FC Tokyo's 2023 fiscal year financial report, announced on May 21st. The operating revenue reached a record high of 5.929 billion yen in club history, achieving a growth of 660 million yen compared to the previous year. However, there is also the current situation of four consecutive years of deficit.
What kind of efforts were made there? And what is the current state of the club, looking towards a complete recovery from the pandemic and towards the future?
In the second part, we talked to President Shigeya Kawagishi about the current state of emblem changes, as well as the dual wheels of business and strengthening.
Coverage and composition by Kei Sato (freelance writer)
──The club emblem has been updated since the 2024 season. Please tell us about the background and its effects.
Kawagishi What I felt when I became president was that the goal setting within the club was ambiguous. Even though the fans and supporters all agreed on the goal of winning the J1 league, there were various opinions on what kind of club they wanted. So, at the beginning of the 2023 season, we formulated "FC Tokyo VISION 2030" and shared our goal setting, including the way the club should be.
Change EmblemWhen I became president, I never thought about changing the emblem, but as we formulated VISION2030, we also thought about the role of the emblem. There are many things we need to do to achieve VISION2030. So we decided to change the emblem and show our determination to move forward and take on the challenge. The design embodies the meaning of "inheritance and innovation." One supporter said, "I feel a great determination even though I know there will be criticism." As a club, we have set a new goal and this was our effort to take a new step towards the next quarter century, which also coincides with the 25th anniversary of the club's founding.
──What do you think about the current situation with the adoption of the new emblem?
Kawagishi I don't think everyone is satisfied, but I feel that it is gradually being accepted. The opportunity to actually pick up goods has increased, and the 2024 season uniforms are selling significantly more than the same period in the 2023 season. Sales at the stadium are also at unprecedented numbers, and we have had a better start than expected in that regard. There are still not many products that use the new emblem, so we will gradually continue to develop products. We hope that you will continue to watch the club's determination and activities, and eventually we will be able to satisfy everyone.
──The increase in uniform sales has been a trend since last year. Is there a possibility of further increase in revenue in 2024?
Kawagishi In any club, the majority of merchandise sales are dominated by uniforms. I have also talked about this with the chairman of the board, Daiki. I have heard that FC Tokyo has had a culture of wearing blue or red items to support the team. I have been working to get everyone to wear uniforms and support the team since before I took office, and the results are starting to bear fruit. In fact, even during the pandemic, merchandise sales have been slowly increasing, and we jumped up last season after the pandemic. And it looks like we will be able to move up to an even higher level this season.
Will the sales of goods exceed the expected numbers?
Kawagishi In the 2023 fiscal year, the number was 600 million yen, but I think it will exceed that. However, in the financial results announced by Urawa Reds, the merchandise income was 1.65 billion. There is always room for improvement. While recognizing the potential, I would like to aim for around 900 million to 1 billion yen first.
──In the context of "VISION2030", 2023 was positioned as "escaping from the COVID-19 pandemic". How is this past year being summarized?
Kawagishi was able to "recover" faster than expected. The impact of the pandemic was quite significant, with sales dropping from 56 billion yen in 2019 to 46 billion yen in 2020. When I became president in 2022, I was worried about how far we would be able to recover. In such a situation, I thought that in 2022 and 2023, our first goal would be to bring sales back to the level of 2019 before the pandemic.
However, it was able to surpass the 2019 fiscal year in the 2023 fiscal year. It can be said that we entered the "Phase 2" of the "VISION2030" growth period at the time of the 2023 fiscal year, which was originally thought to be after the 2024 fiscal year. However, it is important to note that we have not fully recovered everything from before the pandemic.
──What does that mean?
Kawagishi Compared to before the corona, only about 93 percent of the audience has returned for the 2019 season. And upon further examination, it was found that there has been quite a bit of turnover. In other words, it is not that 93 percent of the people who were there in the 2019 season have returned, but rather that new people have come and made up 93 percent. This fact is shared among all clubs, but we must calmly accept this point.
- Is it still a very difficult task to acquire new customers in the future? For example, will holding matches at the Japan National Stadium have a significant impact?
Kawagishi From the 2022 season, we have already held 6 games at the National Stadium. The effect is definitely showing. The number of people registered with FC Tokyo through the J.League ID will soon reach 600,000. This is by far the highest number in the J.League, and many of them have registered through initiatives for the National Stadium. When analyzing their place of residence, it is clear that they are more concentrated on the east side of Tokyo compared to when we held games at Ajinomoto Stadium. In terms of being able to reach people we have never met before, holding games at the National Stadium is an important opportunity.
