Speaker 1: Well in a big morning of a big announcement, and
Speaker 1: it's been coming for a long long time. It's nearly
Speaker 1: a decade. I've just discussion and the soil was turned
Speaker 1: this morning by none than the Adelaide Football Club chairman,
Speaker 1: mister John Olson. Welcome John, Congratulations, Jimmy, good.
Speaker 2: To be with you. Thank you. Very important day it was.
Speaker 1: It was and was it exciting mate? I saw all
Speaker 1: the shovels lined up.
Speaker 3: Did you get your hands there?
Speaker 4: Yes, we did, putting a dust around today. A journey
Speaker 4: of three eight hundred and twelve days to get here.
Speaker 4: So it's been a long complicated journey, dealing with a
Speaker 4: whole raft of different stakeholders. But we're there and we're
Speaker 4: now on the custard delivering this project for our membership and.
Speaker 2: Fans relief or pride. John absolutely relieved.
Speaker 4: It's a really important milestone. ROWI but recognizing.
Speaker 2: There's still a lot of work to do.
Speaker 4: So I use the analogy today it's you've done all
Speaker 4: the hard work to get to the vinyls and then
Speaker 4: you've got to start all over again. Because it's now
Speaker 4: we've got into the building phase. We've got to focus
Speaker 4: on delivery as best we can on time on budget.
Speaker 4: Although we've got a fixed price contract which gives a
Speaker 4: degree of financial security to the club going forward, we
Speaker 4: didn't want to enter into any arrangement that was in
Speaker 4: any way put at risk the financial sustainability of the club.
Speaker 3: How much have the delays cost?
Speaker 5: Remember interviewing you March last year and you said, for
Speaker 5: every month there is a delay, ats a million dollars?
Speaker 3: Have you had you tali that cost?
Speaker 4: It'd be in the if you from day one.
Speaker 2: If I go back five years ago.
Speaker 4: Was when the first had the first discussion with Maya
Speaker 4: Coxon of the City of West Torrance, and that at
Speaker 4: that time we were anticipating about eighty five million dollars.
Speaker 4: Well it might have been eighty five to ninety and
Speaker 4: if it's now an one hundred million dollar project, so
Speaker 4: we'd be talking escalation over that five year period at
Speaker 4: the order of perhaps up to ten million dollars. And
Speaker 4: so that's meant that we've had to secure some additional
Speaker 4: funding further two point seven million from the Commonwealth Government
Speaker 4: and increase our target for sponsorship and donations from supporters
Speaker 4: of the club.
Speaker 3: What will your debt be.
Speaker 4: Deb will be approximately fifteen million at the end of
Speaker 4: the day. It depends if the have fundraising continues on
Speaker 4: the trajectory going at the moment, it could well be
Speaker 4: less than that.
Speaker 5: How do people, if they want to and they could
Speaker 5: hear this, contribute to the club. I think you're probably
Speaker 5: talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars, not wondllar coins
Speaker 5: and two dolar coins. How and where do they go
Speaker 5: to get that info?
Speaker 4: They can get that from the club. There's dedicated team
Speaker 4: looking after that. Anything that's contributed its tax deductible. A
Speaker 4: number of people are looking at a five year contribution,
Speaker 4: an annual contribution over five years and that is tax
Speaker 4: deductible because it's through the Australian Institute of Sport. We've
Speaker 4: got tax deductibility for the donations that are made of
Speaker 4: both people and it's the full scale rowe hundreds of
Speaker 4: thousands down to quite small amounts. We'd be grateful for
Speaker 4: whatever comes our way and we'll be ramping our outreach
Speaker 4: to our members, supporters, our fans to increase that as
Speaker 4: we get into the build. The important thing was to
Speaker 4: demonstrate we're past talking, we're now doing and delivering this.
Speaker 5: Who on your board has development experience or do you
Speaker 5: have consultants that will overlook this and report to the board.
