Both major football codes in Australia have a lurid history of men who would be kings. Many have crashed and burned – yet still they keep coming. So, who owns your team?

For the full report see the current issue of inside Sport.

AFL CLUBS

The Western Australian Football Commission (WAFC) holds the AFL licence for the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers.

The WAFC sub-licences the West Coast Eagles Football Club that trades under the name of Indian Pacific Ltd and the Fremantle Football Club under its own name. The board of both the Indian Pacific Ltd and the Fremantle Football Club meet once a month to discuss the running of the club, which is left to the CEO, coach and staff employed on a day to day basis, however, the board will have the final say on any major decision such as firing or hiring senior management such as the two most senior people mentioned and imposing sanctions on out of control players such as happened in recent times with the West Coast Eagles, in particular Ben Cousins, Daniel Kerr and ex-Eagle Michael Gardiner.

Chairman: Dalton Gooding
CEO: Trevor Nisbett
Coach: John Worsfold

Who owns the club: The Western Australian Football Commission is the only shareholder of Indian Pacific Ltd, the unlisted public company that was formed to finance the West Coast Eagles in its inauguration. Hence, they own the club. Even though the West Coast Eagles is run like any normal business with a CEO who controls the day to day running of the club, and the board who meets once a month, the club has to submit its budget to the WAFC at the start of each year and the CEO and Chairman of the WCE meet with the WAFC throughout the year, the WAFC does has the power to dismiss the WCE board should there be a 15% variance to budget. The West Coast Eagles pay $3 million a year in ground rent to the WAFC for the use of Subiaco Oval plus a percentage of profits broken down as follows:
* 70% of the first million
* 60% of the second million
* 50% thereafter of any profits above $2 million
(It is interesting to note that up 2004 that the WCE were paying a flat rate of 80% of all profits straight to the WAFC but after 18 months of arguments from the Eagles, the WAFC reduced their take).

History: The West Coast Eagles football Club was created in December 1986 and played its first season in the VFL in 1987. Initially, it was a private company trading under the name of Indian Pacific Limited made up of private investors. The club lost a lot of money (approximately $14 million) and it wasn’t until 1989 that the Western Australian Football Commission bailed it out that the club came under the reigns of the governing body, however, it took until the year 2000 before the last minority shareholders were bought out. The club has had outstanding success on the field with 16 years of finals appearances in its 20 years of existence resulting in five grand finals appearances for three premierships.

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