Tigers will not need to migrate * Jon Ralph
* From: Herald Sun
* February 26, 2011 RICHMOND chief executive Brendon Gale says he wants to build the Tigers into such a financial powerhouse they never have to sell games interstate again.
The Tigers have auctioned two of their 11 home games this year, playing Port Adelaide in Darwin and the Gold Coast at Carrara.
It turns two extremely winnable games against interstate opponents into line-ball contests, but Gale said the club had no choice.
He said yesterday with Richmond not on a strong financial footing, hard decisions have to be made.
"Ideally, we want to keep all our home games, but the business case was too important to ignore at this stage," he said.
"We need to build our club to a position where we never have to consider these arrangements again."
Gale said the chance to play interstate allowed the club to build its brand, but was far from ideal.
The Tigers have already raised $100,000 through their Fighting Tiger Fund, with the main fundraising night on March 17 involving an invitation-only dinner.
Gale said he had a dream of playing Richmond's VFL games at Punt Rd again one day.
To do that, the club must clear its debt and find the money to break away from VFL affiliate Coburg.
"Recent history highlights that those teams who have their own reserves teams and full control of the development of their players are more likely to be successful," Gale said.
"With a fully developed Punt Rd Oval, it does provide us with an opportunity to return reserve-grade football to Punt Rd."
Gale said he was confident the club would find a co-major sponsor, and said with the Tigers now at 34,000 paid-up supporters, the target of 50,000 members was possible.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/tigers-will-not-need-to-migrate/story-e6frf9jf-1226012349382
