The AFL should have read tea leaves of COVID-19 but can Crows and Power survive the fallout
The two South Australian AFL clubs face an uncertain future, but there is one thing that can save both the Crows and Power, and the decision that could leave a sour taste with battlers in the coronavirus crisis.
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The AFL was saved from itself by a government imposed border lockdown that triggered a belated season suspension.
Regrettably, clubs will be stripped to the bone through indefinite self isolation until June 1 at the earliest. Clubs face insolvency.
Weekend vision of exhausted Italian doctors forced to play God and determine which COVID-19 victims live or die in swamped Intensive Care Units contrasted with coverage of AFL games.
It was a disturbing parallel universe given major leagues worldwide are in pandemic related hiatus.
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AFL chief Gillon McLachlan was saddled with a wretched, billion dollar commercial threat and resolved to forge ahead. In hindsight, persisting with round one appeared futile in a life and death age dawning on most Australians except Millennials frolicking en masse at Bondi.
The destructive global impact of COVID-19 is reaching Australia’s sports outfits. Think QANTAS scale carnage but worse.
The one thing members from the Adelaide Crows to Adelaide United must do is stick with clubs and not request refunds. Disunity is death. No financial model is geared to withstand the greatest economic and social disruption since the Depression.
AFL clubs receive around $250 million in revenue per season from memberships, reserved seating and gate receipts. Sponsorships average $11 million per club annually.
Sponsors won’t hammer clubs for breach of contracts but they will want and need to realise value in future years.
Clubs commit to players and coaches in a pre-pay structure leaving little cash in reserve. If clubs survive they will take a decade to recover financially. Whether it is South Australian Cricket Association, the Crows or Port Adelaide, you can’t take a potential $50 million hit without dire implications.
Subsidies for AFLW, the Suns and Port’s China project will surely end.
West Coast is the only AFL club that makes money. The existence of Port, already on the AFL drip feed can’t be guaranteed. Adelaide is better positioned financially but no match for an extended COVID-19 atrophy.
In a best-case scenario the AFL could be play summer finals but the sports pie is only so big. Many punters will have been out of work since March.
State Treasurer Rob Lucas must pen a master plan to save South Australia’s sporting entities in unison with the Federal government.
The organisation that could struggle for sympathy from battlers is the Stadium Management Authority. The exorbitant cost of food and drink at Adelaide Oval, $71 million income from the sale of SANFL’s West Lakes headquarters together with a $575 million taxpayer contribution to Adelaide Oval isn’t forgotten.
Respected Lucas says there will be no favours for the Crows and Power but giving the SMA $2.9m relief – if requested – for its annual sinking fund obligation would require exquisite spin. Taxpayers are already footing a $42m guaranteed loan to the SMA for its Adelaide Oval Hotel.
AFL clubs feel armageddon is approaching and so is a liberal dose of humility.
It is more than a game.