Super Netball juggles options for navigating coronavirus storm

Super Netball will have to think creatively to navigate the financial storm coronavirus is wreaking in sport.

NSW Swifts players celebrate victory over Sunshine Coast Lightning in the 2019 Super Netball grand final last September. Picture: Getty Images

Australia’s netball administrators have spent the past fortnight developing scenarios that could salvage the 2020 Super Netball season, as the sport contends with the prospect of losing tens of millions of dollars in revenue.

All remaining Super Netball pre-season matches and events have been cancelled, with the season proper schedule to launch on May 2.

Elite netball leagues in New Zealand and England had already started competition in March, but have since been suspended.

The Super Netball league’s independent commission will meet next week, and on Thursday will provide an update on the regular season.

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Playing in empty stadiums is almost a certainty, meaning the decision is now whether the season proceeds on schedule, is delayed, or is cancelled altogether.

The impact of empty stadiums would be severe for the competition, with at least seven million dollars in ticket, merchandise and hospitality receipts lost across the eight teams.

But the full impact on revenues could balloon past $15m if community netball competitions – currently suspended across Australia – are shut down for the winter season.

State netball associations run six of the eight Super Netball clubs and rely on grassroots revenue for as much as half of their annual income. That cashflow is generated by association fees, coaching clinics and events, all of which are now under threat.

All Super Netball teams have struggled to break even in the league’s three years to date, but careful and conservative budgeting has left most state associations with more than a million dollars each in cash reserves to call on if needed.

Another challenge comes in the form of Super Netball’s creative but risky television deal, which shares profits between Netball Australia and its broadcast partners, rather than selling the rights for a set fee.

All of this likely financial pain couldn’t come with worse timing for Netball Australia, with a series of pivotal negotiations due this year.

A new broadcast deal was the major priority in the coming months, with a collective bargaining agreement with players and updated business plans for the league’s franchisees to follow.

Super Netball was launched in 2017 as an ambitious entertainment product with high upside and an eye to profitability down the track. That coming television deal will be crucial, and many interested parties throughout the sport had hoped it would generate a jump in revenue.

But now club bosses are considering how they can cut costs to survive the year ahead.

The absence of fans could allow matches to be played at much smaller venues, and stadium fees are already a focal point for teams examining their options.

Netball Australia also received a $30m grant from the Morrison government in 2019 to fund grassroots participation, digital transformation, and “international engagement” in the Pacific.

Experienced netball leaders do not see this as an existential threat to the sport. They argue that Australia’s largest women’s sport has long been used to supporting itself, and are confident that they can find creative ways to survive some financial pain.