Local Footy: AFL Victoria to slash salary caps amid coronavirus crisis
The financial strain placed on local footy clubs by the coronavirus crisis is set to be eased, as AFL Victoria starts discussions to axe player payments.
Local Footy
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Salary caps in local football are set to be slashed in a bid to help clubs survive the coronavirus crisis.
AFL Victoria’s “statewide club sustainability committee’’ met on Tuesday to discuss the plight of community leagues and their clubs.
The committee is expected to announce in the next few days that salary caps for 2020 and 2021 will be cut by at least 50 per cent to ease the financial strain on clubs.
The Essendon District, Eastern, Northern, Southern, VAFA and Western Region competitions have all suspended their seasons until June.
There are fears they may not get on the ground at all.
While the Southern league’s player-payment ceiling is $150,000 for Division 1, the other leagues (with the exception of the amateurs) have caps of $200,000.
But they will be reduced dramatically for 2020 and next year to help clubs regain their financial footing.
In the absence of season launches, social functions and match-day takings from gates, food and canteen sales, their incomes have been restricted to paid-up sponsors.
But one club in the south-east lost two sponsors this week, one of them worth $4000 from a small business that closed last Friday because of the coronavirus crisis.
The club had set aside the sponsorship money to the local council for ground hire.
Council will come under pressure to reduce fees to sports clubs affected by the pandemic.
Most leagues have already indicated to clubs that affiliation fees will be reduced once the status of the season becomes clearer.
They have already reduced the working hours of staff as they look to peel back costs.
The leagues have fingers crossed that at least half a season will be played.
An AFL Victoria spokesman said this afternoon that there would be a “unified national approach’’ to the sustainability of local clubs “and what sort of downward pressure they can place on salary caps’’.
He said the AFL Victoria committee had met “three or four’’ times in the past 10 days.
“They’re not in a position to go public with any figures, but that’s close,’’ the spokesman said.
“There will be a number of resources for clubs in terms of revenue modelling and where they’ll need to cut back and what they can do in the space of salary cap.’’
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A leading suburban football club president spoke this week of fears clubs will fold unless competitions across Victoria band together and block player payments for 2021.
Tullamarine president Peter Labbad has called on suburban leagues to implement the measure to protect clubs.
Labbad said he had “100 per cent” considered the dire prospect of clubs folding.
“The only way I can see it working, if we don’t play, is the EDFL and the other leagues say there’s got to be a 12-month cooling off period where there’s no payments to players. No club is allowed to pay,” Labbad said.
“I don’t know how you can monitor that.
“But for the competition to rejuvenate and clubs to survive, play the game for the game, and then reset for 2022.
“The only clubs that will survive (without those measures) are those with a mammoth sponsor.”
Jacana’s major sponsor, Broadmeadows Sporting Club, has also closed indefinitely.
The EDFL club withdrew from the senior ranks last May because of financial issues and a player exodus.
The Jaguars had planned to return to the field this season but, like several clubs, face an uncertain future.
“Probably a little bit, yeah,” Jacana spokesman Frank Gough said when asked if he held fears for the club’s future.
“You never know with this thing, if it goes a lot longer than what we think and there’s no season at all, you just don’t know what will happen in the future.”
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