Netball Australia debt: Kelly Ryan outlines financial recovery plans after rejecting takeover bid

Netball Australia rejected a $6.5m package to privatise and are adamant they can recover from crippling debt alone. Kelly Ryan outlines the plan.

West Coast Fever players

Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan hasn’t ruled out selling all or part of the Super Netball competition but admits it is unlikely to happen in the near future – instead insisting the key to success was for the competition to stop underselling itself.

It follows the news, revealed by NewsCorp on Monday night, that Tier 1 global, a private equity group, had removed its $6.5 million bid to buy the competition from the table.

The move had the backing of Netball Australia Players’ Association, but they declined to comment on the developments on Tuesday.

Matt Berriman, the man behind the consortium, said the offer was withdrawn due to lack of engagement from Netball Australia.

Ryan said Netball Australia had made its stance clear from the start and it would not be considering any offers until the State of the Game Review was completed.

The review - being carried out by Alacria - started two months ago and Ryan expects it to be finished by the end of September.

Any recommendations put forward will then be discussed by the board.

Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan has explained why they turned down a buy-out offer

Netball Australia revealed a $4.5m debt earlier this year but Ryan believes the sport can quickly drive strong revenue growth if they can channel their energies into the right areas.

“There might be some quick wins that we can deliver ahead of the 2023 (season) and there might be things that we start looking at in terms of long term development and the future of the league,” Ryan told News Corp.

“I don’t think you’ll see anything drastic change (for 2023). I’m forecasting one of the big outcomes to come out of the review is that the sport needs to be stronger commercially.

“They are the things we’ll be discussing and already are with all of the teams to work through all value propositions ourselves as a sport. Everyone should be generating more revenue off the current assets that we already have access too.”

Ryan said this included more sponsors and getting more fans to games.

“If we can move the dial with that then that will certainly unlock much stronger commercial returns for the whole sport,” she said.

The move to privatise the Super Netball league, which is known as the best domestic netball competition in the world, is one Ryan is willing to make down the track if it is in the best interest of the sport.

West Coast Fever celebrate winning the 2022 grand final

“I do doubt that selling off the league in its totality would be in the best interest of the sport,” Ryan said.

Ryan said there had been multiple verbal offers to purchase the league but the bid from Berriman’s team was the only one that had been presented formally.

“As we have said to everyone (who has contacted us) we are not in a position to have a conversation about the value of the league or whether we are selling all of it or part of it,” she said.

Ryan said there were a multitude of things the sport hadn’t yet tried to increase revenue and she was positive the sport could bounce back.

“It is about realising the opportunity that has not been capitalised on yet,” she said.

The 2023 competition schedule is on track to be completed by the end of October with Ryan and the board currently negotiating with multiple state government’s in regards to where the grand final will be held.

It follows Netball Australia’s move last year to sell the final to the highest bidder – with the Western Australian Government securing the hosting rights.

“100 per cent it (worked), we knew it would. That model is now well underway for next year and we will be much better off for the planning and that time that we’ve got to realise the opportunity again,” Ryan said.

“We look forward to seeing what the model does for the sport. And it is exciting to see that the NRL are also pursuing the same model potentially, so there is definitely merit in it.”

Originally published as Netball Australia debt: Kelly Ryan outlines financial recovery plans after rejecting takeover bid