Wonder how they will go about it?

$2k for a "re-foundation" membership? Get 800 people on board and make up the rest with sponsorship $$$ and no strings attached donations.

I would think you would need slightly more than $2m.

I'm in if the model is right and transparency is guaranteed.

+1

Getting the Crocs back in next season would be huge for the league.


But 'sustainability' is the key.

Sure, someone might be able to get the funds together and make it work for the Crocs for next season.
But then what?

We will be in the same position as now.

Pumping money to get the Crocs back up and running is just masking the problem/putting the inevitable off for another year.
Better to just face the problems head in, address and resolve them, then pump money in.

The Save The Crocs site is listing Foundation Membership for $5,000.

www.savethecrocs.com/

5k is steep...

Won't raise enough money without asking for hefty amounts from someone.

Might be a few things they can list as being provided to sweeten the deal but that don't cost them much to provide. e.g., mentions in each season's brochure, dedicated page on the website, honour wall at the stadium, etc.

Can't they do what the Taipans did and get multiple people to pay say $100 and make up $5000?

I think they should have priced it more along the lines of 2k...

Mick when we went through it the $5000 was paid straight up by some people and others went into syndicates to get the $5000 multiple.
Isaac it was enough for us to start and smart and hard business decisions have kept us going. The funds required for the year may be $3000000 but you are going to trade its all about bringing costs into line.

would like to see the crocs saved
If not, then Wellington are ready to go!!

Tasman,

BA aren't keen on the idea of a Wellington team (not yet anyway)

Wellington Saints CEO came out and admitted that this week in the news.

$5000 straight up or ppl making syndicates to get the $5000

we've had over 250 entries into our pledge database - some $5000, some multiple $5000 and some season ticket/club membership

amazing response after just 7hours open to the public. The website crashed for 10mins with heavy traffic!

#savethecrocs

We will need at least $2 million to operate on a bare bones budget

The committee has met with major sponsors already and they appear to be back on board. There is a public meeting tonight at 6:30 at the Crocs practice facility to inform everyone of what is happening and what is required.

Please delete my last post as I hit enter before posting :S

Don't forget that with a community model the entity can apply for a lot of government grants, as the Taipans do, for programs such as healthy activities for kids, etc. From what I have read the Crocs already do a fair bit of community work in this area so tying this in with the government grants shouldn't be too hard.

I support another team but am also a basketball fan and would hate the NBL to lose the Crocs. I have made a pledge of $50. Not everyone can afford 5K so hopefully if a lot of other basketball fans can contribute what they can, the target can be reached.

Looking very promising a day after looking very bleak.

Good stuff.

Will be good to know details as soon as they emerge especially regarding what a foundation membership entails.

Even though the basketball side of things is our last problem right now, this development basically ensures we will be re-signing everyone from last season's roster, possibly minus Nevill and Ervin. I wonder how much consideration this has been given by the steering committee considering the on court performance was what was driving lots of people away and therefore minimising revenues. Probably hasn't quite got to that stage yet, but it is a major decision that will come up: ie. how much do you penny pinch to keep costs low vs. putting a great team together that people will pay money to see.

very early stages but we haven't got long! Clubs can talk to free agents from 2 weeks after the end of the finals series - lets hope perth win this one to give us an extra week

"Just try throwing out a toy a child hasn't played with for years." A pretty good analogy I just read on ozhoops.
See also Cairns and Wollongong $5000 for foundation membership amd a vote etc .
Strange how the Adelaide 36ers said it doesn't seem to fit here .

The NBL has officially asked other clubs not to talk to Townsville free agents until a direction forward is reached, so hopefully they play nice and heed that request. That said, the only players (formerly) under contract who I would mark as "can't lose" are Mitch and Todd, only because they are young and have nice upside. PC is coming off a bit of a shocker and he is (was?) overpaid anyway, while Jake had a shocker offensively, even if he rebounded well. Rusty won't attract any attention from other clubs anyway.

Rusty shouldn't even be attracting attention from his current club.

sad but true... although in a time like this you need passionate guys like him, even if his days as a productive player are behind him.