Speaker 4: John, We've got a number of consultants, one from Interstate,
Speaker 4: one from here. We also have Adrian Espland, who was
Speaker 4: the CEO of Sarah Constructions and he's been with our
Speaker 4: facility committee helping us, supporting us for a couple of
Speaker 4: years and he'll now chair the project delivery committee. So
Speaker 4: he's a CEO of a well reputable, high profile and
Speaker 4: important South Australia construction company and he'll be overseeing all
Speaker 4: the reports to the board.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 5: Will the Crow sample team play home games home games there?
Speaker 4: That's what we would hope to be the case. We've
Speaker 4: got to have the agreement expire that we entered into
Speaker 4: when we did the shift to Adelaide Oval, But upon
Speaker 4: the expires that agreement and perhaps before what we want
Speaker 4: to do is our w team will play their home
Speaker 4: games there and as sample team also to play home
Speaker 4: games there.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: That then puts us on an.
Speaker 4: Even footing with the other clubs in the sample competition.
Speaker 5: We're directing, John, and I know we love getting you
Speaker 5: on because you do field questions, UNI comestyle food text.
Speaker 3: There's a number of them coming through.
Speaker 5: Is there a part or an area there that's licensed
Speaker 5: where I can have a beer or wine?
Speaker 2: Yes, there is.
Speaker 4: There will be a cafe in the facility and also
Speaker 4: a member's lounge, so you'll be able to come as
Speaker 4: a fan or a supporter or a member, and you'll
Speaker 4: be able to watch either indoor or outdoor seating the
Speaker 4: squad training at seb Oval, so you'll be able to
Speaker 4: see it firsthand and have a soda, water or a
Speaker 4: drink in the cafe or the lounge.
Speaker 3: Fantastic John.
Speaker 1: The actual oval itself. Will they end up doing Adelaide
Speaker 1: oval dimensions or will they go somewhere similar to McGlade.
Speaker 4: Well, to me at the moment they're digging up the oval,
Speaker 4: the old Sevenden oval. Yes, it'll be rion orientated on
Speaker 4: the same axis and size as Adelaide Oval. It'll be
Speaker 4: an absolute snapshot of Adelaide Oval. That'll be Sebbi Oval.
Speaker 4: And then on King's Reserve will have a training field,
Speaker 4: second oval training smaller oval training field. And when the
Speaker 4: tunnels are finished, then a Marvel Stars stayed and will
Speaker 4: able to be put there because the land towards the
Speaker 4: tunnels when construction's finished, will become available, gotcha.
Speaker 1: So it'll be it'll be almost two parts that second oval.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, we'll.
Speaker 1: Stay and second yeah, gotcha? Correct, Yeah, I should have
Speaker 1: come down this morning able to have to tear me on,
Speaker 1: made me debut on TBDA.
Speaker 4: Did you made me debut there?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: Did you have a few old West terms? Boys?
Speaker 5: There is that right?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 4: At Johnny Graham Lindsay was there. There's a whole the
Speaker 4: whole group of people and it was really great to
Speaker 4: see them down there. And we've said the history and
Speaker 4: the heritage of football on that oval will be maintained
Speaker 4: a heritage gates, the Heritage Grandstand will have them on
Speaker 4: a board and recognize the samful footy greats that played
Speaker 4: at SEBDA Noval. And interestingly, this week, I think it
Speaker 4: is eight years ago the w team played their first game,
Speaker 4: first game of.
Speaker 5: A number of people asking this one, will our membership
Speaker 5: go up?
Speaker 4: No, not related to this at all. In fact, we
Speaker 4: made a decision to avoid that and we'll be going
Speaker 4: down several phases phases of raising. We're in the one
Speaker 4: hundred thousand dollars category, moving down to the twenty five
Speaker 4: to fifty thousand dollars category all tax deductible, and then
Speaker 4: moving from that again, we're proposing to do our fundraising
Speaker 4: tax deductible fundraising. That's an offset we didn't propose and
Speaker 4: do not have not proposed in our financial modeling to
Speaker 4: apply any membership increase to the facility as it relates
Speaker 4: directly to the facility.
