Jeff Kennett says AFL supporting 12 clubs will be ‘unsustainable’
Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has warned the AFL providing financial support to 12 clubs will be “unsustainable” and says the league will face a tough call on those who do not improve their position in the next three years.
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The next three years will prove a test for all clubs to prove their value to the competition, Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has declared.
The Hawks are one of six clubs that receive no financial assistance from the AFL, and Kennett said he believes the time will come for the remaining 12 to show that they are capable of improving their financial performance.
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“When we get the game back and starting flowing again, (it will be time) to sit down and work out … how are we going to position this industry for the future?,” Kennett said on Fox Footy.
“That’s the challenge. That’s where I think there’s going to have to be structural change, and we’ve got to be courageous enough to bring it about.”
He said it was “unsustainable” to think that the assistance model could continue in its current form, “and secondly that we continue to have 12 clubs totally dependent on the AFL”.
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“The AFL hasn’t stipulated this, but I would always say you’ve got to have KPIs (key performance indicators), and I’d be looking to a period three years from now where you’d be saying, ‘all right, let’s have a look at the clubs’,” Kennett said.
“What have they done in the three years that we’ve been supporting them? Have they increased their independence or have they not? And if they haven’t, then you’ve got to look at yourself and say, ‘well, how long can we just continue to support organisations that cannot at least improve their financial performance?’.
“That’s the challenge, but it’s a challenge for the next three years, in my opinion, for all clubs.
“If you look at the five or six, our challenge is to stay unassisted. Our challenge is to continue to find other revenue streams, so that we will not have to burden the AFL with borrowings beyond what they pay for the salary cap.”
Kennett – who has been clear he wants to step down as president this year – said he had not considered whether he would change his mind about continuing into a third term at the helm of Hawthorn, but said he would see how things “stabilise” in the next three months.
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