors mean the Wanderers, which lost about $1.5 million in its first season, could be in the black in 2013-14. “It looks like we will break even that in year two or three, which is a great achievement,” Gorman said. “But we aren’t getting ahead of ourselves and we have been very humbled by the response to the club by the people of western Sydney.” Parramatta Stadium, the club’s home ground, has a capacity of about 20,000 including corporate hospitality areas which is why Gorman says he may have to cap membership numbers at about 16,000. However the club has had positive discussions with the NSW state government regarding fast-tracking the installation of an extra 4000 seats. Gorman said the club’s first season had an economic impact of about $18.3 million for the Parramatta region. The Wanderers will also compete in next year’s Asian Champions League, for which it will sell sponsorship packages. Seb
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 04:19:43 +0000
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