SWANSBEST
21st March 2003, 05:56 AM
The clock ticking on Sydney's future
March 21, 2003
TIMING can be an enemy or a friend. The AFL called off its season launch planned for yesterday afternoon because it did not want to be seen celebrating when perhaps Australia had gone to war. It was prescient.
The NRL stripped points off the Canterbury Bulldogs for salary cap rorting only months before Carlton were found to be involved in all manner of illegal payments to players. Having just watched the NRL handle the Canterbury scandal, the AFL moved to change its rules so it too can deduct premiership points from rorting clubs. The AFL is not blind to its competitor's good points.
Timing can be cruel, too. Sydney had to replace their coach Rodney Eade last year, saw membership and attendances drop and the club finish 11th.
The Swans needed to regroup quickly to maintain the foothold they had managed to secure in the toughest sports market in the country.
It is hardly proving easy and the Swans are reeling. The Rugby World Cup is pulling membership and corporate sales away from the club. NSW will host 17 matches including the two semi-finals and final. Queensland will stage 12 matches but it is making little inroad into Brisbane's bottom line.
With consecutive AFL premierships and a third very much a possibility, sponsorship, corporate sales and membership are holding firm or growing.
Worse for Sydney is rugby league's resurgence, Gorden Tallis and Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy notwithstanding. Bellamy told the Herald Sun newspaper on Wednesday that the fistic explosion by Tallis was proof the Bronco captain was returning to his peak. "Gorden's game is built on aggression," Bellamy said. Madness.
Storm's inability to capture any meaningful market share in Melbourne has their officials talking like schoolboys after a lunch-time brawl. At least the Swans chiefs have been able to keep their heads.
However, the impact of rugby's World Cup on top of a slow deterioration in all key performance indicators since Tony Lockett first retired has placed Sydney in a finely balanced position.
Chairman Richard Colless said yesterday the club would soon be seeking a meeting with the AFL to "basically share with them our position".
Colless said the Swans, which lost a million last year, are heading for another significant loss unless there is a meaningful injection of revenue. "We don't have the money to fund another loss," Colless said.
Help could be on the way. The AFL's chief executive Wayne Jackson said yesterday if the Swans could prove the World Cup was seriously damaging their ability to operate then the league would consider giving financial assistance to the club.
"Provided the Swans could prove the damage was significant and that it was due solely to the impact of the World Cup, then we would be sympathetic to their position," Jackson said. The AFL last gave financial relief to the Swans in 1998.
Colless said the club has already begun to cut costs, especially in the football department. This year the club will pay out only 103 per cent of the total player payments although it is allowed a salary bill of 115 per cent because of cost-of-living and retention allowances. Nick Davis, centre of a clearance battle with Collingwood, has moved to the Swans on less money than he received with the Magpies.
Colless did not attend the AFL's annual general meeting in Melbourne last night because it clashed with the Swans' jumper presentation.
One AFL official yesterday described the Swans' administration as suffering from "fatigue" as they fought to hold their position in Sydney as well as resist attacks from the powerful Victorian clubs.
Collingwood and Essendon were successful in having Sydney and Brisbane stripped of draft priority picks last season. The Victorian clubs are now fighting to have the northern clubs' salary cap concessions removed.
Brisbane are allowed to pay 10 per cent above the salary cap to help retain players recruited from traditional AFL states and Sydney can pay 15 per cent above the cap for player retention and cost-of-living factors.
The AFL told all 16 club chief executives yesterday the league was reconsidering the salary cap concessions to Brisbane and Sydney. "It is a work in progress," Jackson said. The league is expected to finalise its position within a month.
Sydney, critical to the AFL's $500 million broadcast deal, is running out of money. Ultimately the AFL and the other 15 clubs will decide if they are running out of time.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,6159889%255E12270,00.html
March 21, 2003
TIMING can be an enemy or a friend. The AFL called off its season launch planned for yesterday afternoon because it did not want to be seen celebrating when perhaps Australia had gone to war. It was prescient.
The NRL stripped points off the Canterbury Bulldogs for salary cap rorting only months before Carlton were found to be involved in all manner of illegal payments to players. Having just watched the NRL handle the Canterbury scandal, the AFL moved to change its rules so it too can deduct premiership points from rorting clubs. The AFL is not blind to its competitor's good points.
Timing can be cruel, too. Sydney had to replace their coach Rodney Eade last year, saw membership and attendances drop and the club finish 11th.
The Swans needed to regroup quickly to maintain the foothold they had managed to secure in the toughest sports market in the country.
It is hardly proving easy and the Swans are reeling. The Rugby World Cup is pulling membership and corporate sales away from the club. NSW will host 17 matches including the two semi-finals and final. Queensland will stage 12 matches but it is making little inroad into Brisbane's bottom line.
With consecutive AFL premierships and a third very much a possibility, sponsorship, corporate sales and membership are holding firm or growing.
Worse for Sydney is rugby league's resurgence, Gorden Tallis and Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy notwithstanding. Bellamy told the Herald Sun newspaper on Wednesday that the fistic explosion by Tallis was proof the Bronco captain was returning to his peak. "Gorden's game is built on aggression," Bellamy said. Madness.
Storm's inability to capture any meaningful market share in Melbourne has their officials talking like schoolboys after a lunch-time brawl. At least the Swans chiefs have been able to keep their heads.
However, the impact of rugby's World Cup on top of a slow deterioration in all key performance indicators since Tony Lockett first retired has placed Sydney in a finely balanced position.
Chairman Richard Colless said yesterday the club would soon be seeking a meeting with the AFL to "basically share with them our position".
Colless said the Swans, which lost a million last year, are heading for another significant loss unless there is a meaningful injection of revenue. "We don't have the money to fund another loss," Colless said.
Help could be on the way. The AFL's chief executive Wayne Jackson said yesterday if the Swans could prove the World Cup was seriously damaging their ability to operate then the league would consider giving financial assistance to the club.
"Provided the Swans could prove the damage was significant and that it was due solely to the impact of the World Cup, then we would be sympathetic to their position," Jackson said. The AFL last gave financial relief to the Swans in 1998.
Colless said the club has already begun to cut costs, especially in the football department. This year the club will pay out only 103 per cent of the total player payments although it is allowed a salary bill of 115 per cent because of cost-of-living and retention allowances. Nick Davis, centre of a clearance battle with Collingwood, has moved to the Swans on less money than he received with the Magpies.
Colless did not attend the AFL's annual general meeting in Melbourne last night because it clashed with the Swans' jumper presentation.
One AFL official yesterday described the Swans' administration as suffering from "fatigue" as they fought to hold their position in Sydney as well as resist attacks from the powerful Victorian clubs.
Collingwood and Essendon were successful in having Sydney and Brisbane stripped of draft priority picks last season. The Victorian clubs are now fighting to have the northern clubs' salary cap concessions removed.
Brisbane are allowed to pay 10 per cent above the salary cap to help retain players recruited from traditional AFL states and Sydney can pay 15 per cent above the cap for player retention and cost-of-living factors.
The AFL told all 16 club chief executives yesterday the league was reconsidering the salary cap concessions to Brisbane and Sydney. "It is a work in progress," Jackson said. The league is expected to finalise its position within a month.
Sydney, critical to the AFL's $500 million broadcast deal, is running out of money. Ultimately the AFL and the other 15 clubs will decide if they are running out of time.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,6159889%255E12270,00.html