Club Doncaster will multiply Rovers’ playing budget and keep them competitive in the Championship, according to Gavin Baldwin.
Rovers’ chief executive this week revealed more about his brainchild to turn the Keepmoat Stadium into a sporting and leisure hub for the town, which could eventually include a hotel and casino.
This year, which has seen Rovers officially welcome Doncaster RLFC under their Sporting Club banner, is expected to see the Keepmoat Stadium make a profit of between £350,000 and £400,000.
And it’s those funds, Baldwin says, that will drive Paul Dickov’s playing budget and keep Rovers sustainable at a high level.
“If I can drive the revenues up through the Dons, through the Belles, through building a hotel or casino, which are all things we want to talk about, we can have a very good playing budget and be competitive in the Championship or Premier League, wherever it may be,” said Baldwin.
“It means the owners or any other investor can come along and put money into the team as an additionality. That means we’re even better. That’s the concept of Club Doncaster.
“It’s a concept that no other town or city has got.
“But really the ultimate is that it puts money into the team which we would otherwise have not got.
“The stadium was losing £750k per year just before we took it over,” he added.
“We believe this year it will make a profit of £350-400k. That’s a £1.2 million turnaround. This is money that goes straight into the football budget.”