Saints struggle for profit despite successful season
Caroline Wilson | November 13, 2009
ST KILDA is disenchanted at having lost money in its bid to win its first premiership in 43 years and will complain to the AFL that successful finals performers should be better rewarded by the competition.
Saints president Greg Westaway said that he had already addressed the issue unofficially with AFL boss Andrew Demetriou and that the club's poor financial performance over the finals would be raised at next week's board meeting.
St Kilda will struggle to make a profit this season despite reaching the grand final and finishing on top of the home-and-away ladder. While the premiership team receives $1.2 million in prizemoney, the losing grand finalist wins a $600,000 bonus, half of which must go to its players.
''We believe it should be looked at,'' Westaway said yesterday. ''We believe you don't get enough reward for a good performance. We run a reasonably skinny operation but I think there's something wrong with the system when you finish up behind from having played finals.
''I think we dragged more than one million people through the gates through the finals and yet we lost money to play in the finals when you look at the bonuses you pay to staff and coaches and the extra money you spend putting on functions. Obviously for teams that get into finals it's terrific for those clubs and their supporters but financially it's not terrific at all.''
Westaway said the AFL could consider a system with some similarities to soccer's Premier League in England where the team that finishes on top of the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season receives significant prizemoney. His call echoed that of Port Adelaide several years ago when that team won consecutive McClelland trophies and yet received nothing but a cup. The Kangaroos finished top four in seven successive seasons but were nearly broke at the end of that era which reaped two premierships.
When Demetriou presented the McClelland trophy to the Saints he joked that the reward for being the best home-and-away performer was worth several million dollars before adding that prizemoney may be available in the future.
''I don't want to take anything away from this game,'' said Westaway, ''it's a wonderful game and I don't want to change the rules or the way it is played. But we just think there is something wrong when you lose money by finishing top four.
''I understand we will reap benefits elsewhere and hopefully we will win new members and hopefully our membership will significantly increase next season but I still think we need to look at this.''
An AFL CEOs meeting late last year also saw the subject of finals compensation raised by the clubs, some of which pointed out that big crowds and massive television ratings do not translate to profits for those clubs forced to put on extra functions and hire extra staff to play in the finals.
St Kilda had been staring at a loss of about $200,000 in 2009 but is now hoping to break even or make a modest profit.
Having struggled financially as a result of ongoing problems with its stadium agreement at Docklands, the Saints' new deal at Etihad is not retrospective like those at the MCG but the club will receive some compensation from the AFL in a bid to improve its performance and treat it in accordance with MCG tenants.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/saints-struggle-for-profit/2009/11/12/1257615129972.html
