Club boss has fears for AFL
GEELONG president Colin Carter has sent a dire warning for the competition as he believes the financial state of the game could get worse next year.
With no crowds allowed at the football in Victoria’s limited games this year because of COVID-19, all clubs have scrambled to keep their finances manageable.
The Cats initially flagged a $10 million hole for the club, but have since pegged that back to about $4 million.
The more positive outlook has been greatly thanks to the support of members and sponsors, with the Cats still ticking over 60,000 members last week.
Carter said the support had been vital but cast doubt as to whether it could continue at the same level in 2021 if a coronavirus cure or vaccine was not found and fans remained locked out.
“I’m in the camp that says that possibly next year might be even tougher than this year,” he told SEN.
“The support of our members — people who are effectively prepared to leave their money in as a donation — has meant the difference between us heading into next year with a mountain of debt that would be $10 million and north (or not).
“Our members have been fantastic at supporting us through this year but it’s a different game to ask them to continue that support into another year if this problem continues,” Carter said.
“It’s one thing to ask people to donate money they have already paid for a reserved seat but it’s different to ask them to do it for a second year.”
The timing of when the virus hit and threw the world into chaos was particularly frustrating for Geelong after it got itself to the edge of being debt free for the first time in half a century.
“It’s bitter because we got within a week of being debt free for the first time in about 50 years,” Carter said. “That has gone out the window now and we will be about $4m in the hole; but we can manage that.”
Carter — who is spending the current restrictions in his home in Melbourne — also revealed staff at the club sought advice from military personnel on how to prepare for being away from home for weeks on end.
He said the ability to get the game going, mostly in Queensland, had been a remarkable achievement.
“It’s a fine line and if you draw a map of where footy is going, it’s drifting north and there is really no state further north for us to go if Queensland goes pear-shaped,” he said.