Help is on the way for struggling sports clubs.
And boy, do they need it.
A Sport Otago survey of 176 clubs has revealed about half the clubs in the region are well placed to survive the ecomomic impact wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The other half are not.
Sport Otago chief executive John Brimble told the Otago Daily Times about 50% of the survey respondents indicated they had adequate resources.
"That 50% also have cash flow and reserves to last up to seven months. But they have also said that at various times during that seven months they may have a cash flow problem so it is likely they will need a bit of assistance at various times to bridge gaps."
Sport New Zealand is working on some financial relief packages Brimble described as significant.
"We can’t give you any further detail on that because we are still working through just how that will operate," he said.
"It has to be signed off by the Minister of Sport."
But he expects more information "within the next week".
"We are trying to get it out as quickly as possible."
Brimble said a "proportion" of clubs would not survive despite the relief packages. He was reluctant to put a percentage on it because the environment was changing so rapidly. But there would be fallout, particularly once the relief funding came to an end.
"The biggest impact will be for the clubs who were reliant on ... gaming to cover their operational costs," he suggested.
Under law, gaming trusts are prohibited from holding reserves, so they will have no income while the gaming venues remained closed.
More than $100million in sports funding could be lost during the next 12 months as a result.
That is money which would have propped up community sport.
The loss of subscription fees will leave another sizable hole in the budget for sports organisations.
Sport Otago has work under way to look how a shorter winter season could operate.
"We’ve basically come up with a draft looking at how we can get competitive sport up and running and school sport running."
Those programmes could start in August or September and be six to 10 weeks long.
"That would generate some income for the clubs."
Reducing costs will be crucial as well and Sport Otago has been in discussion with various councils.
"What we have been advocating for is for them to suspend all ground charges, leases and rents.
"And where some of the clubs have been looking after their own grounds, that they take that burden off them."
Brimble said each individual sport would need to make a thorough assessment of the likely level of return. He felt it was unlikely people would return in as great a number, with many parents perhaps reluctant to allow their children to play contact sport.
Budgets would have to be revised accordingly and clubs may even have to modify forms of their sport to encourage more people to return to play.
"It is not going to be like it was before. They can’t just go back to what they have always done."
Perhaps one of the positives could be a return to an emphasis on volunteers and grassroots sport.
"As a result of what has happened I think we might see a return to people just being more prepared to put themselves forwards and help out in order to get things happening."
Sport Otago has reduced its reliance on funding from gaming trusts in recent years but would also feel the pinch, Brimble said.
Some staff will be redeployed in other areas but there have been no redundancies or pay cuts as yet.
