From what I read below, there is Brisbane, Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Richmond and Carlton all mentioned in here as recieving financial assistance. Then you have the Suns and still have GWS coming. A billion dollars is a lot of money, but can only stretch so far. .Grim Reaper wrote:And you are privy to ALL the financial records of the AFL clubs DOG?
Brisbane reveals its financial woes Caroline Wilson
JUST as the gloves have come off in the wages battle between the AFL and its players, another club has emerged near the top of the critical list.
On the same day the league negotiated a rescue package for Port Adelaide, AFL boss Andrew Demetriou confirmed his executive was working on another package for the Brisbane Lions.
A combination of poor administrative decisions, plus the devastating floods that struck the city during summer has created a perfect storm for the once-powerful club.
Advertisement: Story continues below While the AFL continues to lament, along with its united 18 teams, that the hardships being suffered by clubs is falling on deaf ears where the players are concerned, it has emerged the Lions' revenue is down 25 per cent and that it is headed for its sixth successive seven-figure loss.
Brisbane's home crowds this season are down 10,000 on average per game and the club has incurred debt for the first time.
While it remains optimistic of soon turning a profit at its new venture at Springwood, the club remains in dire financial straits with three senior AFL staff, led by executive Andrew Catterall, having all being seconded to work at the club on a part-time basis.
''Port Adelaide and Brisbane are two clubs that will need help this season,'' Demetriou told The Saturday Age.
''This is not help we had budgeted for. We met Port Adelaide and SANFL today and we will be putting a recommendation to the commission for a funding package to see them through until the end of 2013.
''We're working on a financial package to help Brisbane. They've had a series of issues, including poor decisions such as Brendan Fevola, which hurt the club and its culture and its bottom line. But the floods have devastated not only the Lions but most of the big sporting organisations in Brisbane.
''Fortunately, the floods did not extend to the Gold Coast.''
Demetriou would not detail the extent of Port Adelaide's rescue package, which is understood to be close to $3 million a year for the next three years including 2011. He said Brisbane's relief would be finalised within the next two months, adding that the AFL had to remain prepared for clubs in previously commanding financial positions to fall on hard times for a combination of reasons.
Both the AFL and the Lions have agreed they are fully aware of the serious nature of the club's issues, which has prompted an almost total rebuild of Brisbane's football and administrative operations during the past nine months.
Brisbane, towards the end of its premiership era, boasted a bank balance of close to $6 million, an amount which has severely diminished due to poor management, along with some stockmarket losses.
Port Adelaide's future now appears secured, although not that of chief executive Mark Haysman.
The Power boss has fallen out with the SANFL, the state's governing football body which owns the Port Adelaide licence, and while the AFL implored Haysman not to resign several weeks ago, his position still seems far from secure and he did not attend the financial talks in Melbourne.
Clearly, the financial struggles of the clubs might prove a timely argument for the AFL as it attempts in increasingly hostile circumstances to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with its players, however, those perils are not being exaggerated.
The Western Bulldogs, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Richmond and Carlton are all receiving extra assistance from the AFL. The appalling off-field publicity afforded St Kilda over the summer caused the club to miss out on a number of lucrative sponsorship deals.
Little wonder the players are losing the public battle as the game's stakeholders continue to put up their hands for their fair share of the billion-dollar-plus broadcast rights
