Hull FC owner Adam Pearson has revealed that the Super League club are set to record a significant loss for 2021 and expect to do the same in 2022.
The Covid pandemic has had a huge impact across the sport and the Black and Whites have been as affected as any other club by the challenges, not least matches being played behind closed doors or at reduced capacity last season.
As a result, when the Hull FC accounts for 2021 are soon published they will show a seven-figure loss.
“We are in a difficult position, there’s no doubt about that,” Pearson told BBC Radio Humberside. “I think we’ll post a £1.2m-£1.3m loss for 2021, and probably about the same for 2022.
“We need to improve income and bring costs down and that’s what we’re working on at the minute. But it’s the hardest two years in sport we’ve had.”
This season is expected to be another challenging one because of a drop in membership from pre-Covid levels, Pearson said.
“We’re at 6,200,” he said of the current total of members. “I’d like to thank everybody for renewing. It’s fantastic support.
“Obviously it’s down about 3,000 which is a problem to us, it equates to about £1 million.
“Post-Covid we need to get back to winning ways, play some attractive rugby, and if we do that I’m sure those people will come back.
“It’s the older generation in the demographic who haven’t renewed and they’re obviously still wary (of Covid).”
Pearson said sponsorship had held up well but that the club’s wage bill, largely made up of contracts signed before the pandemic, needed to be reduced.
He hinted at the approach to doing so when confirming he was unlikely to give coach Brett Hodgson any further signings and that he should be “bringing the young lads through” instead.
“We’ve got the funding to get through to 2023,” said Pearson. “We’ve got to sort the wage cap for next year, we’ve got to improve income and we’ve got to get supporters back.”