Richmond hopes to slash debtMichael Gleeson
The Age
May 30, 2012THE feelgood surge that the ongoing upward trend of Richmond as an on-field team is this time built on a solid foundation is helping to consolidate the club's position off the field.
The Tigers are expecting that by the end of the year they will have more than halved their debt from when the Fighting Tiger Fund was launched with a debt of more than $4.5 million 2˝ years ago. Richmond hopes to cut its debt to about $2 million by year's end, with the club hopeful that with the way things are tending they are in line for a solid profit this year of close to a million dollars.
The Tigers will hold a major dinner on Saturday night marking the halfway mark of the ambitious five-year, 3-0-75 plan to play finals three times, clear debt to zero and hit 75,000 members.
The $600-a-head dinner held at the club in the function room and social club will be attended by several hundred people and is hoped to generate a similar amount to the $2 million raised at the first dinner.
Half of all money raised at the dinner is invested in football and half is used to retire debt - and with it create significant interest rate savings.
''We hope to make a significant dent in the debt on Saturday night,'' Richmond president Gary March said yesterday.
''Our aim has always been that by the end of this season to have reduced our debt to at least half of where we started and I believe we will get there if not more.
''And we have done that while investing in football and doing the things we said we would do: reshape and resurface Punt Road oval, fund all the facilities changes, bring in the new coaches that we did with Ross Smith this year, front end contracts so we could pay 100 per cent of the salary cap so we were in a good position for free agency which we now are.
''And I think our next step is to invest in a little bit more in sport science equipment to help with recovery.
''Last year helped bring us to the best in facilities and football spend and Saturday night will allow us to even go past the best clubs.''
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