Presumably the richer clubs saw an investment opportunity apart from cash (interest) while riding the boom. The Bombers have copped a hit on the market although it sounds as though they haven't sold their portfolio so they should be okay if they hold onto it long term. The Pies went into property (hotels) and that was a multi-million dollar boo-boo.
Just an extra thought along the lines of Ramps' idea. Could you make a deal that the sponsoring company offers some cash now (perhaps less than the $800k we want) plus some financial derivative that can be turned into cash at a later date once the economic climate is back on the up. What I mean is say we get $600k now plus a call option with a strike price around $3.20 (using Ramps' bluescope steel as an example) which is above their current share price. So in the future when the sharemarket and bluescope's fortunes are back on the rise (say $4 per share), we can buy $4 shares at $3.20 and then sell them immediately at 80c profit each. If the call option is for 500,000 shares then that's $400k into the RFC kitty. The company has gained below-cost sponsorship in the meantime and will be in a better position to pay more when the option is exercised and we eventually gain $1m into total from the sponsorship. A win-win. Not sure if that made sense but that's my crazy idea lol.
