Last season only NZ and Cairns actually made money. The other teams ran at a loss, which is common in Australian sport. Most NRL teams run at a loss, infact i believe only 2 NRL teams actually made money last year as well.

Cairns only made a couple of thousand profit, NZ i'm not 100% on.

Yeah, the majority of sports teams around the world make losses and rely on rich owners' generosity/vanity.

Since the league almost died in 09 BA seems to have been working with clubs to minimise losses as a first step. If a team loses $100K and four owners have to put in $25K that can be seen as a worthwhile investment in owning a team.

If the club loses $400K and they are having to put in $100K that can get very old very quickly if the dose is repeated.

Cairns, Perth and NZ all look set up for potential profits this year if they have good seasons on court, Adelaide and Wollongong could be somewhere close if they perform well and attract fans too.

Townsville could but they seem to have alienated some chunks of their support base which isnt good in a small town, nor is the unrealistic expectation that anything but a GF is a failed year. Had they won GF3 at home in 2001 and SF3 in 2011 things might be very different for that club.

The big thing is getting more league revenue to promote the NBL and also give out some sort of dividend, not matter how small.

The new Ten and NBL.TV deal (which also brings significant new revenue) are good for retaining expiring sponsors and attracting new ones which should help a lot in that regard.

The next 2-3 years will be pretty big in deciding whether the league continues to grow to be a strong second-tier sport or has to find a niche as an almost semi-pro competition.

Something i'm not clear on is all this talk (like Paul said) about the Crocs alienating their fan base.. How was this done?? No loyalty shown by the club to their fans?

Im a long way from Townsville, but one gripe I heard was when crowd numbers started to drop one season they offered discount tickets that were cheaper than members' per game price.

So some fans complained along the lines of 'why buy a membership when I can get tickets cheaper?' The club apparently acknowledged this but then did it again the next season.

In a big city that wouldnt be much of an issue, but in a regional town that can be seen as a major affront to your most loyal supporters.

Anon 264, you cant dip into a bank guarantee, it's not sitting in an account. Maybe Cairns took out a loan from the Council, I dont know, but that comment discredits the rest of your post.

The Taipans have done well the past two seasons with high levels of membership and crowds. Melbourne made money when they had significant investment from China. They havent come close since as far as I know.

Anon #381264 where did you pull that heap of lies from ?

As syndicate owner I get full access to the financial position of the club and projections - as Nat said the Taipans actually turned a small budget surplus (non-profit orgs dont make profits....) og around $10k and look to start building on this this year with increased memberships and new sponsors.

As for loaning anything WTF ? You obviously have no idea what a $1million guarantee is and how it works. No money is ever given by the council, they sit on the board and monitor the club's finances. They have the ability to roll up the club so the $1million isn't even touched - but more importantly, the $1million guarantee only covers player (and some staff salaries) and can't be used to cover operational shortfalls.

Next time use google to get your facts right before posting. Seriously.

I'm literally laughing out loud at the failed troll by Anon #381264. It pays to do research.

Love your timing #381264, perhaps you should be invited to the AGM on Wednesday night as a special guest because if what you say is true then the financials were misprinted!

Can you explain why you are linking to information dated November 24, 2009?

Thanks for providing further laughter with the fruits of your embarrassingly desperate scramble onto Google.

A bank guarantee is not working capital!