"My opinion is that we don't need to panic until the end of May. We are lucky that gate receipts is not a large part of our income, we are more reliant on our grant and sponsorship money. Our head space is on catching up the remaining games because there has been a deficit in television coverage. We've got to make that up – these are the games the sponsors bought and they were about to have their day in the sun, what they have worked for over the months.
We have factored in extended restrictions in terms of lockdown and in our heads we have a six to eight window to normalise and get the players to some form of training and with the Olympics moved to next year, there are little beacons of light.
We are not in crisis mode, but we can see the economy has been hurt. Our players have been told upfront that their contracts are in place for the remainder of the season, whether the games are played or not. Our budgets run to July, so we don't anticipate any grant cuts as a club at this stage. But heading into the new financial year, sponsorships and other clubs needing bail-outs, this could put some strain on the League. We probably have another two or three months of protection, but after that, the market will dictate our revenue and cash flow."
