Mustangs host AGM, appoint new president and vice-president

The AGM heard the Melfort Mustangs Farming Project is one of their biggest fundraisers. Volunteers and sponsors donate resources to grow crops, with profits supporting the Junior ‘A’ team. Last season, the barley produced didn’t bring in as much. This year, the team said the crop will switch back to canola, and with prices being much higher, they’re hoping for a bigger profit in the future.

Another added expense was roughly $20,000 used to update and maintain the organization’s locker room and weight room. Couple that with a playoff run, which saw teams like Yorkton and Weyburn come to town, instead of rivals Humboldt and Flin Flon which tend to attract more fans to games, and the post-season revenue is slashed by a third.

The club is still in the positive, though, and is hoping to continue that trend, along with another championship-winning season.

“A little bit more of a struggle this year, when it comes to financials, expenses, as everybody knows, are going up. The taxing two seasons together put a lot on our board, so the fundraising has been lax a little bit, if you want to say, but we have to commit to going forward for next season to cover that million-dollar expense that’s sitting every year now,” explained former team president Chad Elliot.

“As we go forward, expenses are only going to go up, so we have to somehow figure out how to make more revenue, whether it’s putting people in the seats, fundraising, or however it is when you have a million-dollar expense. Especially when you do a big run, like we did two years straight at Nationals, a million dollars is a lot of money to operate a team with, but you also have to be able to counter that to make it viable to go on to season after season.”

Elliot is now the former team president, as he stepped down from his role and away from the board of directors following a nine-year stint.

“It’s taxing when you’re president or vice-president, it’s a lot of work that people don’t see, so after nine seasons, I feel that I’ve put my time in with the Mustangs, I’ve done what I can, and it’s time to find something else. Thank you to the community and all the people within the Mustangs organization, they believed in me and allowed me to do what I did, and it’s a great feeling,” Elliot said.

“Its time for a change and to see some new people coming to the board with maybe some new ideas that can help this team go forward.”

Following the AGM, the board of directors met and named Greg Claypool as the new president. He served as vice-president last season. Ryan Case will now take on that role.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

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by Ben Tompkins

Mustangs host AGM, appoint new president and vice-president

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