LOOKING FOR SPONSORS
Meanwhile, Jets chief executive Lawrie McKinna said the club was struggling to attract major sponsors, partly because Chinese owner Martin Lee was perceived as someone who could afford to bankroll the team on his own.
“That’s a bit of it, yes,” McKinna told the Newcastle Herald. “Exactly that, which is really unusual because this is when we need people to help so we’re not just relying on a rich owner to keep propping up the club.
“You’ve got some people who might go, ‘Oh, Martin’s there, we don’t need to get involved with the club, but that’s not how it works.’”
The Herald reported last week that Lee had lost about $3 million on the club in his first year as owner, bringing his total outlay to more than $8 million after paying the FFA about $5.5 million for the franchise 12 months ago.
“The more successful we are on the field, the more members, the more people through the gates, and then when we start selling a couple of players, then all of a sudden quite quickly you can actually cut that loss down and then get it to a sustainable loss where you hopefully break even,” McKinna said.
“He’s never wanted to make money. His long-term goal is to break even. His long-term goal is to build up the team, spend more money on the team, make the team competitive, but it’s not to make money.
“It’s to break even and build up his football business around the world.”
McKinna said an expected funding increase from the FFA this year would make little difference to the club’s bottom line as the salary cap would also rise.