I'd keep Hinder given they may not have the money/stability to attract a better replacement and the rest of the front court has hardly dominated.

Blanchfield would be my only lock. But as said, I think they will have few alternatives to some of the rest and may have to keep Cedars, etc.

We have changed a few options in the SaveTheCrocs.com pledge drive to make it more accessible and affordable to everyone.

* $5000 foundation membership,
* Purchase part of a Syndicate for a foundation membership - for however much can you afford,
* Club Membership/Season Tickets, or
* General monetary donation

what do you think?

Similar to Cairns and Wollongong , very successful on and off the court.

It's one off not every year , if you follow CNS and WLG all will be OK .

What anon is saying is that if the profits aren't going to be there, well, the profits aren't going to be there. The club was slated to lose 3/4 of a million dollars this upcoming season under it's previous model, and Townsville hasn't exactly been a big spender these past few years.

So how do you not only avert that impending disaster but make sure that you keep the coffers full enough to keep going the season after next. It's going to be short term pain. Those Wollongong and Cairns rosters were not great after they immediately switched to the community model, but now they are looking pretty decent. The Crocs can't just come back with the same product. Not just in terms of the fiscal side of the operation, but all of the things that were keeping people away: game night presentation, marketing, record, roster, etc. all have to change if they want to give themselves half a chance. And on a tight budget. Reidy seemed committed to turning around the game night experience though, which is a positive.

On the plus side, Wayne Swann has confirmed that the $5m to upgrade the Townsville Entertainment Centre is still guaranteed. Things are looking up.

Agree with Mick and Anon the saviour's of the Crocs will have to fund multiple year losses, not just the start up capital, unless there is a sugar Daddy, as I cant see more being raised from the current sponsors and season ticket holders.

The $ raised need to be on top of the existing income.
IE Pay $5000 and still buy your season ticket or sponsorship.

An anonymous millionaire donor has gifted $1.4m to the cause.

What a bloody legend!

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2013/04/12/379225_news.html

Hearing and reading lots of stuff about the venue rent is being halved.
What figures are we talking about?

Going from approx. 22k per game to down around 12k, according to the newspaper.

Aw , Cairns council put up the $1M guarantee .
Of the "shortfall." Well , there ain't any .
It doesn't necessarily follow that if you pay a player more money he becomes a better player.
On day 3 of the campaign the Crocs have found the way.

One thing Townsville has going for it is a much stronger and stable economy than Cairns, so you have a strong business base to potentially draw from. It's just a matter of tapping into that and getting local businesses to support the team the way they did in the 90s and early-to-mid 2000s. Some are questioning the lack of fiscal / business expertise in the group heading up this revamp, but maybe an enthusiastic and fresh approach is what is needed.

I trust Pat Reidy to get the basketball and game night experience (incl. price point) right moving forward, we just need to stabilise the finances in the meantime. If Townsville are competitive and the game night experience isn't off-putting, the rest will sort itself out. It's just about getting those two things on track with enough dollars in the kitty to keep from going belly up.

People are writing-off the game night experience complaints as irrelevant in these dire circumstances, but making a night out to a ball game fresh and appealing again is the only way you are going to get people coming back who aren't diehard basketball fans. Everyone who I've taken to a game who isn't a fan likes the basic product: fast-paced game, arena in the city, cheap drinks (compared to other sporting venues), a perfectly suitable timeslot for something to do before heading out to a bar -- all of which are in walking distance from the venue, but they find it hard to get past the tacky presentation.

If Cairns are just breaking even then that's hardly exciting news. That was reflected in their season just finished.

If it's true one person has already donated $1.4 mill then the Crocs will be in next year, and with a bit of community support, which looks like coming on, should start from a stronger position than Cairns and Wollongong did in year one as community owned teams.

The first key is to only spend what they earn, Cairns do this very well and Wollongong pretty well. The second key is to gather a big membership base so you are earning enough to do that, something Cairns are again doing very well.

Good luck Crocs.