Last season was supposed to be a celebration of 25 years of Western Hockey League hockey in the Canadian Hockey League’s smallest market. Instead the Swift Current Broncos 2010-11 season will be remembered as one of the team’s worst both on and off the ice.
The Swift Current Broncos Hockey Club announced a financial loss of $197,226 for the 2010-11 season at its Annual Shareholders Meeting on Wednesday night.
“It is very startling,” said Broncos Director of Business Operations, Jordan Wall. “I mean it is not completely unexpected. We understood there were certain factors that led to it and we understood that we were probably going down that road this season, especially with a rough second half. But it is not a number you want to see and it is very scary for the long-term viability of the franchise.”
The Hockey Operations side lost $882,587 before additional revenues from corporate sponsorships, corporate suites and fundraising helped close the gap.
Income from corporate sponsorship remained relatively the same from 2009-10, while fundraising contributed $192,000, a $28,000 increase from the previous season.
On the ice, the Broncos limped to a 26-44-0-2 record to miss the playoffs for only the second time in franchise history. The team lost 320 man games to injury and faltered after the January trade of captain Cody Eakin to the Kootenay Ice.
Ticket sales, per game attendance, and season tickets sales all decreased during this past season as well. Per game attendance dropped for the second straight season, from 2,197 to 2,135.
The forecast for the current season appears bleak as well with slightly less than 1,500 season tickets sold to date. Wall said that season ticket sales are still the most important area to the team's financial viability.
“It is the tickets sales. For us we are trying to find ways to give more benefits to our season ticket holders. We are trying to make the games more affordable. We have introduced affordable sections, we have affordable early bird tickets, we have two dollar Tuesday nights this year. We are trying to find ways to introduce the families and people that can’t go to every game to maybe go to two games or the people that go to two games to maybe go to four games.”
The Broncos also announced the findings of the Economic and Social Impact Assessment that determined a total yearly economic impact of $6,174,099.16 by the Broncos on the community of Swift Current. The study was a collaboration of the Board of Directors, operational staff, and the Edwards School of Business MBA Program at the University of Saskatchewan over the past two seasons. The study found that the Broncos bring $2,252,531.00 of “new money” into Swift Current each year. The complete details of the study will be released at a later date.
One of the few highlights of the meeting was the Hockey Hounds Report, which announced that the Hounds had turned over $98,462.43, an increase of over $8,000 from last season. The new 50/50 system led to an 80 percent increase in 50/50 sales last season.
Among the other successes was the first ever Pro Bull Riding event that added $37,140 to the hockey club's fundraising efforts.
The nearly $200,000 loss follows a loss of $58,927 in 2009-10.
