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Canberra boss Don Furner says NRL clubs will be in a million dollar black hole if crowds are locked out of games for more than a few weeks.
Canberra chief executive Don Furner fears for the financial future of NRL clubs, who will face a million dollar hit if the crowd shut-out due to the coronavirus crisis stretches beyond a few weeks.
The Raiders drew more than 10,000 to their round one clash with Gold Coast, which is the last open to Canberra fans for the foreseeable future due to the global pandemic.
But Furner said it had already affected their bottom line, with far worse to come.
"That (round one match) would have hurt us financially because we were tracking for 15,000 with our pre-sales," he said.
"If we were having a home ground next week with zero crowd that's a massive drop.
"We've got the Dragons in two weeks and that's a really big draw for us so it's going to be financially troubling."
He said with no ticket sales, refunds to season ticket-holders and corporate hospitality, they will be in the red up to $400,000 a game.
"If we have no crowds for one game, no crowds for another game - all of a sudden it's up to a million bucks roughly," Furner said.
He said that club bosses had been in ongoing crisis talks with the NRL about assistance packages but couldn't see how that could stretch to 16 clubs if the entire season was called off.
"As far as I know insurance doesn't cover it so three or four weeks maybe but can't imagine they could cover a season," Furner said.
"They can't save 16 clubs.
"The costs aren't there without crowds but neither is the revenue.
"We still have to pay the players, still have to pay the staff - it's hard to fathom."
The Raiders are due to play the New Zealand Warriors next Saturday in an historic double-header in Auckland, also featuring a Super Rugby match between the Brumbies and Blues.
With only six diagnosed cases, the New Zealand government is yet to ban mass gatherings.
Despite the Australia government advising against non-essential travel, the Raiders were at this stage planning to travel on Thursday.
"They might not want us in there or they might not want the Warriors back either," Furner said.
"The New Zealand government might say they're OK for crowds to go so we've got crowds, both league and union.
"It depends on what the New Zealand government do and what the airlines do, it's going to be a weird couple of days."