Loss of Burghley for BE

LEC

LEC

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What do you think this will mean for BE?

BE must find itself very vulnerable because as mentioned in EWW, BE has a profit of £100k and Burghley brings in £380k!

I am not surprised Burghley wanted to own its own event as Badminton runs itself. I wonder if Blenheim will be next? As these are the only two events 'owned' by BE and Blenheim is always very vulnerable to the weather.
 
Does BE only have a profit of £100 k - That is shocking given all the entries they get - maybe i am missing something and if Burghley contribute massively to that profit then BE will possibly be skint by the sounds of it !
Where does the money go ?

S x
 
Per the 2009 accounts:

Burghley income £2,767k
Burghley expenditure £2,383K

That's a healthy surplus to lose out on, given that BE's profit after tax was approx. £300k last year.

I think BE are really going to struggle financially within the next few years, the economy makes luxuries hard enough to afford but judging from people's posts on here BE aren't helping themselves with regards to encouraging members to carry on.
 
Definite that BE no longer has the event. It was announced at the BE AGM.

BE gets no entries they only get a percentage of the entries for operating under the BE banner. Its one of the reasons that Tweseldown and Aston run unaff! The entire entries go to the event then.

I actually think BE could be in real trouble.
 
swellhillcottage said:
Does BE only have a profit of £100 k - That is shocking given all the entries they get - maybe i am missing something and if Burghley contribute massively to that profit then BE will possibly be skint by the sounds of it !
Where does the money go ?

S x
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Should BE make a big profit though? Obviously they need to make money but they are a governing body funded by its members. If they made £1m profit you would all be upset that your membership fees were too high.

I think the knock on effect of losing Burghley will be a hike in memeberwship.
 
I think on the EWW website forum someone said membership next year was to go up £10 if not paid by direct debit and horse membership to go up by £5- perhaps this is to try and fill the hole left by Burghley?
 
I did a swift calculation and, bearing in mind my maths is awful, we may not have the whole picture at the moment, and I wasn't sure how many memebers BE has :O so assumed 8,000, I reckon they will need to raise north of £30 more per member per year just to cover the Burghley gap :( Assuming no costs cut, obviously...
 
dieseldog said:
Should BE make a big profit though? Obviously they need to make money but they are a governing body funded by its members. If they made £1m profit you would all be upset that your membership fees were too high.

I think the knock on effect of losing Burghley will be a hike in memeberwship.
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the problem that they have is that from last year's price rises a lot of people didn't join BE that would have done normally or didn't do as many events as normal- if they hike membership even more then more people will be forced to go unafil- i know that they have to break even but they really do need to think of more inventive methods of making money rather than just hiking prices!
 
diggerbez said:
the problem that they have is that from last year's price rises a lot of people didn't join BE that would have done normally or didn't do as many events as normal- if they hike membership even more then more people will be forced to go unafil- i know that they have to break even but they really do need to think of more inventive methods of making money rather than just hiking prices!
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hear hear! their response to anything appears to be to bump up the amounts they charge, thereby pricing more people out of the market, reducing the membership pool and consequently their revenues. it's a vicious circle. despite attempts to open up access to the sport by introducing more lower end competitions like BE80T, the strategy doesn't really seem very sustainable... there is only so far that they can go in diversifying the brand if the amount they charge for their wares is not viewed by the consumer as affordable / value for money! sorry - ranting. oops
 
Sorry, I must be missing something; £300k profit is not bad?? Esp for an organisation such as this. That's after all expenditure, wages etc.
 
dieseldog said:
I think these tables are quite interesting.

Less members in 2009 but more runs. PN most popular and look at Balloting in 2008 compared to other years.

http://www.britisheventing.com/page.asp?section=115&sectionTitle=British+Eventing+Statistics
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but do you not think that this is because of the numbers of cancellations in 2008 compared to 2009... generally the entries seem to be down quite a bit from 2008 which i think says something...and membership is down but day ticket sales are up (more people not joining and just doing a few events on a ticket?)
 
BE are a disaster zone darling (as Craig Revel Horwood would say) in terms of how they treat venues, members and the other sporting bodies. They are autocratic and think that the old military system of do as I say is an acceptable line to take in this day and age. BE needs a wake up call to be honest and good on Burghley for giving them one. Aston and Tweseldonw have the right idea too in terms of running unaffils, if BE were not so obstructive to these loved venues it may not have happened. To be honest the fun and enjoyment of doing anything with BE has become harder to justify these last few seasons. Whereas BD and BSJA is affordable and accessible to all. BE is not. It is stupidly expensive and for little back to the competitor. The riders at events are amazingly supportive of each other and that is what makes eventing. The venues are also helpful and work their socks off. The Member Body though - do me a favour. It wants a complete overhaul and as soon as possible....
 
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Not worked out how to link posts (if it's possible) but this morning I posted 'BE & loss of Burghley revenue' in CR - we are planning to contact MES with regard to the Burghley issue (and anything else that people want to know about) - bit like we did last winter when I went to speak to both MES and AF about various topical issues of the time and ran 2 pieces in Q&A format. If there are questions you want raised, please email me (hilary@eventingworldwide.com).

Could post the 2 pieces again on EWW if people are interested - though obviously 12 months out of date now.

www.eventingworldwide.com
 
Only an idea, but if your saying the price rise puts people off and therefore less people joining.. do you think that if BE dropped the membership by £10 and made it pretty public, that more people would join and they would break even with what they are recieving in membership now? And then they will have more members to 'make money from' whether it be through more entry fees, training etc...

Just a thought, i know its only £10, but there cirtainly hasnt been a drop in memebrship at all recetnly, so maybe it would catch mroe peoples attention and encourage them to join?
 
They need to scrap the membership fee altogether and incorporate the fee into the entry fee. That way, the more you run, the more you pay. If you don't run, you don't feel out of pocket. That would encourage people to compete, in my opinion.
 
or maybe lower it substancially to cover the magazine overheads etc but think your idea is very good. I have evented previously but with costs so high, would not look at "dabbling". I have done the maths, looked at the events I would want to do, number of runs I would want to do.. .and sometimes just keeping it on day is cheaper. Obviously that doesn't work if you have a decent horse and want to start earning points but at the lower levels its a lot to pay out.
 
So, excuse me if I am being thick, but will the event still run but under Burghley ownership. How does that work with BE entries?

I am not joining BE. I will be doing 2 BE80's and 4 BE90's on a ticket, then a couple of unaff's and that will make a nice season for me. We also have the other horse to take out dressage and showing, so that will be our season busy enough. :D
 
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MickeyMoo said:
So, excuse me if I am being thick, but will the event still run but under Burghley ownership. How does that work with BE entries?

I am not joining BE. I will be doing 2 BE80's and 4 BE90's on a ticket, then a couple of unaff's and that will make a nice season for me. We also have the other horse to take out dressage and showing, so that will be our season busy enough. :D
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a bit OT but do BE80 tickets not count in your annual allocation of four then?
 
Hi Diggerbez,

not according to my trainer no. I thought it did too, but the training ticket is different from the day ticket. Its better for me I can have more runs :D
 
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