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Kingston Impact Basketball Club 8

Current Situation Analysis

The Kingston Impact Basketball Club has a board of directors. There are 8-10 members at a given time all who has a strong background in basketball. In addition, there are a lot of government officials such as principles of the local high schools, former coaches and more. This is because the clubs’ constitution states that all board members need to be associated with basketball in some way.

It is very rare that a Not-For-Profit has a lot of money in the bank, however, this is the case for the Kingston Impact Basketball Club. They currently have $100,000 siting in their bank. This money comes from various sources as league fees and tournaments. In addition, each league funds its own. This mean that the house leagues support the house leagues and not the all stare league. One tournament can bring the club 20,000 this is called the Mega tournament and is a pure females tournament. They currently do not have any grants, camps or sponsorships because the board of directors are not very proficient on where to find or how to apply for various government grants or how to acquire sponsorships.

On the other hand, there are various expenses that the club faces. Within the month, the club has a liability of $50,000 due to the school board for the use of their gyms times. Other expenses that the club faces include equipment at approximately $10,000 annually, uniforms at $50,000 every 4 years, referees and insurance. These are all things that are needed to successfully run a club serving the Kingston area.

Currently, there are three area the club is struggling with. The first is gym time. The main root of the problem there is the closing of various high schools in which the club was using. The second is attraction and retention of players and coaches. Player tend to grow out of sports when they enter high school and college because their priority changes, and coaches are on a volunteer bases and may not always be available with their busy schedules. And the last area in question is finance. The high rental fees and the little revenue they grow year after year will not be enough to sustain the club for ever. This third issue is where we will focus on with the following pages.

Brief History:

On June 24th, 2007, the Kingston various recreational basketball leagues, decided to merge into one, multi-tiered club. Within this mix of team there was the Cavaliers, Fighting Irish and Running Rebels. They are now known as the Kingston Impact. From the very beginning, the Impacts have grown the game of basketball not only in Kingston but also the Grater Kingston Area, they focus on both competitive and recreational aspects of the sport.

When Don became president of the club, his first task was to write the clubs constitution which by law should have already been completed. After that, he was tasked with digitalizing their financials from multiple boxes and cabinets onto spreadsheets. There are long processes and often rely on other professional guidance. Now, the club is legally a not-for-profit organization and complies with the government guidelines.

Research:

To begin, the Mississauga Monarchs might have the largest number of players through out various leagues, but they also have a lot more population then Kingston. In fact, Mississauga has a population of 721,599 and 2,000 player which translates to a 2.7% conversion which is like the ratio here in Kingston. Here, there is a population of 146,000 and 450 players which is slightly better at 3%. In addition, they take pride in their coaching staff and require that they all have 5 years experience minimum in teaching young children. This is a great idea because teachers have a distinct way of talking and mentoring young children.

The Niagara Falls Red Raters was another teams that has a very good competitive basis. One of their strengths are the various leagues and one stood out. It is an elite team of girls. This team trains with professionals to develop their skill further then what they can on the competitive teams. With more training and practices. How does this relate? With a league with higher talent, there is more competition for these 12 spots on the team therefore their can be higher tryout fees and higher league fees. This will help gain more revenue.

Another competitive team is the Hamilton Blessed Sacraments. One of the best things they could have done was to seek sponsorships from hotels. This means hotels can charge a slightly higher price and donate the difference to the club. This not only boosts the clubs’ income but also the hotels on off seasons. This is something that Impact can also do with the various hotels in the Kingston region during tournaments.

There are multiple possibilities for more tournaments. Tournaments such as the Mega can easily bring in 20,000 in revenue over 2 weekends. By submitting a tournament form to the Ontario Basketball Association, Kingston Impact can hold more tournaments. However, this requires more volunteers and more gym space. Volunteers can be reached at the various high schools as it is a requirement to graduate.

Another area of research was advertising and whether there are permits required. Under the Kingston bi-law, if the advertising is smaller then two feet square there is no permit required. When it comes to sport tournaments, there is not usually many advertising signs around town but there can be online adverting. Online advertising is less expensive and can use an algorithm to target specific people. In this case, advertisements would be targeted to either parents of athletes or basketball players. One of the best opportunities to promote a tournament is directly from the Ontario Basketball Association because they have a database on all the approved tournaments within Ontario.

Another possibility is to purchase either a building or land and build a gym. However, this is expensive and would require a lot more capital then the club currently has. To do this, they would need a million-dollar loan or more to properly renovate a location to basketball courts. On the other hand, other sports teams such as volley ball are also in the same situation and since they are played on the same courts, a partnership between the two can help elevate costs. With a building to call their own, they can coach or train basketball all year round and rent the space for events such as Comicon which can bring in a substantial amount of revenues.

A SWOT analysis is attached in Appendix 1 and a breakdown of gym rentals for both the Limestone School District and the Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Boards are in appendix 2 and 3.

