Tennis Australia gets $4.5m government bailout

Tennis Australia has received more than $4.5 million in Federal Government ‘JobKeeper’ support as it battles the COVID-19 pandemic.

As talks continue between TA and the Victorian State government over quarantine requirements for the postponed Australian Open, officials have confirmed TA will dip into its $80 million reserves in order to stage the event, now likely to begin on February 8.

TA’s annual report has shown it has received $4,527,000 million in JobKeeper funds, as well as rent relief on its venues of $2m.

The Federal Government’s JobKeeper program is based on a percentage -based reduction of revenue caused by lockdown measures – something TA qualified for.

“JobKeeper eligibility was assessed and funds were received on the basis of a reduction in turnover mainly attributable to the closure of customer facing tennis facilities around the country,” the 2020 annual report stated.

Tennis Australia delivered a surplus of $4.4 million for 2019-2020 – down from a profit of $10.7 million the previous year.

Revenue for last year jumped to $456 million but TA knows it will face a big cost for staging the 2021 event, due to the quarantine measures.

“The group will most likely introduce external funding in the form of a line of credit to cover the significant costs that have arisen as part of the COVID-19 response to meeting quarantine and bio-security measures for AO2021” the report added.

“The designated amount of the reserve is currently $80 million and it is highly likely that there may be use of the reserves as the Group executes its recovery plans following the impacts of COVID-19 on the delivery of the 2021 major events.”

Smaller crowds at Melbourne Park due to COVID-19 restrictions, a reduction in sponsor “partnership revenue” snd a projected drop in TV revenues will reduce total revenue across the year.