Off the Record: Money arguments blow up at Adelaide Oval

In this week’s Off the Record we find out where Adelaide Oval’s money goes and the latest from the SkyWay, while Kristian Livolsi reveals his regrets. Will his claims of playing rugby for Australia make the list?

In this week’s Off the Record we find out where the Adelaide Oval money goes and the latest from the SkyWay, while Kristian Livolsi reveals his regrets. Will his claims of playing rugby for Australia make the list?

Money arguments blow up at Oval

Some fascinating figures have emerged out of this week’s select committee on the redevelopment of Adelaide Oval.

The finances of the Oval, in as much as who gets what, have always been shrouded in some mystery.

However, a submission by the Stadium Management Authority (SMA) to the committee, which is examining the plan to add a hotel to the Oval, adds a bit of light.

It says that since the new Oval started business in 2014, the net distribution to the SANFL has been $79.4 million. It is believed the SANFL’s cut has raised an eyebrow or two at the state’s two AFL clubs.

Still, the SANFL claims that number is misleading, saying the $79 million doesn’t include distributions made to the AFL clubs.

Rory Atkins goes for a kick after the siren — crowd stands and cheers. Picture: Sarah Reed

SANFL chief Jake Parkinson said its net stadium return has only risen from $11.1m in 2013 to $11.8m in 2019 — an increase of just 6 per cent.

“The Adelaide Oval is not a ‘gold mine’ for SANFL when our net stadium revenues have risen by just 6 per cent,’’ he said.

While the same submission shows both Crows and Port have done well out of the Oval (it has helped more than double the Crows’ net football operations revenue over five years to $53.5 million, while the Power’s has doubled to $30.8 million), they think they should be doing better.

The SMA was constructed as a means of healing longstanding rifts between footy and cricket and the SACA and SANFL have four spots each on the board.

Port Adelaide CEO Keith Thomas addresses the media. Picture: AAP/Mike Burton

You don’t have to read between the lines to sense the annoyance of the clubs about the current set-up.

Port chief executive Keith Thomas wrote there was a “lack of consultation, transparency and consideration of how AOSMA decisions impact the AFL teams’’.

Both clubs believe the SANFL’s interests are in conflict with their own, which is why they want to punt two of their board members and replace them with their own nominees.

Work history takes a Trim

Former restaurateur Matthew Trim, who operated Grace The Establishment and had a former business liquidated with debts of about $900,000, has hung his own shingle out in the commercial property trade.

We’re all for reinvention, and good luck to Trim, who has been in the real estate game since late 2016.

Former SA restaurant owner Matthew Trim.

Visitors to his LinkedIn profile might be a little bit bemused by his CV though. Prior to his two years or so at Century 21, he’s listed his previous employment as “managing director — various”. For nearly 14 years!

For the record, Trim operated restaurants including Grace, which closed abruptly with some staff complaining of not being paid superannuation, as well as former O’Connell St restaurant, Sparrow, Farina on Hindmarsh Square which closed in late 2009 and The Manse in North Adelaide which closed in 2012.

Trim’s company, T. H. Holdings Pty Ltd, was placed in liquidation in May 2012 with debts totalling $900,000, with those debts understood to be related to the restaurant businesses.

The new business’s website is a work in progress, no head shots of the team or testimonials as yet. Watch this space.

It all looks like pie in the SkyWay

There was something held last week in Dubai called the World Government Summit. At which, an appearance was made Belarusian inventor Anatoly Yunitsky. Yunitsky is the brains behind the SkyWay concept, which was proposed as a transport solution for Adelaide’s streets. Think autonomous trams in the air, travelling at 150km/h.

The SkyWay concept was given credence in Adelaide because it was backed by the well-regarded former Transport Department chief Rod Hook. But after a couple of years of spruiking, the idea died last August when Hook conceded Yunitsky had taken the concept to the United Arab Emirates. But it’s possible it was a lucky escape for Hook.

Image of the proposed Skyway project.

So far Belgium, New Zealand, Lithuania and Estonia have issued warnings to potential investors not to get involved with SkyWay.

“The scheme proposed by SkyWay Capital exhibits the characteristics of a pyramid scheme,’’ Belgium’s Financial Services Markets Authority said in a statement.

SkyWay’s website is an interesting read. Like many too-good-to-be-true investments it offers remarkable returns.

“Increase your investments up to 1000 per cent or more in 3-5 years,” it reads.

It claims to have $400 billion in pre-order contracts. An email to SkyWay asking it to detail the contracts went unanswered.

Initially, punters are asked to stump up money in a crowd-funding exercise. The promise is the initial investment will become shares when SkyWay lists on the London Stock Exchange. Hook though told Off the Record he had lost no money and didn’t believe it was a pyramid scheme. He also said he believed the engineering was sound, although he thought Yunitsky lacked “commercial sense’’.

Livolsi making the odd mistake

Regrets — he’s had a few, but the single largest regret local entrepreneur Kristian Livolsi tells us in his “daily show” published on Facebook, is that he didn’t fire people fast enough.

“I wish, and the biggest regret that I have, is that I wish I’d fired people faster,’’ he opines.

Having the “wrong people on the bus” really slowed Livolsi’s business growth apparently, and cost him “hundreds of thousands of dollars”.

Not to be a stickler here, but the man who was last year caught out claiming to have captained the Junior Wallabies rugby team, which he clearly didn’t and didn’t even play for, thinks not sacking staff fast enough ranks as his top regret?

Local entrepreneur Kristian Livolsi. Picture: Greg Higgs

Above being turfed out of his Victoria Square eatery The Taxpayer last year over a $30,000 rent dispute? Above having to give up his Adelaide uni roles over the Wallabies clanger? He certainly has chutzpah. Or, as he says: “I am doing what I love for those that love what I do.”

Loose lips

Scandy oil mob Equinor had some big news to release this week about drilling plans for the Great Australian Bight, but were taking secrecy just a tad too seriously before the announcement.

The firm’s PR outfit wanted The Advertiser to sign away our life in the form of a nondisclosure agreement containing all sorts of nasties should it be broken. Maybe it’s a cultural difference but a promise to respect an embargo is usually all that’s needed in such cases. We can keep a secret, promise.

Timely tips

It’s sound advice. Absolutely no doubt about that.

“Executive coach” Donny Walford in her latest blog makes the reasonably obvious point that “one of the top deal breakers for employees is the boss not trusting them’’.

And the equally apparent: “Your relationship with your employees is a huge factor in retaining top talent.’’

Walford, of course, is a board member at the ABC and had a front-row seat for the tremendous stoush between chairman Justin Milne and chief executive Michelle Guthrie, which saw them both leave the ABC.

Donny Walford dispenses some wisdom. Picture: Nick Clayton.