Suns shirtfront critics

Cochrane says benefits of club are overlooked

SUNS chairman Tony Cochrane says even the biggest pessimist can see Gold Coast have more than paid their way on the back of reports the AFL injected a record $27.5 million into the club last season.

Cochrane hit back at critics questioning the club’s viability following the blowtorch turned on Gold Coast after the release of annual reports detailing the AFL’s investment in the Suns that has now gone beyond $250 million.

He said reports had failed to put into context the value of the club, overlooking the significance of the Suns to the current $2.508 billion broadcast rights deal, the inclusion of the salary cap every club gets in the investment and the futureproofing of the game in Queensland.

“The very first point I would make is that every club gets the payments for the players that is circa $13 million (a year),” Cochrane said.

“Many make it sound like we get $27.5 million and everyone else gets zero.

“The second is by adding a ninth game some years ago to the media rights deal, even the biggest pessimist would say that is worth $50 million per year to the AFL.

“In actual fact, the reality is that the Gold Coast Suns and GWS really don’t cost the AFL anything because the media rights from that extra game cover it. The AFL can wash their face clean.

“My third point is that it was a really smart business decision by the AFL to invest heavily in the northern states, including NSW.

“Fifty per cent of the population lives in those two states and southeast Queensland is the third biggest advertising market in Australia so it makes all the sense in the world to have a team in the growth corridor at the Gold Coast.

“You only have to look back at the success of the junior programs too.

“If you go back 10 years there wasn’t even 30,000 participants in Australian rules in Queensland.

“Last year we had nearly 300,000 and we have the second highest number of females, second only to Victoria.

“The AFL Commission has done a superb job of investing in the future; we are the envy of every other sport including the NRL.

“The only issue we have in Queensland and the Northern NSW Rivers is that we don’t have enough fields, despite 25 being new ovals being made in the last five years.

“Success is our biggest problem, not failure, and we are going to become a successful footy club. The Gold Coast needs to get behind us and not put up with irrelevant people from Melbourne.”