GEELONG has announced a net loss of more than $3 million in 2015, with a poor commercial result exacerbated by costs of nearly $4 million attached to the stage four redevelopment of Simonds Stadium.
Despite a growth in membership and corporate profit, the club suffered from a drop in attendances, events, fundraising and returns from the club's venues.
Average attendances to Cats' games dropped from 33,915 to 29,217 as the club slipped out of the finals for the first time since 2007.
Geelong also had to contribute $300,000 to an AFL fund introduced as part of the competition's new equalisation policy.
Cats' CEO Brian Cook said the loss of $3,318,173 was still disappointing even though stadium related costs inflated the annual figure.
"While the asset write offs and depreciation and amortisation totalled nearly $4 million, we anticipated a better overall result than we have returned," he said.
He said the tighter economic conditions in Geelong, a drop in crowds, and a shortfall in expectations of commercial revenue contributed to the result.
Geelong was pleased with the growth in corporate business and has recently extended its long-term deal with sponsor Ford.
The club also announced it had signed 40,000 members before Christmas for the first time in its history, with the recruiting of Patrick Dangerfield helping to attract 10,000 members more than at the same time last year.
"While we saw an increase in our membership to a record level, we continue to take steps to grow this area significantly, and we are targeting 50,000 members in 2016," Cook said.
He also reiterated the club's view that the methodology that determines each club's contribution to the AFL's equalisation pool is flawed, with Geelong believing its contribution should be nowhere near that of clubs such as Collingwood and West Coast, which is capped at $500,000 despite their profits.
"Our club has long supported equalisation, however we feel the current methodology around the amounts each club is required to contribute is flawed and requires review," Cook said.
Geelong has won three premierships since 2007, with only Hawthorn also in the race as the most successful club of the era. It has invested more than $13 million of its profits into the Simonds Stadium redevelopment in the past decade.
"No other club has the same issues around stadium costs, and in addition to this investment we continue to pay the City of Greater Geelong for leasing the venue and office space at the ground," Cook said.
"We will continue to invest into Simonds Stadium and we are thrilled that stage four of the redevelopment has commenced. This will place further pressure on our finances in the immediate future but will set the club up for long-term success."
