A-League clubs are facing financial turmoil, with the Australia Professional League (APL) to fund barely a quarter of their salary caps for next season.
While most major sporting leagues, like the AFL and NRL, fund the entirety of their teams’ salary caps the A-League teams will receive just $530,000 from the APL.
This means they will need to cover the shortfall which will be a mammoth task given the league’s unenviable financial position. Wealthy clubs like Melbourne City are likely to be fine but smaller clubs are in serious strife.
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In 2018 clubs received nearly $3.6 million. The current salary cap limit is $2.6 million with the minimum spending floor at $2.25 million.
The APL has made savage funding cuts this year, with up to 50 per cent of staff made redundant in January including the axing of their $40 million digital and content arm, having quickly used up the $140 million gained from private equity investment.
Having split from Football Australia at the end of 2020, suffered through Covid-19, spent big to keep Perth Glory operating and making much less money from its TV broadcast deal, the APL’s financial woes have now hit the teams and players themselves.
“I don’t quite know just yet exactly how it got to this point and where all the money has gone, but I’m committed to finding out and ensuring accountability is enforced,” Central Coast Mariners owner Richard Peil told Mariners fans in an email last week.
“The state of the league unfortunately means that our club’s distribution is likely to be reduced by over $1m for this upcoming season.”
The league will have to look at alternatives such as focusing on the development and sale of players to overseas clubs to make more money.
“Sad and reprehensible in equal measure how it got to this,” long-time football journalist and host Adam Peacock tweeted.
“So what now.
“APL has new board, apart from one (Simon Pearce) and new management team.
“The strategy going forward will be key, as will clubs’ ability to think clever on cost base while plunging resources into development of players. Can be done, but room for mistakes negligible.”