Quote Ferocious Aardvark="Ferocious Aardvark"I don't know anything about the Wasps deal save what I've read, but the comment that if all is as it appears to be, then the deal will have cost an arm and a leg is indisputably true. So their gates have initially gone up. So what? The main questions you would need to be able to answer are:
1. What does it cost to service the investment/borrowing? because those charges need to be paid before there is any surplus.
2. Who put up the money? Because if there is a profit at the end of the day then the "investors" will want it. Unless there is a billionaire who is happy to lose many millions a year, permanently, just cos he likes Wasps.
If there really is that much money to be made from casinos, hotels, Zumba nights or whatever at the Ricoh then how come no shrewd billionaires or other companies national or international were remotely interested prior to the Wasps deal? Yet there is, apparently, not only enough money to be made to service the acquisition finance and running costs, turn a healthy profit for investors, but also to make Wasps a wealthy rugby club out of presumably the small change.
I'm not remotely buying into this hype. It is all spin. I don't blame Wasps as a club for taking advantage of it but there are no lessons to be learned here.'"
The owner loaned Wasps £20million and will be getting half back from the bond issue, the rest going to pay off other loans and investment in the clubs academy etc. As for being 'hype and spin', they have sold out the 32,000 stadium for the game v Leicester Tigers next week (something CCFC couldn't do) including 2000 hospitality seats (they used to average 200 at Adams Park). Most sporting clubs would love that hype and spin'. As for what RL clubs can learn, if you're going to invest in a new/existing stadium, make sure it's a half-decent one like Langtree Park.
