Re: Bulls Takeover : Fri Oct 18, 2019 10:54 am
Highlander wrote:
The numbers (or ball park) I have are rent £72k. Business Rates low 6 figures. Permanent and match day staff low 6 figures. Utilities & public indemnity insurance mid to high 5 figures. So that's about £350k. Maintenance is the one I've no number on. You're saying it's zero. If that's not true, and if the 30k plumbing bill from a few years ago isn't an urban myth, then we could get to £500k quite quickly.
Thank you for your estimated breakdown of how the so called annual cost savings from leaving Odsal could arguably accumulate to a sum of approx £500K per year. We would like to respectfully contest that figure as we believe it is grossly inflated. We back up that belief below, and if anybody wants to contradict what we say, or fill in any gaps, then come back to us on the forum, and ideally (assuming you don't breach confidence or forum AUP rules etc) prove it.
Before we comment on the above may we just say that in our opinion (and contrary to the spin put out by AC on a weekly basis to the T&A or to any other non-investigative journos that would listen to him) it was always the intention of the Bulls and/or the RFL for the club to 'conveniently' leave Odsal in 2019, or most certainly post end May 2019 when the obligation to play RL at Odsal in the RFL's head lease expired once and for all. An empty Odsal is likely to be worth a lot more as a prospective land development opportunity for the RFL (who have 100 yr plus remaining on their lease) than is an Odsal constrained by having to house a RL team. That said, there are a myriad of planning issues and Sport England statutory consultee implications to consider, but nonetheless such constraints should over time be surmountable. The Bulls had to get out of Odsal, and AC delivered, albeit all wrapped up in endless Chalmers spin and mutually convenient anti-RFL sentiment.
In essence Odsal could always have been (or was most likely seen as) a RFL/AC land grab opportunity and that we allege is why AC was put first put into into place at any cost by the RFL in early 2017, something re which we have firm evidence of, and a related timeline and cast list etc. Sorry, and out of respect to RFLFans.com we won't share said timeline and cast list on this open forum; well not at this stage anyhow.
The RFL in their 2017 accounts downgraded the intrinsic value of the Odsal head lease from it's 2012 purchase price of circa £1.25M down to £750K which we understand included both a revaluation and a depreciation component. We are of the opinion that this was in part a 'convenient' devaluation, particularly given that the stadium is now free of it's necessity to host RL games. Yes, the Bulls annual rent has been lost to the RFL, but the upside is potentially substantial (say £3M-£4M) if the governing body et al 'can see the Wood for the Trees'. We may of course be wrong.
Back to Highlander's analysis re the so called £500K annual net cost saving from leaving Odsal. In a nutshell we are confident that such a figure is way OTT and is a myth. Moreover, we are at a loss to understand who first quoted such a theorem?
So let's scrutinise the figures:
a) Rent - "The numbers (or ball park) I (i.e. as quoted above by Highlander) have are Odsal rent, £72k". - that's correct, there or thereabouts. That said we understand the gross headline rent per annum at the Rams is likely to be in the region of £50K/ year (based on up to £2K -£3K payment per home game), so not a massive saving there.
b) Business Rates - low 6 figures" - Bunkum; we have the RFL paying out circa £50K per year for Odsal as per the Council website, and we understand that the Bulls only contributed up to 50% of that sum, and that a rates contribution may have been included in the circa £72K annual rent. So annual saving in this regard will we believe be either zero, or a lowish 5 figure sum.
c) Permanent and match day staff - Highlander quotes low 6 figures, i.e say £120K plus. Well to be fair we'd be gobsmacked if the Rams owner - Mark Sawyer - who is of course intriguingly now lined up as a possible BB17 (Vn 2) consultant would have included Bulls related permanent and match day staff in his annual circa £50K per annum rent figure. CB is NOT a hands on person - if Russ M is still on board he'll demand a wage of circa say £45K plus (inc NI contn's etc) or if he's replaced then a similar outlay can be envisaged. Would Sawyer or CB pay for Duffy's so called services? - we doubt it! So as things stand we think staff savings will likely amount to say a low to mid 5 figure sum, at best.
d) Utilities & public indemnity insurance - Highlander quotes mid to high 5 figures. Well first the RFL Rules do not require that the club have PI insurance; only licensed RL agents and independent contractors have to as per the Rules. There will of course be outlay for mandatory employers liability and public liability insurance, but surely BB17 will still have to bear that cost themselves, along with hopefully properly investing in medical insurance for our players. As for Utilities well yes on the one hand the Rams rent figure may inc utilities, BUT we understand that Sawyer will take a cut of match day concessions income and may well (we'd imagine) take a modest cut of match day gate receipts. Moreover, the Bulls got additional income from one off events they hosted at Odsal such as the (joke) circus event, the fireworks display, the Monster truck event etc. They will have earned the club a tidy net sum of say mid 5 figures per annum. On this basis, we see no cost savings for this sub-item when compared to the related income/ outgoings stream at Odsal. If anything on balance we'd foresee a slight shortfall from leaving Odsal in regard to this item. The other factor to consider is the Tong Academy - there'll be no foreseen substantial savings there.
e) Maintenance - Odsal was we allege purposefully let to go to rack and ruin, and we believe for an ulterior motive. Neither the RFL or the Bulls spent any meaningful money on stadium maintenance post AC's convenient arrival in late Jan 2017. Yes, some money will have been spent on ground maintenance at Odsal (but it was we know done 'on the cheap'), so a saving of a low 5 figure sum could be envisaged in that regard from vacating Odsal. The net saving on maintenance costs from moving from Odsal to the Rams will we therefore estimate be say £30K - £40K per year tops, even allowing for the occasional unexpected plumbing bill!
So Highlander estimates a total annual saving from leaving Odsal at about £350K, which is already lower than the £500K sum that has been touted.
We estimate the following net cost savings:
a) Rent - £10K - £20K saving
b) Business Rates - 0 - £25K
c) Permanent and match day staff - £25K max ???
d) Utilities & public indemnity insurance - zero, or say £15K
e) Maintenance - say £30K tops
Total nestegg estimate ~ £65K - £115K tops.
That is way below a so called annual cost saving figure of £0.5M. There's a potential saving yes, but only say a net saving of circa £90K. In reality such a more modest figure will only likely attend to the sum due to the likes of Yorkshire Water as an outstanding debt - YW are now we understand likely to the largest, if not one of the largest, BB17 creditors, along with the energy company, a former Aussie based shirt manufacturer, and at least 2 former senior staff.
