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Clubs face $280m black hole
By Josh Massoud
December 05, 2007
THE NRL's $280 million pokie tax crisis - not a day grand final - will be "top of the agenda" at the end-of-season CEOs conference.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal NRL boss David Gallop recently met with leagues club bosses, who presented him with new and alarming figures detailing the frightening toll of the New South Wales Government's increased poker machine taxes and stringent smoking laws.
Collectively, the 12 NSW-based clubs that finance NRL outfits face a $280 million black hole in higher taxes over the coming five years.
July's wholesale ban on indoor smoking has seen a 13 per cent decline in revenue in some quarters.
Their combined force has led to St George Leagues Club cutting its annual grant to the Dragons by $2 million, with Parramatta contemplating similar measures for 2009 if relief is not forthcoming.
The Entrance – based on the Central Coast – withdrew from next season's Jim Beam Cup, and the NSW-based feeder competition received another blow yesterday when Asquith confirmed it can no longer afford to field a side.
Gallop said the chilling numbers would be the first item officially presented to all 16 club supremos when they gather in the Hunter Valley.
"It's at the top of the agenda," Gallop said. "I'll be taking the CEOs through the figures in my opening presentation. It is having an impact on the entire rugby league industry. While Sydney clubs are acutely aware of it, we especially want the interstate clubs to understand the pressure."
The day when a club is forced to approach the NRL for assistance is "not beyond the realms of possibility", according to Gallop.
"It's been a massive whack - and it's continuing to escalate," he added.
Eels CEO Denis Fitzgerald has been in close contact with Gallop over the past months, during which there has been a $130,000 drop in takings at Parramatta Leagues Club because of the smoking bans.
Although a strident opponent to a day-time decider, Fitzgerald said the funding crisis was a "far bigger issue" than the grand final debate.
"We are talking about the NRL collapsing, teams going under," he said.
"I'm sure this conference will show the interstate clubs that clubs in NSW are on a knife's edge in terms of survival."
Fitzgerald, who is also CEO of Parramatta Leagues Club, said the licensed club's football grant had been preserved for 2008 at the expense of subsidies for meals and entertainment. But a reduced hand-out is almost certain the next season - perhaps "in the order" of St George's $2 million cut.
"It depends on how we trade in 2008," Fitzgerald said. "But it could be in that order if there is no relief."
Peter Turnbull, president of the Leagues Club Association of NSW, revealed Bulldogs Leagues Club was also under pressure because of a legal row over its "outdoor smoking area".
"I had an awareness meeting with David (Gallop)," Turnbull said. "He was quite shocked about some of the figures."
On you Cockgerald.Loved one of your moronic quotes from 2002/2003,"Melbourne Many and Souths will not see the start of season 2005".The crap that spewed from Cockgerald's mouth before and after our expulsion from the comp,is slowy going to come back and haunt this imbo.You reap what you sow.
:lol: 
