My take on this is as follows and not being a CEO it’s pure speculation I fully admit.
RL clubs get two forms of funding, TV revenue and fan/commercial.
I’m guessing the TV money is safe for now especially if games eventually go ahead even behind closed doors. TV money is the golden egg in RL and provides the lions share of the cash.
The fan/commercial is more tricky.
Season tickets are paid in advance so assuming only a small number want a refund that’s safe.
Ditto commercial. I assume a fair percentage of the commercial stuff is paid up for at least the next moth or so. Stuff like shirt sales has almost certainly gone well past it’s peak. So many revenue streams are already paid up. Obviously there is still a fair chunk going begging but in some areas but not all.
The hardest one to gauge is fans paying on the day and what they spend. This is where we will lose out but you don’t need to be a Dragon to realise that it’s not a massively profitable part of the business with just a few games offering any real return.
When playing the likes of Toronto, Salford and Hudds we probably come close to losing money on these games. When you take the cost of staging a game into account I’m guessing we need to hit 4.5k before we make money. Financially these games are not a huge loss.
On the flip side Cas and Leeds are big losses because again I’m guessing that every £22 we get once over 4.5k is mainly profit.
Truth is if I’m correct our future depends on the following.
1. How many profit games we lose.
2. How long the ban lasts, obviously.
3. That we are as financially sound as hoped and thus gain the support of the banks and retain a minimum cash flow. We will also need the support of fans, businesses and the RFL to do this.
4. A good attitude from the players. By this I mean they play for they exist on the minimum. I don’t mean they take huge pay cuts, we all have to live but any bonuses etc are put on hold. The players need to note that technically there jobs are now redundant and in effect so are they all be it temporary fingers crossed.
Some staff will simply have to be laid off but some are probably contractors and others like matchday staff are temps anyway. It brutal but it’s a tough time.
In the long term if the virus isn’t stopped we are all stuffed and the last thing anyone will care about is RL. We all need to do our bit.
I’m lucky I’m not skint and my job is safe. I am willing to contribute an initial £100 to any fund to help the club.
I suggest those like me let it be known on here or other sites if they are willing to do the same.
It may only help a bit but MC needs to know what options he has sooner rather than later.
Finally I fully accept some of what I say may be utterly wrong but this is a forum for ideas.
It’s grim no doubt but manageable in the short to medium.