Australian Football League side Carlton will post "one of the biggest financial losses in the club's history," and is expected to be A$2M ($1.4M) in the red "after notching just four wins" for the '15 season, according to Mark Hawthorne of THE AGE. The result follows a A$1.6M loss for the '14 season, but of more concern to the club is the fact it is in danger of breaching a "debt ceiling" imposed by the AFL, which underwrites a maximum A$5M ($3.6M) Westpac overdraft for "every club in the competition." According to the most recent accounts, Carlton has "overdrawn that facility." Carlton CEO Steven Trigg confirmed the club was "facing a major loss" after finishing last in '15. Trigg said, "The bottom line will be disappointing. Our membership held up well, but after a year in which you finish bottom, our match returns and attendance dropped off." The new Carlton exec team "hosted a secret meeting for 100 of the club's wealthiest supporters" in early October. Trigg told the group the club needed help to reduce its debt "or we will have to hand the keys over to the AFL." One of the attendees described Trigg's speech as "fairly blunt, but it was also rousing" (THE AGE, 11/10).