Speaker 5: Well, that answers that to a number of people in
Speaker 5: the unique homestyle through text. Our club's AGM will be
Speaker 5: her held. I think it's early March, the march any
Speaker 5: board announcements, not the member elect and that'll take its course,
Speaker 5: but any other board announcements that you anticipate before.
Speaker 4: Then, I would hope we'd be in a position to announce.
Speaker 4: We have several vacancies.
Speaker 2: On the board at the moment. We've got a.
Speaker 4: Football first focus and we have been in discussions and
Speaker 4: addressing that issue. I'd hope once we go through all
Speaker 4: the checks and balances and governments, governance arrangements, etc. Prior
Speaker 4: to the seventh of March, we'll be in a position
Speaker 4: to announce the composition of the board.
Speaker 3: Okay, is Neil barm in that shuffle.
Speaker 4: We've had discussions with Neil Well, we've had discussions with
Speaker 4: Neil over several years, and perhaps unfortunately over those several
Speaker 4: years they haven't come to fruition. However, we are in
Speaker 4: discussions with the Neil again, but we'll see where that
Speaker 4: ends up, and there'll be an appropriate time if we
Speaker 4: get to have everything finalized, to make an announcement, and
Speaker 4: I'm hopeful that that will be before.
Speaker 2: The A in March.
Speaker 4: That's what we're striving for.
Speaker 3: Okay, and your footy director is Mark Raschudo.
Speaker 5: Will he go on or he's part of the change
Speaker 5: that you're meeting in early March.
Speaker 4: Well, well, we put in several years ago we changed
Speaker 4: the constitution to put in place term limits for directors
Speaker 4: and the maximum number of years you can serve on
Speaker 4: the board is twelve years. Mark has served eleven. He
Speaker 4: has under the constitution the right to continue to a
Speaker 4: twelfth year, but could not continue beyond that as a
Speaker 4: result of the constitutional changes we put in place.
Speaker 1: John, I've got a unique home style food text from
Speaker 1: a Adelaide support of Patrick. He's just asked, could you
Speaker 1: ask about the member satisfaction survey? Apparently Port Adelaide we're fourth.
Speaker 1: Where did the Crows finish? He wants to know.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry to be off the top of my head,
Speaker 4: I can't tell you that. We do focus on those.
Speaker 4: They're reported to the board on a regular basis, and
Speaker 4: we track our social media very closely. We look at
Speaker 4: our outreach in our social media, and we are in
Speaker 4: our communications and social media activities with the membership base
Speaker 4: and the broader supporter community is up there in the
Speaker 4: top three or four. There's no doubt about that. I
Speaker 4: can't tell you about the satisfaction rating.
Speaker 2: I could have a guess at it, but I'm not
Speaker 2: going to get that.
Speaker 1: That's fair enough. You get a few more brownie points
Speaker 1: with this announcement, don't worry, which is great. Now. You
Speaker 1: know you're mentioning about the fundraising side of it. Have
Speaker 1: you put a subcommittee together for that to try and
Speaker 1: drive getting those funds in to try and reduce that
Speaker 1: immediate debt.
Speaker 4: Yes, we have, and it's got about three components. So
Speaker 4: Rob Chapman's involved in that, Stephen Roach involved with that.
Speaker 4: We have a number and there's about three different streams
Speaker 4: of fundraising and different categories, different dollar amounts, and so
Speaker 4: we've got people who are supporting us in that endeavor.
Speaker 4: At the moment In fact, there's a meeting taking place
Speaker 4: at Adelaide Oval right as we speak, so I'm not
Speaker 4: in that meeting because I'm talking to you guys.
Speaker 3: Good on you so that you raise it.
Speaker 5: John Olson, our guest chairman, big day today for my club.
Speaker 5: Are you bullish on the twenty twenty five season ahead?
Speaker 2: Like me, John, I'm always optimistic.
