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When Sean McGuire arrived to take over as Chief Executive
of St Helens Rugby League Club he was impressed by their
performance on the pitch but he realised that the business
side of the Club needed to get into shape.
“The
Club had reached a stage in its history where it needed
to run more effectively as a business and generate more
revenue. The team was great and was very strong but
that has to be backed by financial strength and security
off the field and my job was, and still is, to get into
the guts of the company, improve its performance and
build strong relationships with the banks and financial
partners,” he explains.
The
result has been a major shake-up of the Club’s
revenue streams and the bottom line figures are now
looking healthy.
“We
have been concentrating on merchandising, kit sales,
corporate hospitality and TV revenues. Internet sales
have really taken off and we expect that side of the
business to exceed £1million this year. We have
to look at ourselves not just as a club for St Helens
but as a national brand. We have fans across the country
and they can now buy merchandise or tickets whenever
they want to on our website,” adds Sean McGuire.
“We
have a corporate strategy for developing the business,
we have a good management team in place and we are run
along the same lines as any successful business; very
few rugby league clubs can say that.
“We
are also looking towards what we need to do in the future
to attract even more investment and fans to the Club
and developing a new stadium and creating a world-class
sporting environment plays a part in that.”
Thanks
to a surge in the popularity of rugby league and a sharper
focus on its commercial activities Sean McGuire believes
that the Saints have the ability to be one of the biggest
international sporting brands.
“You
only have to look at the way that teams such as Manchester
United or the New York Yankees are recognised across
the world to realise the power of the brand and there
is no reason why we shouldn’t ‘up’
our game in terms of marketing and promoting the Saints.
“We
have an extremely loyal fan base and the sport of rugby
league is enjoying a much higher profile than it ever
has. It’s an exciting sport to watch with none
of the violence associated with football. We have a
large number of female fans and families who come to
watch us because they know it’s a really great
atmosphere and our season ticket sales have shown an
increase of 20% on last year’s figures.
“When
I arrived the Club had made a loss the previous year;
this year we will at least break even, if not do even
better and that is a real achievement for all of us.”
For more information on St Helens Rugby League, telephone
on 0870 756 5252 or visit their website.
Read success stories about
other successful St Helens companies
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