Louis White spoke with Sydney Swans chief executive Myles Baron-Hay in the lead-up to the Club's elimination final against North Melbourne on Saturday night.
LW: How important is it for the Sydney Swans to be in a final and what is the benefit of a home final?
MB-H: It is a really significant opportunity for the AFL to promote the code in Sydney. They are committed to a second side in the state so you would expect that they would want to promote this game heavily. The obvious benefit of a home final to the team is that they don’t have to travel and get to play in front of their home crowd. We hope the people of Sydney get out to the game and turn ANZ Stadium into a sea of red and white.
Are you expecting a big turnout for the final?
It is a call to action for Sydneysiders. Come out and support your side.
Have crowds been up or down this year?
At the SCG they have been up (average crowd was 25,401 in 2008 compared to 25,222 in 2007) but we were limited with seating capacity last year, so you would expect that they would increase. But the crowds at ANZ Stadium have been down on last year (average crowd was 45,480 in four matches in 2008 compared to 63,392 for three matches in 2007).
What are the challenges lying ahead of the Sydney Swans?
Our biggest challenges are definitely ahead of us. With the AFL committed to a second Sydney-New South Wales team by 2012, we need to grow the market that will sustain two clubs for the longer term.
Are the Sydney Swans opposed to a second Sydney-New South Wales team?
No, we are not opposed to a second team in Sydney and we have stated that we will work with the AFL. But in order for both of us to survive, we need to increase interest in the game, boost attendance and we need to grow our Sydney-based membership by 50 per cent in the next three years.
Has membership fallen from last year?
Slightly, but our Sydney membership is approximately 20,000 and our Melbourne membership [is] approximately 10,000. We need our Sydney membership to be 30,000.
What areas of Sydney do you need to grow the membership?
Our heartland has been lower north shore and the eastern suburbs, but the good news is that we are gaining members in northwest Sydney and in the southern districts. We now have 30 per cent of our membership beyond our heartland.
The last two years have produced record profits. How are the Swans doing this year off the field?
Our end-of-year financial performance has some way to go and we have finals as well to build into the equation, but we won’t be repeating last year’s record profit ($1.53 million).
The economy has been tight this year and when households are under pressure, discretionary income takes a hit. There is no doubt that this has been a tough financial year but we are definitely looking at ways of growing our revenue.
What effect both on and off the field will a second Sydney-New South Wales team have?
The stakes are huge. What is at risk is the 26 years that it has taken to build the Sydney Swans.
What are your future plans?
I have been at the Swans for the past five years and my contract expires at the end of 2009. I have no intentions of going anywhere.
Speaking of contracts, what about your senior coach Paul Roos? His contract expires at the end of 2009. What will happen there?
At the moment we are just concentrating on playing North Melbourne this week. That is the priority. We will sit down with Paul after the season has finished and discuss future plans after that.
