HULL FC owner Adam Pearson has admitted that the Covid-19 pandemic took the Black and Whites “to the edge as a club” financially, with the Yorkshireman explaining the financial difficulties facing Super League clubs.
The pandemic meant that games were either played behind closed doors or not at all during 2020 and 2021, with clubs losing remarkable amounts of income.
As such, the RFL applied to the British government for emergency loans to cover clubs’ heads, but, at the turn of the year, Hull will have to make “big repayments” like others.
Once those are made, however, Pearson believes that FC will be on the up.
“We have some big repayments to make to the government in the early part of 2024. Once we’re through that, we look to me to be in as good a shape as any club in Super League.” Pearson told Hull FC Live.
“That takes some saying, but the losses in Super League have been so enormous over the last two years that I think every club needs to be looking at what they’re doing from a sustainability point of view.”
Of course, things are not made any easier with the drop in broadcasting finances with the new Sky deal – a reduction from £24 million to just over £21 million.
And Pearson believes that the broadcast deal must be something that the governing body and the whole sport focuses in the next few years.
“Back in 2013, we were getting £2.1 million from Sky – this year’s new deal for 2024 is £1.3m so there’s an £800,000 swing there of losses on income and yet the cap has gone up by half a million (pounds). That does take a lot of good bookkeeping and close accounting to make sure it doesn’t get out of control.
“It’s staggering and there is a lot of work to do, but at,t the moment, the broadcast deal is going the wrong way, and there’s a lot of money from the broadcasters going to new and emerging sports.
“It seems to be affecting rugby league more than other sports, so we need to work really hard to try to get income from other areas apart from broadcasts.
“That could be streaming, but again, the main broadcast deal is disappointing and I think it is something we’re going to have to work very hard on over the next three years.”
Pearson has explained just how difficult the pandemic made life for him as 100 per cent owner of the Black and Whites – particularly when taking into account the stadium lease.
“It was really difficult. We are a club that is 100% owned by myself – that’s not easy during periods of pandemic.
“The problem with getting investment into the club is that we only have a few years left on our stadium lease and we have a large amount of debt that I am guaranteeing.
“For somebody to come in, all they are doing is taking a portion of that debt so that’s not an attractive investment proposition. It changes if there’s an asset in there when you own the stadium, but we’ve made some comebacks off the field.
“We’ve invested in the squad and we’ve got an outstanding facility at the university that we will be moving into.
“I would say financially and facility-wise, we’re moving into a stronger period, but there’s no doubt the pandemic took us to the edge as a club.
“There were worrying times to not have any income for the club but to have to keep paying for the stadium and the players.”
Click here to purchase a digital edition of League Express.
Click here to purchase an online edition of League Express through pocketmags.com.
Click here to listen to our new League Express Podcast.
League Express is widely available from local newsagents across the north of England.
