PLANNING
Sport England has worked hard to develop planning tools to help organisations to refine their plans
an exchequer-lead spend deadline just before a large commercial deal is landed can jeopardise the whole project. Could money be placed in an Escrow account and what are the overall strategies in place to ensure that all of the funds are available when they are required? Projects have failed owing to an in-
ability to meet deadlines, even though all the cash required has been identified, so it's important to try and identify someone in the team who has been through the process before and can head off potential problems before they become a issue. It may be that the quantity surveyor or
architectural team has no concept of the pressures that the development team are under when submitting technical plans as part of a funding package, so having someone to span the various teams could be invaluable.
Ongoing revenues This area is often neglected, with the focus on capital requirements taking centre stage, yet many who have invested heavily in a capital project find the burden of ongoing costs versus uncertain incomes too great and the project, however well intentioned, fails. In addition to the usual concerns of
staffing, utilities, refurbishment and other core costs that are usually fairly easy to map, sports facilities tend to suffer from dramatic peaks and troughs in their usage patterns. Consider an indoor sports centre: usage may run at in excess of 90 per cent at peak times but below
48
10 per cent off peak, although the facility still needs heating, lighting and staffing. This can be said of most facilities – rang- ing from golf courses to football stadia and swimming pools. By utilising the funding mix discussed,
a facility that is able to deliver a number of peak or mid times can be achieved. It may be that a gym has capacity from 10am until 4pm and through the addition of a free crèche service and a link to the local GP funded referral network many of these hours could also be utilised to deliver a range of health interventions. Similarly, football has seen an upsurge
in education programmes delivered at stadiums as education has become broader and more vocational. This is clearly a time at which the facilities would not be used to host corporate events or match days. Indeed, many capital funders may have the advantage of a “revenue tail” alongside capital, which can help to embed the facility over the tough initial period of operations against a wide range of social needs. This work should be undertaken in
tandem with the capital programme and it should be given equal importance to ensure success. There are a number of organisations both professional and within the state sector that are well practiced and can assist with this kind of support.
SPORTS MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK 2012
Future prospects Hopefully as the economic outlook improves, more facilities will be commis- sioned while the lessons of the last few years will be carried forwards in their design and outputs. The world of sport is rapidly learning
that there is a place for them, not only on match days or during major championships but also as a part of the communities in which they serve. The commercial world is no longer
interested in a badging exercise when a return is difficult to identify and would rather use sport as a long-term strategy in their marketing and business planning. National funding organisations are also
beginning to see sport in a different light, as the successes achieved are becoming increasingly well documented and emulated across the country. There is a way forward even at a time
when it appears that survival is the biggest challenge – it is just a case of looking in the right places and exercising some patience along the journey. l
Mark Walker is a managing partner at Oaks Consultancy and can be contacted at
mark@oaksconsultancy.co.uk and
www.oaksconsultancy.co.uk
www.sportsmanagementhandbook.com
PIC: ©
WWW.SPORTENGLAND.ORG
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