──To turn new customers into repeat customers, I think it is important to not ignore the improvement of the core appeal of soccer itself. It may not be a matter of prioritizing, but rather a combination of conveying that appeal to those who have not yet experienced it and enhancing the appeal of the soccer that the team practices. What are your thoughts on this?
Kawagishi First and foremost, in professional sports clubs, the team's performance itself becomes the value. In the case of FC Tokyo, it is a soccer club, so the content and results of soccer, as well as the presence and name value of the players, become the source of the club's value. The job of the business staff is to turn that value into money and be able to reinvest it. It is clear that what is transmitted from the pitch, in other words, the performance, is important and this is an unchangeable fact. It is also a fundamental principle to not neglect investment in this area.
When I first became president, I was a complete outsider when it came to soccer, so I didn't know what to do right away. On the other hand, I was able to quickly grasp the improvements needed on the business side. Therefore, I focused on improving the business side that I could work on. As a result, we were able to increase our sales by nearly 6 billion yen in just 2 years. However, personally, I feel that the business side has reached its limit. I also have a sense that we have reached the maximum value that we can achieve on the business side. As I mentioned earlier, the club's brand value is created by soccer. In that case, the next step is to improve our performance in soccer. The theory is to turn the gears with soccer and collect in business. It's not like we haven't touched on the competitive side before, but from this season, we are thinking of being more proactive and are actually starting to move forward.
──What specific initiatives are you starting?
Kawagishi Last season, we finished 11th in the Meiji Yasuda J1 League, which was not a satisfactory result. We definitely need to improve our performance. However, the difficult part is that this field is all about "people". For example, even if we have analysts and introduce various analysis systems, it is still up to the people to arrange and express them on the pitch. This makes it a very analog world, which is why it is so difficult. To improve the players' performance, we also need to invest in the "people" at the core. Of course, we took into account the opinions of the staff on the ground, and specifically increased the number of staff involved in soccer.
──When covering practice, there are many staff members and voices can be heard, making me feel more energy than ever before.
Kawagishi Of course, I understand that it is not as easy as simply increasing the number of people to immediately lead to results. We must carefully assess the situation one by one. Another thing, as I have also discussed with General Manager Mitsushiro OBARA, sports are greatly influenced by mental factors, and I felt that FC Tokyo in particular experiences extreme ups and downs. We have added staff to support the mental aspect in order to minimize the fluctuations in performance and maintain a high level.
We, as a club, can support the improvement of athletic performance by investing in people and the environment. Therefore, we have first strengthened our staff. We believe that we now have a system in place that can support players and teams more meticulously than ever before.
──What about the aspect of player reinforcement? Looking at last season's standings, Vissel Kobe, with the highest personnel expenses in the 2022 top team, and Yokohama F.Marinos, with the second highest, ended up in first and second place in the league. FC Tokyo's personnel expenses were 2.538 billion yen, ranking 9th overall. This is a common case in major European leagues, but what are your thoughts on this?
Kawagishi I think that's exactly right. Even if we analyze various things, there is definitely a correlation between labor costs and rankings. We are aware that our strengthening costs are 9th in the league, and that is an area we want to address as a club issue. In order to do that, we are focusing on increasing revenue as a business side, and we want to create a solid organization so that we can invest.
However, this also requires a certain amount of time. Therefore, I feel that we need to do something to move up one more level as soon as possible. We want to strengthen our management foundation and create a situation where we can jump up somewhere. Of course, we don't want to end up in a situation where we bet everything and it's all over in one year, so we want to continue to expand our base and carefully assess where to make our move. At this point, we cannot promise anything to our fans and supporters, but please know that we are considering such a direction.
──Finally, please give a message to the fans and supporters.
Kawagishi The tradition from the club's founding period has changed, including the change of the emblem, and you may have had various feelings and thoughts. Last season, the FC Tokyo family may have been a little scattered. This season, the team's performance has gradually become more stable, and I feel that the support at the stadium is more united. I want to express my sincere gratitude for creating a wonderful atmosphere. Based on the club's policy of "VISION2030", we want to move forward and make the 2024 season a season where we can create an even greater sense of unity. Let's continue to move forward together.
First part is here
