Can the current model continue for the Swift Current 57s?
Longtime 57s volunteer and now past president Brad Woods is expressing concern the growth of the WCBL in terms of schedule and required offerings has pushed them beyond their budgetary limits.
"They're now operating on a 56-game schedule," Wood said. "When you're on an organization that relies 100% on volunteers to deliver that 56-game schedule it's tough because it's a full time commitment through the months of say April through to the end of September.
"Because of the growth of the WCBL, which is a good thing, but now the I guess the requirements and the commitments of being part of the WCBL is you're constantly pushing for innovation upgrades and introducing different things. With all that comes a price tag. We've now pushed our organization to a point where I don't feel that we're able to generate enough revenue through the community to offset that growth and those expenses that come with it."
Woods noted the club has lost money every year since COVID and may need to change their approach.
"The 100% volunteer organization doesn't work anymore, " he siad. "It's a full-time job on top of full-time jobs. So I think that in order to be viable and to be able to raise the dollars that are necessary you need to have staff you can no longer do that with just the volunteer group of organizers.
"You look at other teams in the league, they operate as businesses and they have hired staff to look after things and their board of directors basically is a policy board and works on the planning of the direction that the team is going to go within the structure of the league. In order to survive, we need to be able to raise enough money, whether it's to sponsorship, ticket sales, game day revenues, all those things to support some staff and have staff that can alleviate some of that workload off of the group of volunteers."
Wood is stepping away from the board after 17 years as a volunteer and many as president. He is being replaced as president by Jamie LeBlanc.
"It's mixed emotions, one being one of relief because it's a struggle every day is a struggle to maintain a ball club in in this town and at the level that that the town is accustomed to," Wood said. "But on the flip side, I've always felt that having a ball club in Swift current makes us a better community, and that has been the driving force behind my involvement for as long as I've been involved. I guess when you put that much into something for that long there is a definite feel of loss, I think as well that that you know, it's been a big part of what I've done for years, and I will definitely feel that moving forward."
Whether the business model changes or not, Woods is calling on the community to step up and support the small group of volunteers who have maintained the club over the years.
"I challenge community if you want to maintain a ball club at the level that we have, there has to be that buy in," he said. "The group is trying to solicit sponsorships, trying to sell season tickets, trying to run events that that are going to generate enough revenue to take care of our operating costs, and I think people take for granted the fact that there is a group of volunteers that have kept a team here for years. But it'll be that situation where all of a sudden it's announced that we can no longer field a team this year and then everybody will be up in arms and they'll be like, oh, we didn't even know they were struggling.
"The reality is we have a ball team, the ball team needs support, and if we're going to maintain a ball team, it has to be a community project just like the Broncos are... outside of a very small group people that hasn't happened. There's a small group of people that come to every game and there's a small group of businesses that have supported us without question for years. The small group is not going to maintain the team in the league that we now currently are in."