This is a guest post by Julian Major, you can check out his own site here.
News that the Port Adelaide Magpies could die hit hard, so much so that desperate measures are being made to ensure the clubs survival.
But it has brought a much more complex issue to hand; how the SANFL operates.
Port Adelaide’s AFL counterpart, the Power, have been under financial pressure for some time now. In 2009, they announced a big loss. But interestingly, it has been revealed that the SANFL received 12 million dollars from the club in 2009. The stadium deal that the Crows and Power have is one of the worst imaginable and both lag behind the national average – Port Adelaide 4.6 million dollars behind, Adelaide 2.4 million behind.
Much of this money is then distributed to SANFL, which is passed onto the SANFL clubs. Fair enough, most would say. State leagues are necessary for youth development and the community in general.
However, when you make a relative comparison to the WAFL, it makes you wonder what the SANFL is doing with its money. Both Fremantle and West Coast are performing extremely well off the field. This is partly due to their clean stadium deal. This means they pay a certain amount of rent and then receive substantial matchday revenues.
This is in stark contrast to the deal the SANFL have. Before the Power or Crows make any money at all on game days, they first have to make the SANFL a certain amount of money. This usually is reached with a crowd around 27,000. However, Port vs. Essendon in round 1 2009, attracted a crowd of over 28,000, yet the Power ended up cutting a cheque to the SANFL.
The SANFL is experiencing a minor revival in interest. Crowds are generally up as people enjoy the lower costs, local atmosphere and different style of play that the SANFL offers. Despite this, most clubs have been in financial strife at some point recently. Most have remained in the competition, not because of increased crowds, or good sponsorship deals, but because of entertainment assets. Pubs, clubs and the pokie machines inside them are the difference between the SANFL surviving and dying. The Magpies currently have one major external asset, the Prince of Wales hotel and if they are forced to sell that, then they will be out of the competition and bankrupt.
To summarise, both Port Adelaide and Adelaide are losing massive amounts of money to the SANFL. The SANFL clubs receive this money and yet most rely on pokies to remain viable. Whilst the WAFC have kept their WA clubs financially well off, without destroying the WAFL.
Why? There are no doubt a number of factors. However, the SANFL prides itself on being the ‘second best’ league in Australia. Why are they the second best? The salary cap would be the main reason. The AFL has previously urged the SANFL to cut back on its salary cap and it’s easy to see why. It is currently around $400,000, whilst their WAFL counterparts are at $200,000. This means the SANFL can attract more senior recruits, which in turn increases the quality of the league. However, Western Australia produce some of the best young talent in the league and have had many great mature age recruits to the AFL – such as Harry Taylor, Bradd Dalziell and Liam Anthony. Some would say that this is the most important thing and the WAFL don’t need an extra $200,000 per club in the salary cap to achieve it.
The SANFL clubs spend lots of money attracting delisted AFL players, Kane Tenace being the latest. Is it really worth the future of South Australia’s AFL teams for that? Having the second strongest league in Australia might sound nice, but the effects truly aren’t worth it. The SANFL’s obsession with being second best could have serious ramifications, not only for the Magpies but also for the Power.
By Julian Major
Tags: Guest Posts, Julian Major, SANFL
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Good article Julian, the stadium deals are a joke. In regards to the enticement of delisted AFL players – we all love to see our past juniors come back and play out their careers, but I see your point on the salary cap – if the major state leagues could come to a consensus and keep it level around the country (perhaps allow a small difference for cost of living in the more expensive states) this would ensure that the players would only be able to demand a certain figure and eliminate bidding wars on players with no loyalty to their original club. I don't think there's been much success with the recruitment of these type of players at the PAMFC, though Centrals have done pretty well with the Gowans' boys.
I think a lot of the money coming into the SANFL clubs are put into coaching departments as everyone seems to think they can't be competetive unless they have the latest innovation adopted at AFL level. Centrals have the money to spend so they are entilted to use it, the other clubs (South, West, Port) need to spend within their limitations. It surely can't be that hard to look at revenue coming in compared to revenue going out and budget accordingly.
"The SANFL clubs spend lots of money attracting delisted AFL players, Kane Tenace being the latest. Is it really worth the future of South Australia’s AFL teams for that?"
Yes, it is. If you follow the AFL as your first league, fine and dandy, but if the SANFL is the only league you follow (which the thousands who attend each round usually are) then of course we'd much rather the AFL clubs suffer rather than us.
"Having the second strongest league in Australia might sound nice, but the effects truly aren’t worth it. The SANFL’s obsession with being second best could have serious ramifications, not only for the Magpies but also for the Power."
And so what? Get bigger crowds, easy solution. Port and the Crows are there to ensure a revenue stream for the SANFL, the SANFL are not there to make sacrficies to their own league to ensure the Power are competetive.