The Australian Rugby Union recorded a deficit of almost A$10M ($7.6M) last year -- its worst result in over a decade -- with CEO Bill Pulver admitting "he is not proud of the game's financial result in 2015," according to Tom Decent of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The financial predicament of the ARU has "worsened during the past 12 months" after it was revealed it returned a deficit of A$9.8M last year to go with a loss of A$6.3M in '14. However, it has cost the ARU A$5M ($3.8M) "to keep the Melbourne Rebels afloat," slightly more than the A$3.3M it "forked out the year before." The ARU announced an "underlying business deficit" of A$4.8M. This figure is "significantly worse" than in '14 when it recorded an underlying surplus of A$700,000. It has been over 10 years since the ARU "recorded a bigger deficit." A A$7.5M deficit in '11 was "followed up by further financial troubles" in '12 (A$8.3M), but a British & Irish Lions tour in '13 "contributed significantly" to the ARU's surplus of A$19.5M for that year. Pulver, who has been CEO of the ARU since Feb. '13, said that financial results in '15 were "not ideal" but believed there would be "light at the end of the tunnel." Pulver: "It's not something we're proud of, but it is something we forecast. There were no surprises in the number, but it's not a good number. We knew that 2015 was going to be the last of a series of extremely difficult financial years. We knew that when we started working with the Rebels around their situation that that would exacerbate the problem." Pulver is confident, however, a new broadcast agreement from '16-20, which will provide at extra A$170M ($129.3M) over the next five years in comparison to the previous deal, "will leave the game in a better financial state than the current numbers show" (SMH, 4/11).
