Interim CEO Peter Jackson, who began in the job on May 1, told AFL.com.au that although the club could cover that shortfall the Demons needed to focus on its core business of football.
Success in that area he said was the only way to give impetus to other revenue generating ideas.
"You have got to get your footy right first and build the rest of it afterwards," Jackson said.
Jackson will spend the next three to four months focusing on what needs to change to improve the football program.
Jackson has already identified that reporting lines from the football department to the CEO and board need to be streamlined.
Amazingly, the football department had several lines of reporting through to the CEO.
At most clubs, the football manager reports to the CEO and the board.
Jackson suggested that making structural tweaks would allow him to make a better assessment of how people in the football department performed in their roles.
The CEO said it was clear that many people in the football department were inexperienced and given the number of dramas surrounding the club since the 186-point loss to Geelong in 2011, it was hard to imagine even the most experienced person performing at their optimum in such an environment.
Matching them with a young list and a lack of mid-level experience, to teach and support the youngsters, made performing consistently a huge challenge.
"Apart from Neil Craig, people are generally inexperienced at their job, not everybody, but generally," Jackson said.
"[They] haven't necessarily imported people from around the industry who can hit the ground running and know what is involved. They are the sort of issues. Now that does not mean you pick everything up and throw it out. I'm not suggesting that for a minute but we do have to tighten the structures and reporting structures."
Once the structures were right and an appropriate management process was in place then the focus would change.
"The CEO should support football and not be in football," Jackson said.
Jackson's personal view when it comes to football however is that list management is the most critical component to deliver success.
"If you don't get that right, there is nothing you can do," Jackson said.
Melbourne installed a new recruiting manager, Jason Taylor, in the middle of December after Todd Viney assumed the role temporarily for 2012.
Tim Harrington has been list manager since 2009 while Viney remains as player development manager and strategy.
While the current exchange and draft period delivered a mix of talented youngsters and recycled veterans, the strategy has received much external criticism.
Many in the Demons' football department believe however that the success or otherwise of the 2012 approach should not be judged for at least 12 months.
Jackson said without a strong list in place, player development was next to impossible.
It's still a matter of much debate externally whether the chosen talent has been developed properly or not.
And decisions that have been made to recruit or delist players in the past few seasons have also been questioned.
The club lost four first round draft picks at the end of 2012.
The ability of those employed to make such decisions will be assessed also but Jackson did not have any pre-conceived opinions.
Jackson said the question he would like to pose to the football public and supporters in relation to the coach Mark Neeld was, 'has he really had a chance yet for us to find out whether he can coach?'
"I would rather take that approach then everyone speculating all the time on where things are at," Jackson said.
He understood however that talk about the coach was just part of football and something that people needed to manage.
"It's going to be harder for the coach than it is for me. It's going to be harder for the board," Jackson said.
He said the club's focus needed to be clear and there was no time or need to rake over the coals of the past.
"I can't worry about that. I have got to move forward. I've got to make an assessment of people, structures … and start to put in some expectations as to how we do business to slowly build respect into all those stakeholders," Jackson said.
"If there are issues that relate to the past they will pop up. We'll find them and we'll address them but there is no point going back to analyse the past."
He said Melbourne needed to win back respect of supporters, other clubs, the AFL and the rest of the AFL community by the way it did business.
He left staff in no doubt of his intention addressing them as a group more than once since arriving at the club.
"What I have spoken to them about in the shorter term is just how we do business. Winning back respect is [about] how we do business in a total sense," Jackson said.
There was no sudden movement of the eyes as he said it. There will be no spin under this CEO.
He has not got the time or inclination to muck around.
The challenge attracted him more than the thought of being back at the coalface of football again.
"Six weeks ago if you said to me you will be sitting in the CEO's office at Melbourne footy club I would have said you were insane," Jackson said.
But now he is back, he is charging ahead.
And started by telling it how it is.