Forming the Strategy,

Opportunities

and threats analysis

One way to grow the club is to collaborate with the other various clubs such as volleyball and build their own gym. This will cut down on the cost of renting the gyms space from the school boards but will be costly for the first couple years. Building a gym is not cheap and can cost a few million to have all the necessities such as multiple change rooms, courts, bathrooms. Stands and concessions. With the help of other clubs within the Kingston area they could all share the expense and use it for their various needs. This does not limit the use of the space to sports teams but can be used as rental space for conventions. On the other hand, banks might not be willing to lend such a high amount to these clubs because not-for-profits normally do not run high in ending cash and that can be an issue with repaying the loan. Another issue is the cost of running a gym of this size. Hydro is not cheap, plus the cost of cleaning and maintaining the grounds can become costly.

One way to gain revenues is to host more tournaments. Tournaments can include a mega for men, 3 vs 3, shooting competitions and more. These various tournaments will attract a much broader group and bring in revenue not only to the club but to Kingston’s economy. The threat of hosting more tournaments is the cost of renting gyms and acquiring volunteers.

Along with tournaments, there is a possibility to grow the sponsorships and partnerships with local hotels. This means they can either donate a portion of the income they receive over the tournament weekends to the club or they can charge approximately 10-20% more because these teams need a place to stay and will pay the higher costs. The downside to this would be if hotels are not willing to cooperate.

Workshops and summer camps can bring in more revenue over the school breaks. These camps can focus on skill development and team building. Everyone knows a team in which there is no trust is not a team. On the other hand, having camps is not easy to run. There needs to be staff and volunteers to run the various tasks of running a camp such as lunch prep and health and safety of the children.

The Idea

The Idea that we have decided was to host a Mega tournament for men while utilising the sponsorships of hotels and volunteers from the local schools.

To begin, a Mega for men’s can bring in over 100 teams, double that of the woman’s Mega. It will take place over multiple weekends to accommodate all games. This tournament can bring in more then $40,000 in revenue to the club. In addition, to revenue there are costs. Some of these costs are referees, gyms, and concessions.

To reduce some of the costs to the club, they can go to multiple hotels and inquire about a possible sponsorship between the two. This sponsorship can come in two forms. The first, increase the price of the hotels and donate rooms for the referees coming from out of town or the second, the increase in price is donated to the club. With 100 teams and 12 members per team and their families, there is a significant opportunity for revenues. Hotels do not have to be limited to Kingston and can incorporate those from Gananoque.

As for the concessions, their can be various bake sales at the different high school. This can be either volunteers from the club itself or a collaboration from other not-for-profit to help fundraise. Since the tournament will be other multiple locations it is unlikely to have anything to big. Most teams will go out for lunch, which helps the city.

For this to be successful, there would need some sponsorships with the hotels and various organisations within Kingston. These organisations can include their name on the uniforms or signage at the highschools.

Appendix 1: SWOT

Strength

· Since basketball is one of the least expensive sports to start, it is a great way for children and youth to build their collaborative leaderships.

· With the sports growing popularity within Canada and Ontario, there are more individuals who are being attracted to the sport

· Since the Kingston Impacts are the only team in the greater Kingston area, they have built many partnerships which are still evolving.

· They have a positive cash flow, which is always good for a not-for-profit

Weaknesses

· Kingston is not within the main corridor of basket ball

· Since coaching is on a volunteer basis, there is limited number of individuals who are ready to commit when there is no financial gain

· All board members are basketball involved and many from the school board. This limits the diversity of knowledge

· Burnouts can occur for the directors and anyone involved

· Even though there is partnerships, there are no sponsors

· Since the board has no accountants/financial savvy individuals, there is no knowledge on where to acquire or how to fill out grants.

Opportunities

· To boost team spirits and to gain more individuals involved with basketball, the various clubs could come together and make a cheerleading squad.

· There are so many opportunities with tournaments such as 3v3, Mega for men’s, shooting competitions, and many more

· Workshops and summer camps to peek the interest of youths and to help build the skills needed to be proficient in basketball

· With tournaments, there is on average 80% of individuals who come out of town, hotels could offer rooms at a premium in which the club gets a portion of the income.

Threats

· With the closure of many of the high schools, there is a risk of not having enough time to practice.

· To keep a not-for-profit running, there always needs to have cash flowing. This becomes an issue when costs increase, and bills need to be paid on time

· Gyms, jersey’s and equipment are very expensive and need to be replaced regular

· Youths tend to get involved with relationships and post-secondary school and therefore hard to retain.

· With any sport, first aid is important and can be costly to ensure everyone is trained to notice injuries before they develop into something devastating. (concussions, broken bone)

Appendix 2: Limestone District School Board Rental fees

Appendix 3: Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board

Resources:

https://www.rtcr.com/listing1443-kingston–commercial–land-property-for-sale-327-339-select-drive

https://www.cityofkingston.ca/documents/10180/16904/Sign+Bylaw

https://www.cityofkingston.ca/documents/10180/20847/Sports%20Field%20Allocation%20Policy

http://www.limestone.on.ca/Community/Documents/Rate%20Schedule

http://schools.alcdsb.on.ca/community/Permit%20Application%20Form/2014_15%20Rate%20Schedule

http://monarchsbasketball.ca/why-monarchs/

http://www7.mississauga.ca/documents/business/2017/Population_Demographics_Housing

http://www.blessedsacramentbasketball.ca/

http://www.nfredraiders.com/leagues/custom_page.cfm?leagueID=0&clientID=5489&pageID=16420

https://basketball.on.ca/host-sanctioned-tournament/