If you have reached the thirty team level at your club you are approaching the upper echelon and are starting to realize some of the benefits of scale. You might now be able to offer your older kids more advanced recruiting services, for example. You are attractive enough to apparel companies to negotiate for some free apparel for your coaches. You can afford a full time office manager which will provide your families with a higher level of customer service. Your reputation has likely reached a point where you are firmly entrenched in your market. Hopefully you have an active and pervasive social media presence.
For our purposes here, we will assume that you are no longer practicing in school gyms and have, instead, rented a facility for twelve months a year.
30 Team Club Annual Overhead Expenses
| Category | Annual Expense |
| Salaries & Wages | $100,000.00 |
| Office Supplies | $ 5,000.00 |
| Volleyball Supplies | $ 3,500.00 |
| Facility rental | $ 98,000.00 |
| Professional fees | $ 4,000.00 |
| Website | $ 3,000.00 |
| Credit card fees | $ 6,000.00 |
| Taxes | $ 9,000.00 |
| Insurance | $ 12,000.00 |
| Travel, meals & entertainment | $ 2,400.00 |
| Interest expense | $ 3,000.00 |
| Advertising | $ 2,400.00 |
| Repair and maintenance | $ 4,800.00 |
| Utilities | $ 9,000.00 |
| Utilities $ 9,000.00 Depreciation expense | $ 10,000.00 |
| Miscellaneous | $ 1,800.00 |
| Total Overhead Expenses | $273,900.00 |
So in our hypothetical thirty team club, our annual overhead expenses are $273,900.00. When a club leaves a school where it practiced in its early years of existence it often incurs a much higher facility rental charge. The upside is that the club now has 24/7 access to a facility where it can conduct camps and academies, offer lessons and, in some cases, even host small tournaments.
At this level, many clubs adopt a parent representative system. Each team chooses a parent to serve as a liaison between the coach and the players’ parents. It is the representative’s responsibility to call all of the team families on matters concerning the team and club like travel arrangements, costs, game schedules, sites, team activities and so forth. Oftentimes, this responsibility is done free gratis but sometimes the other parents take up a collection at the end of the year to express their gratitude.
So, before your club can generate a net profit, it must generate enough gross profit from its revenue activities to pay its’ overhead expenses.
Let’s construct a club spreadsheet detailing the revenue that our teams will generate along with the direct expenses incurred to generate that revenue.
| Age Group | Level | Total PF per Team | Coaches Pay | Uniforms | Coaches Gear | Recruiting |
| 18 | Elite (open) | $26,550.00 | $8,500.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | $400.00 |
| 17 | Elite (open) | $26,550.00 | $8,500.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | $400.00 |
| 16 | Elite (open) | $26,550.00 | $9,000.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | $400.00 |
| 15 | Elite (open) | $26,550.00 | $7,000.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | $400.00 |
| 14 | Elite (open) | $24,150.00 | $6,500.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | |
| 13 | Elite (open) | $19,750.00 | $6,500.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | |
| 12 | Elite (open) | $16,500.00 | $6,500.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | |
| 11 | Elite (open) | $10,100.00 | $6,500.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | |
| 18 | National | $26,550.00 | $6,000.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | $400.00 |
| 17 | National | $26,550.00 | $6,000.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | $400.00 |
| 16 | National | $26,550.00 | $5,000.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | $400.00 |
| 16 | American | $26,550.00 | $5,000.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | |
| 15 | National | $26,550.00 | $4,500.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | $400.00 |
| 15 | American | $26,550.00 | $4,500.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | |
| 14 | National | $24,150.00 | $5,000.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | |
| 14 | American | $24,150.00 | $5,000.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | |
| 13 | National | $19,750.00 | $2,750.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | |
| 13 | American | $19,750.00 | $2,750.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | |
| 12 | National | $16,550.00 | $4,000.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 |
| 11 | National | $10,100.00 | $4,000.00 | $2,250.00 | $150.00 | |
| 15 | Regional | $14,346.00 | $2,200.00 | $ 900.00 | $100.00 | |
| 14 | Regional | $11,700.00 | $2,200.00 | $ 900.00 | $100.00 | |
| 13 | Regional | $11,025.00 | $2,200.00 | $ 900.00 | $100.00 | |
| 12 | Regional | $ 9,675.00 | $2,200.00 | $ 900.00 | $100.00 | |
| 11 | Regional | $ 7,668.00 | $2,000.00 | $ 900.00 | $100.00 | |
| 10 | Regional Red | $ 5,400.00 | $4,000.00 | $ 900.00 | $100.00 | |
| 10 | Regional | $ 5,400.00 | $2,000.00 | $ 900.00 | $100.00 | |
| 14 | Spring Reg | $ 4,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $ 800.00 | $ 50.00 | |
| 12 | Spring Reg | $ 3,600.00 | $1,000.00 | $ 800.00 | $ 50.00 | |
| 10 | Spring Reg | $ 2,400.00 | $1,000.00 | $ 800.00 | $ 50.00 | |
| Total | $525,714.00 | $132,300.00 | $53,700.00 | $3,850.00 | $3,200.00 | |
| Gross Profit | $332,664.00 |
There are three more revenue opportunities that you club can take advantage of: lessons, camps and youth leagues.
Lesson Income Statement
If you promote lessons, you can generate lesson revenue equal to about 8% of your overall participation fees. Since our club fees are $525,714.00 we estimate that we can generate $40,000.00 of lesson revenue.
| Lesson Revenue | $40,000 | |
| Coaching Expense | $25,000.00 | |
| Court Rental | $3,000.00 | |
| Total Expenses | $28,000.00 | |
| Profit | $12,000.00 |
Camp Income Statement
We are able to make 50% profit on well-run skill camps.
| Skill Camp Revenue | $30,000.00 | |
| T-shirts | $ 1,500.00 | |
| Court Rental | $ 2,000.00 | |
| Total Expenses | $18,500.00 | |
| Profit | $11,500.00 |
Youth Leagues
Youth leagues can be run year round but, for our purposes, we will assume that we run one league in the fall for kids ages 8 – 14. Athletes train two evenings a week and play games on Saturdays for six weeks at a cost of $200.00 per athlete.
| Youth League Revenue | $20,000.00 | |
| Coaching Expenses | $10,000.00 | |
| T-shirts | $ 500.00 | |
| Corurt Rental | $ 1,500.00 | |
| Total Expenses | $12,000.00 | |
| Proft | $ 8,000.00 |
Summary
Now let’s pull together our four revenue activities: club, lessons, camps and leagues, and evaluate how our club did financially.
| Gross Profit | |
| Club | $336,514.00 |
| Lessons | $ 12,000.00 |
| Camps | $ 18,000.00 |
| Leagues | $ 8,000.00 |
| Gross Profit | $374,514.00 |
| Overhead expense | $273,900.00 |
| Club Net Profit | $100,614.00 |
A club directorship can be a very demanding and stressful position but it can also be a very rewarding. How many businesses can you name where every constituency benefits from being associated with it: the players, parents, your community, coaches and last, but not least, the hard working owner – director. It would be hard to find a more rewarding career!
For more education for Club Directors click HERE. For related reading for Club Directors click HERE.
About the Author
The author, Tim Kuzma, is an entrepreneur and registered Certified Financial Planner. He is a graduate of The University of Michigan, where he played basketball, and is, also, a part owner of The Munciana Volleyball Club.
