Swimming Australia have called a crisis meeting with their athletes because the sport has blown their budget and can’t afford to pay the swimmers up to $300,000 worth of performance bonus entitlements.
Australia’s success in the pool in 2014, where they finished as virtual world No.1, exceeded the expectations of their own bosses so much that they can’t afford to deliver the financial rewards promised in team agreements.
In a revelation that will shock the lowly paid swimmers, high-performance boss Michael Scott will tell them in the next week his high-performance budget has been exhausted and they can’t afford to pay their full entitlement of bonuses for a breakout year in the pool.
The outstanding bonus debts equate to about $288,000, which is a small drop in the ocean for SAL’s annual revenue of $26m, but raises questions about how money was spent in the past 12 months given last year’s annual report showed almost $4m in cash reserves in the bank.
Leading Brisbane sprinter Cate Campbell could be left $40,000 out of pocket with the top 10 leading swimmers in the team all facing five figure shortfalls in bonuses.
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