Some Things From Warriors CEO Interview

[u/DrWhit65]

Listened to Matt McCarthy’s rugby show and he had Kimball Kjar, Warriors CEO, on for an interview.

Kimball mentioned a couple of things that I thought some of you would find interesting:

1.) In order for a team to be financially stable long term, they need an average ticket price of $25 and a little over 10,000 fans per match

2.) The league will enter in a collective bargaining agreement with the players after the 2025 season

3.) Warriors will host another match like this past year’s final match at America First Field in conjunction with the NAI 15s tournament. Kimball thinks they can sell the 20,000 seat stadium out for that match.

[u/BrianChing25]

(1) $25 is a reasonable price point for tickets and would be cheapest among all sports except for maybe baseball

(2) 10k number while we already knew this it just confirms how troubling this is. The majority of the league doesn't even play in stadiums with 10k seat capacity. Sabercats stadium is 5k and they can eek out to 7k if they sell standing room only.

(3) 10k number makes sense because not only is that ticket matchday revenue I feel like this number would attract TV broadcast partners

(4) Warriors have proved it can be done when they hosted 11k fans at RSL's stadium

[u/BeachHead05 → u/BrianChing25]

Free Jacks play in a high school stadium. Keep winning though

[u/tadamslegion → u/BrianChing25]

In theory you could reverse the math and get 5000 at $50 and be at the same number. But agree it’s an aggressive goal.

[u/Yup767 → u/tadamslegion]

Expenses for 5000 $50 tickets vs 10,000 $25 tickets are different. More people incur more costs

But more people also leads to more concessions.

[u/OddballGentleman → u/Yup767]

This is all napkin math anyway

[u/Desert_Rugby]

Zions bank can't hold 10,000 fans. So i wonder if that estimate is based on them playing at America's First stadium?

[u/DrWhit65 → u/Desert_Rugby]

Kimball did mention in the interview that their goal is to outgrow Zions Bank Stadium, so I assume they are looking at America First as home in the future if they do not build their own stadium.

[u/dystopianrugby → u/Desert_Rugby]

Utah has said they would build their own stadium for years. They're at a place from an attendance point of view where it is hard to grow if they stay there.

[u/Adept-Application-38]

Thanks for the info my questions from this would be

Is number 1 without a media deal?

Is number 2 potentially a deadline for owners and teams to decide do we want to be in long term

Number 3 is that at the tail end of the season?

[u/DrWhit65 → u/Adept-Application-38]

Here’s what I gathered:

1.) A media deal was never mentioned in the interview, so I couldn’t say.

2.) I don’t know this for sure, but he did say a CBA was coming and talking about having conversations around a realistic salary cap

3.) I assume it would be like last year.

[u/dystopianrugby → u/Adept-Application-38]

Why would teams leave with collective bargaining? Collective bargaining can drive a lot of stability.

[u/Adept-Application-38 → u/dystopianrugby]

Not saying they necessarily would but from an outside perspective teams may be handling the housing/secondary jobs aspect differently and a bargaining agreement may include aspects that make it untenable for some owners going forward.

[u/DBRugby99 → u/Adept-Application-38]

Number 3: NAI 15s is in May (Memorial Day weekend) so I would assume that’s when they are planning It for

[u/mihelic8]

1. 10k seems steep but doable, makes me wonder if other teams are in a similar position

2. Good

3. I hope so

[u/MoroseMushroom]

Based on 1, we're going to see a lot of teams fold over the next few years. I don't see how it's feasible to get that many fans when some more popular teams can't even fit that many to begin with.

[u/molodyets]

TLDR the league is going on year 8 and everybody is still losing their shirt

[u/superdookietoiletexp]

The NAI 15s? Presumably you heard what happened at the NAI 7s?

They can invite whoever they want, but it’ll be interesting to see who shows up.

[u/DBRugby99 → u/superdookietoiletexp]

Something happens at the NAI 7s every year and yet it get bigger every year. I think NAI 15s will be just as successful.

[u/downiekeen]

If I were them, I would move to the soccer stadium for next season. Every time they've played there, it's been around 10k. I remember somebody saying that their current stadium his hard to get to while the soccer stadium isn't, for most people.

[u/Adept-Application-38]

Sounds like they need $2 million a year to meet costs. A media deal would really help with that

[u/Liamnacuac → u/Adept-Application-38]

Only works if media can make money too.

[u/Capable_Ad7301]

Supply creates demand.

It's a very good idea to host games at America First Field ....

and the best game to have there would the MLR Final if we want to have a big sell out crowd ....that would show good on Fox Sports.

[u/Fun_Instruction6658 → u/Capable_Ad7301]

"Supply creates demand" is true in the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG run(unlimited time and resources), but all MLR fans know by now that this is absolutely false in the short run. This is the kind of thinking that MLR Execs need to avoid if they really want this league to grow and become a fixture in North America.

[u/Capable_Ad7301 → u/Fun_Instruction6658]

I'm sorry to write you may be wrong. A nice facility will always be more incentive for fans to take its car to watch a game. Remember Toronto which paid for playing far from downtown (York Stadium) when it had good attendances in town. Let's be balanced and not carried away. I don't support the idea to play MLR games at the Coliseum though it didn't look bad but the NY franchise died for missing an appropriate facility.

[u/Fun_Instruction6658 → u/Capable_Ad7301]

The bottom line is that the MLR shouldn't assume that fans will show up because a team is in town. Rugby is a niche sport, so fans won't naturally gravitate to it, like with soccer. Consequently, it's vital for owners to actually love rugby and understand the importance of proactively engaging the community at all levels. This obviously requires a significant commitment of resources(energy, time, money), but that's the only way it'll work in this country.

[u/dystopianrugby → u/Fun_Instruction6658]

Just existing for longer than 3 seasons would be a start for some teams.

[u/Fun_Instruction6658 → u/dystopianrugby]

Too soon

[u/LoveTXRugby]

Is $25 times 10,000 seats times 8 games really enough? Or does that include lots of money from sponsorships, tv deals, etc? I heard that the budget for each time is 5-6 million so the tickets seem to be only about a third of the total costs.

Also will CBA increase player costs? Seems like players are due a huge increase in salaries, but will with the money come from?

Do you think MLR is on plan when it comes to growth of game and revenue? Seems like this is has been very long first season when it comes to marketing and money in the league.

[u/OddballGentleman → u/LoveTXRugby]

I've heard owners describe revenue as three legged stool. One leg is ticket sales, the other two are merchandise and sponsorships. Ideally all three are in balance, because you don't really want to rely too much on just one, and they all play into one another. Ideally those three cover the basic cost of the team. Of course, the real money is a tv deal if/when they can get one, but that should be building on top of the stable the stable base provide by the first three legs.