Cat, Don chiefs warn footy 'arms race' to force team to Tasmania

The Age

Wednesday March 24, 2010

By MARK HAWTHORNE

AFL football is in the middle of a spending "arms race" that will result in the relocation of one Victorian club to Tasmania.That's the message the stockbroking team at EC & L Baillieu was given yesterday by two of the most powerful men in football, Geelong Football Club president Frank Costa and new Essendon chairman David Evans.The pair were guest speakers at a pre-season lunch at the Collins Street stockbroking firm and spoke to senior staff on the challenges of the year ahead.Evans, who took over the reins at Essendon from Ray Horsburgh at the end of last season, said AFL clubs were engaging in a spending arms race, but rising club expenditure was not being matched by rising revenues from the sport."This arms race in football has been going on for some time and just as the costs of running a club are going up, revenue is starting to plateau," Evans warned. "Essendon will have one of the worst training facilities in Melbourne by year's end. Five years ago, we had one of the best."Costa, who is in his final season as Geelong president after a 12-year stint, said he believed a Melbourne club would be forced to relocate to Tasmania once the AFL's Western Sydney and Gold Coast franchises are up and running in 2012.Last season, Melbourne, the Kangaroos and the Western Bulldogs were the recipients of AFL subsidies to help balance their books.According to Costa, such financial support from the AFL will end when the new clubs are playing."Clubs will be expected to stand on their own two feet," Costa said. "It's just my personal view, but there will come a point not long after the two new clubs are playing when the AFL will stop subsidising losses and helping struggling clubs to balance their books . . . I think the first team to fall over after the AFL withdraws its subsidies will be relocated to Tasmania. Then we'll have a real national competition."Data released by the AFL yesterday revealed how fast AFL expenditure is rising.Essendon and Geelong were among the big spenders of 2009 and both clubs lifted their total operating expenditure by 17 per cent on the 2008 season.Last season, Carlton lifted its football department spending by 18 per cent on the previous year, while Hawthorn's football department spending was up 13 per cent.Only the bottom four ranked clubs �� Fremantle, Sydney, Brisbane Lions and Melbourne �� didn't lift football department spending by at least 10 per cent on the previous season.Rising costs have put a squeeze on profits, with the AFL's 16 clubs reporting combined profits of $8 million last year, down from $13 million in 2008.