Finance
With major change to CHSAA’s tournament and playoff finance structure, host schools now in position to make more money off postseason
LONE TREE — Colorado high schools are about to make a lot more money hosting playoff games and events.
The CHSAA Legislative Council voted to amend the association’s tournament and playoff finance structure on Tuesday at the DCSD Legacy Campus. Previously, host schools paid a percentage of their playoff gate revenue to CHSAA and also a portion to help reimburse visiting teams for traveling.
But under the new amendment — which passed overwhelmingly via a 56-14 vote — each member school will now pay an annual playoff fee to CHSAA, with the amount based on what basketball classification that school is in. With that fee paid, schools now get to keep the profits from hosting playoff games and events such as regionals, without having to share that revenue with CHSAA.
“This is a structural and fundamental change to the way that we’ve done things,” CHSAA commissioner Mike Krueger said. “This approach is more of a cost-share, because we are a membership that’s a benefit-share approach.”
The amendment came to the floor on Tuesday following months of research by CHSAA’s Tournament & Playoff Finance Committee, which found that schools hosting playoff games and tournaments (such as wrestling or volleyball regionals) were consistently finding themselves in the red.
For example, Tournament & Playoff Finance Committee chairperson Paul Cain, the athletic director for the Mesa County Valley School District, said that 85% of last year’s hosts for wrestling regionals lost money. With this change, that deficit would now be a $5,000 profit for each host school.
The association’s tournament and playoff finance reports reveal that postseason money accounts for 5-10% of CHSAA’s organizational budget, and Cain argues that “the teams that are in the playoffs are currently subsidizing this money, and now, this would go across the membership.”
CHSAA Director of Finance Sarah Vernon-Brunner said this amendment will have “no financial effect on CHSAA.”
“The committee … looked at a five-year average of playoff revenues and used that as the basis for determining the total (playoff) fees,” Vernon-Brunner wrote in an email to The Denver Post.
While CHSAA membership fees will remain the same for a third straight year in 2024-25 — each school’s membership dues are $948, plus a $161 participation fee for each sport/activity — this playoff fee will now be tacked on to schools’ costs. Class 1A schools will pay $600; 2A $800; 3A $1,000; 4A $1,400; 5A $1,900 and 6A $2,600.
Two of Colorado’s largest districts, Denver Public Schools and Aurora Public Schools, opposed the amendment.
In a statement to The Denver Post, DPS said that the amendment’s “year-over-year projections show significant financial impacts to the district,” and DPS district athletic director echoed that sentiment on Tuesday.
“We ran the models in Denver with our current structure,” Bendjy said. “We lost $2,000 over the last two months in postseason activities, but with this proposed structure and the same events, we’re now down $16,000. That’s a loss of 800%. Philosophically, this is not a financial structure we can get behind at this time.”
APS district athletic director Casey Powell also spoke out against the amendment ahead of its passing vote.
“This will create an absolute stable function for CHSAA, but it will completely flip my budget personally, upside-down, for the way I hold my budget,” Powell said. “Because I don’t get that (new) revenue, because my schools don’t regularly make the playoffs. So to say I’m going to get that (playoff) fee back is not true.”
Krueger acknowledged those concerns, but said that “for all intents and purposes, this is a membership due.”
As part of the amendment, in a head-to-head playoff game, if the host makes $1,000 or more in net income, then 25% of that gets paid to the visiting team. Cain said the 75/25 split would be done on an “honor system.”
Krueger also added that this new model would incentivize schools to host regional tournaments, rather than disincentivize them, and that districts like DPS and APS could possibly recoup their playoff fee by hosting those tournaments.
“If you host a regional, this should in some ways help, because events you wouldn’t look to currently host maybe that would change and encourage our membership to host these events,” Krueger said. “And if you deserve the right to host (based off playoff seeding), should our system be one in where it costs you significantly to host that (game or) event?”
To Krueger’s point, this fall, Cherry Creek athletic director and Tournament & Playoff Finance Committee member Jason Wilkins said the Bruins took a loss on their first-round football playoff game despite a couple thousand people in attendance at the Stutler Bowl.
Under the current model, CHSAA receives 10% of the gross receipts and 70% of the net proceeds off football playoff games from host schools. In basketball, which is traditionally the association’s biggest playoff money-maker, CHSAA’s due 20% of the adjusted gross receipts.
Wilkins said that cost structure, in addition to having to pay ticket-takers, police, security guards, officials and visiting travel expenses, “doesn’t leave a lot of opportunity for profit for hosts.”
