"We Are On The Brink"

Chairman Al Stewart addresses those in attendence at the Broncos Annual Shareholders Meeting

Swift Current Broncos Chairman of the Board Al Stewart announced a loss of nearly $197,226 for the 2010-11 season at their annual shareholders meeting Wednesday night.

It's a trend the franchise can't maintain.

"The bulk of the money we have is already committed to those kids and their education," Stewart said. "There isn't $200,000 to lose."

The Broncos lost $58,927 in the 2009-10 season.

The board is now implementing a new Strategic Management Framework. Their mission statement is to "ensure long term franchise viability and the well-being of our people, while maintaining strong relationships with our partners..."

Stewart isn't thinking about what would happen if the Broncos aren't able to avoid another similar loss this season.

"I am only interested in talking about how we make it better," Stewart said.

The Broncos had $1,574,666 in expenses last season. That's an increase of $29,202 over the previous year.

Ticket revenue was down last season by $32,697 and season ticket sales for 2011-12 are again down significantly. The Broncos are pushing initiatives like ticket six-packs, cheap early bird pricing and new season ticket holder benefits as ways to bring more people to their games.

Other major differences from the 2009-10 financial report were the loss of $67,924 in World Junior Championship revenue and the lack of any playoff income. Some positive returns from last season were $37,140 from their first PBR event, an 80% increase in 50/50 revenue and a $14,338 boost in concession revenue.

The Broncos also announced the results of a two year study in collaboration with the Edwards School of Business MBA Program at the University of Saskatchewan. They concluded the franchise has an economic impact of over $6,174,099 in Swift Current every year. That number includes $2,252,531 of new money annually.

On the ice, the Broncos are at home against Lethbridge on Saturday and Edmonton on Sunday. The game against the Oil Kings marks the return of Jordan Peddle to the Credit Union i-Plex with his new team. Swift Current traded Peddle to Edmonton on Tuesday for veteran goaltender Jon Groenheyde.

For full interviews with Al Stewart, Jordan Wall, Mark Lamb and Jerrod Schafer, click here .