Smithers99 wrote:In theory not a lot. There have been three people in charge of the commercial side at AFC Wimbledon since London's first match 20 months ago. Joe Palmer at the beginning, Mick Buckley from March 2022. Danny Macklin from November 2022. Although not announced yet I'd assume Mick Buckley will return to the role short term. Danny Macklin reported to Mick Buckley. Macklin's role was the first that was purely related to off the field areas with the CEO Role being split into two; Managing Director (Danny Macklin) and Head of Football (Craig Cope since start of 2023).
There is no obvious reason for AFC Wimbledon to want to terminate the deal, no pitch complaints for example. If the income is 200K annually that is good. It's not the biggest income for the club, but obviously every bit is useful. Last season three players were sold for in excess of 2 Million combined. The club also turned down a 600K offer for a player with four months pro experience in January and a offer for a player last week believed to be around 1 million. Income from last week's Cup match at Chelsea should be 250K plus (45% of the ticket sales minus expenses). Biggest income is Season Tickets. 4,400 sold for about 1.5M. An average additional 3,000 tickets per match is another 1M.
The Broncos income is obviously appreciated and every little helps. The stadium build still means there is 10M in debt via bonds sold to fans and the public. Around 3M is repayable in June 2025 if every bond holder chose repayment. The club have a good cash flow so no real risk in 2025. Ultimately it's not good to keep rolling debt forward though. Currently none of the debt is held against the stadium since paying off the commercial loan a couple of years ago.
The only downside is that the club hoped the Broncos would have attracted larger crowds. AFC Wimbledon Ladies had 820 on Sunday, but adults are £5 and U18's free so covers costs at best. 200K (probably a bit less) isn't a huge income and is why the club listened to London Irish's enquiry (very little was ever discussed from what I heard) as it involved some large figures. Ultimately they want to expand the stadium and the Irish interest appeared to involve building the South Stand to full size. There is planning permission for 20K capacity.
Shared improvements with the Broncos is something Wimbledon would like. I believe if London made the Super League, they would fund the necessary floodlight upgrade. With the disparity in the current stadium size and Broncos support size, I don't see any other potential joint stadium improvements. And in fairness London can better uses their resources than part funding improvements to their tennants stadium.
Interesting insight, thank you!