Mead athletic director Chad Eisentrager doubled down on Wilkins’ opinion, arguing that profits from playoff games and events “should stay within those communities that are putting in the work, the time and resources.”
“Three years ago we hosted Roosevelt in the state semifinals for football,” Eisentrager explained. “We had almost $13,000 in revenue, and we lost money as a result of the security and all the other fees that went along with running that event.
“So in fact, we are losing money on these (playoff events), when my community, who had a right to host that event, got to keep zero of that revenue. This (new amendment) spreads (the cost burden) out, and if you’re successful enough to host one big basketball game, one big football game or some of these other (postseason) events like regional wrestling, (you’ll make the fee back).”
Cain also argued that the new amendment creates “some flexibility for schools on how they treat the postseason.” For instance, schools wanting to boost attendance and atmosphere can now elect to not charge their students for postseason games, so long as they let the visiting students in for free, too. Before, there was a fee for not charging a gate.
And the Tournament & Playoff Finance Committee said that in addition to increased revenues for many schools, the amendment also eliminates a lot of paperwork that was convoluting the money trail.
“One of the things (the committee) has heard is, visiting schools always don’t get their (travel) money like they’re supposed to,” Wilkins said. “Such-and-such school is supposed to pay, but it’s not always that simple, or that timely, or you have to keep asking. Different districts have different financial systems. So there’s a lot of (red tape), in conjunction to the time filling out a lot of these forms.”
The amendment will go into effect for the next two-year CHSAA cycle.
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SHEPHERDSTOWN, W. Va., November 15, 2024–(BUSINESS WIRE)–JSB Financial Inc. (OTCPink: JFWV) reported net income of $2.0 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2024, representing an increase of $1.3 million when compared to $643 thousand for the quarter ended September 30, 2023. Basic and diluted earnings per common share were $7.64 and $2.33 for the third quarter of 2024 and 2023, respectively. The third quarter results include the recognition of an interest recovery totaling $1.3 million, a recovery to the allowance for credit losses on loans totaling $252 thousand and a recovery of legal fees totaling $17 thousand on prior nonperforming loans. Excluding the impact of these notable items, pre-tax income of $959 thousand for the third quarter of 2024 was $187 thousand more than the same period in 2023.
Net income for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 totaled $3.4 million, representing an increase of $1.1 million when compared to $2.3 million for the same period in 2023. Basic and diluted earnings per common share were $13.33 and $8.46 for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Annualized return on average assets and average equity for September 30, 2024 was 0.87% and 17.65%, respectively, and 0.66% and 13.17%, respectively, for September 30, 2023. Excluding the impact of the notable items in the third quarter of 2024, pre-tax income of $2.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 was $96 thousand lower than the same period in 2023.
“We are pleased with our performance for the third quarter, which includes one-time recoveries on nonperforming loans totaling $1.5 million. Additionally, our team continued to create, deepen and expand our customer relationships which resulted in an increase in total deposits of 10% when compared to the second quarter and 17% year-over-year,” said President and Chief Executive Officer, Cindy Kitner. “During the third quarter, we saw stable loan growth, which was funded through loan maturities and deposit growth, and we continue to have strong credit quality metrics including past dues, nonaccruals, charge offs and nonperforming loans, all of which remained at historically low levels.”
Finance
Interested In Manulife Financial’s (TSE:MFC) Upcoming CA$0.40 Dividend? You Have Four Days Left
Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it’s exciting to see Manulife Financial Corporation (TSE:MFC) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company’s books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. Accordingly, Manulife Financial investors that purchase the stock on or after the 20th of November will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 19th of December.
The company’s next dividend payment will be CA$0.40 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed CA$1.60 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Manulife Financial has a trailing yield of approximately 3.5% on its current stock price of CA$46.23. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. So we need to investigate whether Manulife Financial can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
View our latest analysis for Manulife Financial
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable – hardly an ideal situation. Manulife Financial paid out more than half (55%) of its earnings last year, which is a regular payout ratio for most companies.
When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.
Click here to see the company’s payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. With that in mind, we’re encouraged by the steady growth at Manulife Financial, with earnings per share up 4.5% on average over the last five years.
Another key way to measure a company’s dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the past 10 years, Manulife Financial has increased its dividend at approximately 12% a year on average. It’s encouraging to see the company lifting dividends while earnings are growing, suggesting at least some corporate interest in rewarding shareholders.
Finance
Solving the Adaptation Finance Gap: Plans are in Place, but Funding Falls Short – Climate 411
The UN climate talks, COP29, is well underway, and countries have entered final negotiations on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), a new climate finance goal to boost funding for climate action in developing countries. Reaching agreement on the goal may be difficult in the face of the U.S election results, but it remains an urgent priority.