Speaker 4: Rowie and I look at last year and we were
Speaker 4: caught out with depth of our squad. When you have
Speaker 4: Isaac renk And out suspension concussion for an extended period,
Speaker 4: Riley injured there was injured at the start of the season,
Speaker 4: doesn't participate for almost what sixty percent of the season
Speaker 4: or thereabouts.
Speaker 2: And you take key players out like that and.
Speaker 4: You can't substitute for them, you pay a penalty. This
Speaker 4: competition is so even little things matter. And bringing Cummins
Speaker 4: peeping and Neil Bullen in three Players Finals experience plugged
Speaker 4: into the competition, addressed addressed the depth of our squad
Speaker 4: where people are as the number of them have said
Speaker 4: publicly we're fighting for our position. That is a good
Speaker 4: thing for the club and the determination we've backed the
Speaker 4: footy department in brought in Murray Davis to relieve some
Speaker 4: of the work of Nixy so he can be the
Speaker 4: best he can possibly be. So with all of that,
Speaker 4: focus on round one, Rowie and perform on round one
Speaker 4: and take it from there.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I like that. So you're not using the worth if
Speaker 3: word like we did this time last year.
Speaker 4: Well, during my political career, I always understood it was
Speaker 4: very hard if you put a peg in the sand,
Speaker 4: because you're always going to be held right to that.
Speaker 4: And there are so many variables in these injuries, things
Speaker 4: that come to pass, but some are in your control
Speaker 4: and some aren't. And you don't know what the seventeen
Speaker 4: other teams are doing at the moment, where they have improved,
Speaker 4: how they performing in the pre season, trial games, etc.
Speaker 4: So a really big focus this year, supplemented the depth
Speaker 4: of the squad, supplemented the footy department looking at football
Speaker 4: first strategy with Bard appointments, all about delivering finals, exposure,
Speaker 4: experience and participation.
Speaker 2: That's what we exist.
Speaker 5: For, exactly right to you and your team, well done
Speaker 5: over three eight hundred days. As you said, Look, we've
Speaker 5: got a home, we've got a future, we've got something
Speaker 5: that I think all members can look forward to. And
Speaker 5: I know when it's done, we'll be certainly proud. John,
Speaker 5: well done, put the feed up, thank you, put the
Speaker 5: slippers on smok us Agar for about two hours, and
Speaker 5: then you've got to build.
Speaker 3: The bloody thing.
Speaker 4: So the real starts now starts in terms of delivering
Speaker 4: the product itself.
Speaker 2: So thanks guys.
Speaker 5: Good to be with you, just talking to John through
Speaker 5: the years and the Tim Silvers and the club and
Speaker 5: other people that were on the board, certainly the samfle
Speaker 5: the moving parts on this deal was phenomenal, the different stakeholders,
Speaker 5: if you think of it, two councils, the action groups,
Speaker 5: the government departments, the development, the Samful, licenses, mayor's egos,
Speaker 5: to exactly right, exactly right that which is bubbling in
Speaker 5: the underneath, to land. This has been superb and to
Speaker 5: everyone there would have been people that would have thought, oh,
Speaker 5: I mean I think I even said I said to
Speaker 5: John Olson one day, you're not throwing good money after bad.
Speaker 5: It gets to a point where, God, when you stop,
Speaker 5: they're there, they've landed, the shovels are out. This is
Speaker 5: exciting and I feel it as a Crows fan. You
Speaker 5: want to know you've got something in the plans, in
Speaker 5: the wing I want to know that it's done, it's real.
Speaker 1: Like I think talking to John through that journey, that
Speaker 1: there couldn't be any other option but Ebden. They had
Speaker 1: to get had to get in, they had to get dirty,
Speaker 1: and they had to make it happen, and they did
Speaker 1: exactly that event.
Speaker 3: So full crew.
Speaker 5: John's a better man than me because I would have
Speaker 5: spat it and he hanged tough and he was the
Speaker 5: right man in that right job to get.
Speaker 3: This job done. So willed under him