The North Ballarat Roosters unveiled its new naming rights sponsor for 2017 as H. Troon stepped up its sponsorship involvement.
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The announcement provides some much-needed positive news for the club following a difficult couple of months which has seen its future in the VFL come under question.
North Ballarat will be known as the Troon Roosters after Selkirk, which has been the naming rights sponsor of the club for over 15 years, took a step back - but it will remain a contributor to the club.
North Ballarat Roosters’ general manager of football Gary Buckenara said it was great news and something that will hopefully see the club turn a new financial leaf.
“It’s nice to have some positive news, it’s been a little bit up in the air around our survival, but we’ve got a great group of people and we’re all working hard to keep this going,” Buckenara said.
Buckenara said the club had been in discussion with several other Ballarat business’ and was hopeful of making more announcements in the new year.
It has been well-documented that the Roosters are facing a long road back to financial stability, but moves like this are extremely positive.
Buckenara said it was important to partner with local companies in order to bridge the financial gap between what it can currently generate to what’s required to run a VFL club – between $1.5-2 million.
He drew the comparison to Frankston, which exited the VFL competition in 2016, and how important it is to gain the support of local business’ before it’s too late.
“They will help pick up the gap that we can’t, we can only fund to a certain amount at the moment – which is over a million dollars – which is significant, but it takes more than that to run a program properly.
“We need the support, we need the help, let’s keep it alive, because once it goes it might be gone forever.”
The club also cited twenty20 cricket and development of its involvement with the AFL calendar as potential avenues to increasing its revenue.
Buckenara thanked Selkirk for its substantial contribution over many years as the naming rights sponsor.