One glaring finance gap that we need to address in the new goal is finance for climate adaptation. Adaptation is how governments and communities prepare for and adjust to the impacts of climate change. It’s about making changes to reduce or prevent the harm caused by climate impacts like rising sea levels, more frequent storms, and hotter temperatures.
According to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), adaptation needs are not being met worldwide. Developing countries will need $215 billion per year over the next decade for their adaptation priorities, from building climate resilient infrastructure to restoring ecosystems. Yet international finance flows for adaptation were just $28 billion in 2022 – an increase over prior years, but nowhere near enough.
Transformational adaptation requires closing the finance gap and maximizing the impact of every dollar.
Where is the world falling behind on adaptation?
Many developing countries are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, and the good news is that they are prioritizing efforts to build resilience. UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report found that 87% of countries have at least one national adaptation planning instrument in place, compared to around just 50% a decade ago. These instruments include National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and other strategies or policies that guide adaptation.
Now time for the bad news: although planning has improved, there is a growing gap in implementation as countries lack the necessary finance to meet their objectives. Adaptation has consistently been underfunded compared to mitigation, and while developed countries are working to double adaptation finance, the current $28 billion in annual flows represents just 13% of the $215 billion needed annually.
[Source: UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2024]
The lack of finance for adaptation has serious implications for many developing countries, especially small island states which urgently need international support to strengthen resilience. For example, the Caribbean nation of Dominica is installing early warning systems to improve preparedness and reduce the impact of future hurricanes, but by 2023 they had only installed three systems and need 50 more to adequately cover the island. Without sufficient adaptation finance, the country will remain highly exposed to sudden climate shocks.
This finance gap is further complicated by limited private sector engagement in adaptation. UNEP finds that many transformational adaptation projects are seen as risky by private investors, due to their longer time frame for benefits and less clear return on investment. Private finance does flow to projects in infrastructure and commercial agriculture, but often not without efforts by the public sector to de-risk investments.
It is not surprising that two-thirds of adaptation financing needs are anticipated to be financed by the public sector. But the quality of public finance for adaptation has room for improvement as well. 62% of public finance for adaptation is delivered through loans, of which 25% are non-concessional, or at market rate with no favorable terms. And the use of non-concessional loans for adaptation in most vulnerable countries has actually increased in recent years. These tools have the potential to drive up the debt burden in developing nations which are already struggling to pay the bills. Expanding grant and concessional finance will be important to mitigate these challenges.
How do we unlock quality adaptation finance?
The Adaptation Gap Report suggests that filling the finance gap will require several enabling factors that can unlock new finance flows. Notably, in EDF’s new report ‘Quality Matters: Strengthening Climate Finance to Drive Climate Action,’ we identify similar strategies as we call for structural reforms within the international climate finance system. Three key recommendations overlap in both reports.
First, countries need to mainstream their climate objectives and adaptation goals within national planning and budgeting processes. This integration should be paired with robust stakeholder engagement that systematically includes subnational authorities, marginalized groups and potential implementing entities in the planning process. Doing so will better align adaptation activities with other national priorities and create more fundable projects. Moreover, planning processes should emphasize project evaluation and evidence gathering to better understand what interventions are most impactful and maximize the potential of climate resources.
Second, countries should adopt investment planning approaches to climate action. Specifically, they should work to develop a pipeline of bankable projects that can meet the objectives within their NAPs and other planning instruments. This can help attract investors to projects and ensure successful implementation of adaptation plans.
Third, multilateral financial institutions including multilateral development banks (MDBs) and climate funds need to undergo structural reform to improve the quality of finance. The MDBs are currently pursuing reforms to become better fit-for-purpose for addressing the climate crisis, and at COP29 they jointly announced that their collective climate finance will reach $120 billion by 2030 – though only $42 billion will be dedicated for adaptation. Improving the balance between mitigation and adaptation finance will be important to ensure that developing countries’ priorities don’t go unfunded. Additional actions these institutions can take include strengthening the concessionality of terms for adaptation projects to alleviate debt burdens and spark new blended finance opportunities, and leveraging innovative instruments like adaptation swaps which can foster positive adaptation outcomes in exchange for forgiving debt.
The NCQG is an important milestone which has the potential to advance action on these reforms and strengthen adaptation finance flows. Alongside supporting a strong quantitative goal, countries should call for improvements in the quality of finance, to ensure that finance for adaptation projects is available, accessible, concessional, and impactful.
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