Scottish clubs in financial 'perfect storm' of rising energy costs and cost of living crisis
- Published
Earlier kick-off times are not practical for Inverness Caledonian Thistle
The cost of living crisis combined with spiralling energy costs is a "perfect storm causing huge problems" for football, says Inverness Caledonian Thistle chief executive Scot Gardiner.
He warns that away supports are "falling off the cliff" and "energy costs are clearly a huge, huge worry".
The Scottish Championship club, in keeping with others, are increasingly reliant on goodwill to keep going.
"We've cut our cloth, but we're also walking a fine line," Gardiner says.
"You're looking for support in relation to your cash flow as cash flow is very difficult right now and football clubs are notoriously a black hole for cash."
While some clubs are considering earlier kick-off times to reduce lighting costs, Gardiner says that is not possible for Caley Thistle because of the longer travel times for away supports already struggling to fund such trips.
So, having already reduced ticket prices, the Scottish Championship club are exploring innovative ways to make ends meet.
"We spoke to the league last week and asked if they could ask all 42 clubs if their utilities contract was up for renewal so we could join up and have economies of scale," he tells BBC Scotland. "You have more buying power that way.
"We are potentially looking at going to pandemic hours of operation, so staff would work potentially at home, which would allow us to mitigate the costs of the stadium."
On Thursday, the SPFL announced a record turnover of almost £40m for last season, having earlier this week announced a new £150m Sky Sports television deal.
However, Gardiner points out that 82% of all revenues go to the 12 clubs in the Premiership, with 10% going to the Championship and the remainder to Leagues 1 and 2.
Gardiner does not "hold out any hope" of a change to that as it would require the top tier clubs voting to reduce their share.
The Caley Thistle chief executive admits that it can be "utterly exhausting" to be constantly battling against financial problems, but he remains optimistic.
"We have a bright future, but only if we can get through this extremely difficult process," he adds. "We're no different from plumbers and double glazing companies. We've all got a real challenge here. It is very difficult.
"The sun will come up sometime. You've just got to make sure you're there when it does come up."