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'We are not broke': SCG chair goes into bat as coronavirus hits Trust
? 2020 Getty Images SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 02: A general view of the Sydney Football Stadium redevelopment and SCG as well as the NRL headquarters on April 02, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. Sport and events held at the stadium continue to be postponed and cancelled under current Coronavirus related restrictions in place across the State. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust chairman Tony Shepherd has defended the spending of the organisation as it bids to ward off insolvency, saying coronavirus and its financial impact was "nothing we could have predicted".
The SCG emailed its more than 18,000 members last week telling them it could not afford to refund them as it faced a "desperate situation" brought on by COVID-19 and its impact on sport.
It is a devastating turn of events for one of Sydney's most prestigious and powerful institutions, which has a 13-year waitlist to join as a member and boasts as trustees broadcaster Alan Jones, Harvey Norman chief executive Katie Page and corporate heavyweight Shepherd.
Sources told the Herald the situation was so bleak that there had even been difficulty paying suppliers but Shepherd said he had been assured they were being paid, insisting funds had not completely dried up.
"We are not broke," he said on Tuesday. "We are working on a skeleton crew. We've got enough money to keep going but we can't afford to repay or members or anything like that. We need that cash.
"We're being prudent because we don't know how long this crisis is going to last. It's nothing that we could have predicted, it's nothing that we could have protected ourselves against."
Shepherd said what small surplus the SCG usually made it tipped back into maintaining and improving its facilities including the famous cricket ground itself and its stands.
Financial records show the government statutory body's total revenue for 2018/19 was $109m, $24m of which came via memberships, and as at February 28, 2019 it had $18.2m in cash. Instead of a small profit the costs of relocating member facilities and tenants such as NRL premiers Sydney Roosters during the $800m rebuild of Allianz Stadium contributed to an operating loss of $27m. According to its most recent annual report, operating expenses totalled $88m and $19m was paid to executives and staff including CEO Kerrie Mather, whose base salary was $523,752.
To confront the current predicament, executives have taken pay cuts, Shepherd said, while others including about 600 match-day casuals now find themselves out of work.
Asked whether the Trust would need a bailout from the state government to remain afloat, Shepherd was confident it wouldn't but that it would depend on how long sport remains suspended.
"We'll make it but we don't have money coming out of our ears, that's for sure," he said.
etc
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The Trust manages the venues for the state govt.
The state govt owns it all.
From the ashes will rise a wonderful new Sydney Football Stadium...it'll just take longer to build now.
'We are not broke': SCG chair goes into bat as coronavirus hits Trust
? 2020 Getty Images SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 02: A general view of the Sydney Football Stadium redevelopment and SCG as well as the NRL headquarters on April 02, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. Sport and events held at the stadium continue to be postponed and cancelled under current Coronavirus related restrictions in place across the State. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust chairman Tony Shepherd has defended the spending of the organisation as it bids to ward off insolvency, saying coronavirus and its financial impact was "nothing we could have predicted".
The SCG emailed its more than 18,000 members last week telling them it could not afford to refund them as it faced a "desperate situation" brought on by COVID-19 and its impact on sport.
It is a devastating turn of events for one of Sydney's most prestigious and powerful institutions, which has a 13-year waitlist to join as a member and boasts as trustees broadcaster Alan Jones, Harvey Norman chief executive Katie Page and corporate heavyweight Shepherd.
Sources told the Herald the situation was so bleak that there had even been difficulty paying suppliers but Shepherd said he had been assured they were being paid, insisting funds had not completely dried up.
"We are not broke," he said on Tuesday. "We are working on a skeleton crew. We've got enough money to keep going but we can't afford to repay or members or anything like that. We need that cash.
"We're being prudent because we don't know how long this crisis is going to last. It's nothing that we could have predicted, it's nothing that we could have protected ourselves against."
Shepherd said what small surplus the SCG usually made it tipped back into maintaining and improving its facilities including the famous cricket ground itself and its stands.
Financial records show the government statutory body's total revenue for 2018/19 was $109m, $24m of which came via memberships, and as at February 28, 2019 it had $18.2m in cash. Instead of a small profit the costs of relocating member facilities and tenants such as NRL premiers Sydney Roosters during the $800m rebuild of Allianz Stadium contributed to an operating loss of $27m. According to its most recent annual report, operating expenses totalled $88m and $19m was paid to executives and staff including CEO Kerrie Mather, whose base salary was $523,752.
To confront the current predicament, executives have taken pay cuts, Shepherd said, while others including about 600 match-day casuals now find themselves out of work.
Asked whether the Trust would need a bailout from the state government to remain afloat, Shepherd was confident it wouldn't but that it would depend on how long sport remains suspended.
"We'll make it but we don't have money coming out of our ears, that's for sure," he said.
etc
#####
The Trust manages the venues for the state govt.
The state govt owns it all.
From the ashes will rise a wonderful new Sydney Football Stadium...it'll just take longer to build now.
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