THE MELBOURNE Football Club today reported an Operating Profit of $135,976 (FY10: $724,458) for the year ended 31 October 2011.
 
The Club’s Normalised Operating Profit for 2011 is $777,262. As part of the operating profit, and in accordance with the AFL player rules, the Club pre-paid a number of 2012 player contracts to take the Club to 100% of TPP in 2011, so as to create room in the salary cap for future years.
 
The Statutory Profit for the year is $6.041 million (FY10: $3.525 million), following the Bentleigh Club merger as reported earlier in the year.  The Club is required to report the net gain of $5.904 million as profit on merger.
 
Vice President Don McLardy said, “Our members and supporters, including our Foundation Heroes, have continued to support us at all levels, for which we are very grateful. Off the field, our Club continues to grow and this off field success is how we give our Club the chance to perform in the AFL.”

CEO Cameron Schwab said, “The Bentleigh Club is the first significant asset this club has had in its history. This acquisition, along with the Club’s success in eliminating debt over the past three years, has enabled us to focus on growing our club and creating a sustainable profit model for the future. To be able to pre-pay player contracts and allow this type of flexibility in a list management sense is not something we could have considered doing in the past, and is a great step forward.”

Click Here to view the annual report.

The Club’s 2011 Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday, 1 February 2012, at 6.30 pm in the Members’ Dining Room at the MCG.