The Brumbies were not only forced to see red in the finals earlier this year, but also in their ledger after stumbling at the final hurdle in the 2012 Super Rugby season against the lowly Blues.
Brumbies’ chief executive Andrew Fagan said the club posted a $520,587 loss last financial year, which would have turned into a small profit had they secured a home finals spot worth about $600,000 in sales and hospitality.
In the last round, Queensland pipped Jake White’s no-name Brumbies, who had led for most of the second half of the season, for Australia’s only finals spot.
“I did suggest to the Queensland Reds’ CEO (Jim Carmichael) after that last game last year that he owes me lunch,” Fagan told AAP.
While they finished second overall on the Australian table by winning 10 matches – more than double their 2011 effort – they also missed out on a wildcard away finals spot worth $120,000 by just one premiership point.
However, Fagan said the Brumbies never forecast budgets with making the finals in mind, and was predicting a $550,000 profit for the 2012/13 financial year – more than a $1 million turnaround.
“Obviously, 2012 was a good year on the pitch, which allows you to capitalise financially,” he said.
“We’re not too far off meeting our membership budget this year.”
The Brumbies on Thursday put home-game tickets on sale, reducing rates on general admission from 2012 by 27 per cent to $24 for adults, $19 for concession and $59 for families.
“We are trying to ensure the ticketing pricing is right, so we’ve dropped it a bit and want to be as affordable as possible as we’re trying to build our crowd numbers up,” Fagan said.