AFL senior coaches have already agreed to a 20 per cent pay cut with assistant coaches and other football department personnel expected to follow suit after the AFL executive led the way in volunteering to reduce their salaries by the same amount. Clubs bosses were told on Friday to expect "a significant reduction" in the soft cap this year after already being told last Monday to start finding cost reductions worth $5 million. Brisbane Lions director Leigh Matthews said on 3AW that the $5 million figure was the starting point as clubs waited for further direction from the AFL as to what was required to respond to the fast moving environment. A coronavirus 'crisis cabinet' has been set up with key industry figures while club CEOs such as Carlton's Cain Liddle and Hawthorn's Justin Reeves have bandied together to develop a unified approach to membership concerns. Gold Coast CEO Mark Evans said clubs are collaborating more than ever before to ride out the crisis. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video

West Coast have told recruiters to take annual leave while clubs and the AFL have already informed several casual staff members that there is no work available, with Essendon confirming in an email to members that casual membership staff were not required. Permanent staff in areas such as community programs, marketing and hospitality at several clubs will be informed this week what lies ahead with some clubs hoping arrangements can be made for stand downs to occur as the cost of redundancies would potentially be problematic. There have been emotional scenes as managers processed what the shutdown meant for staff with the rapid escalation of the crisis hitting hard as clubs examine all assets to see whether they can assist them in creating cash flow. More powerful clubs such as Collingwood have told staff in briefings their aim is to retain them while making cuts across the board to ride out the storm. Carlton began to contemplate the work that would be needed to recover, having paid off another $1 million in February to cut their debt in half in the past 12 months. Players have also been asked to take a 20 per cent pay cut with details still to be worked through.

The AFL earned $793.9 million in revenue last financial year while the 18 AFL clubs earned more than $1 billion collectively. However, much of the club revenue comes from gate receipts and hospitality, which have disappeared without crowds. Geelong budget to earn close to $1 million in revenue for each home game in a normal season. Clubs were awaiting direction from the AFL. Those with less robust balance sheets such as St Kilda and Melbourne are dependent on their support. Seven clubs, including the Saints and Melbourne have debt, with about 60 per cent of St Kilda's debt being money owed to the AFL. Fremantle CEO Simon Garlick told ABC radio that the clubs and the AFL were considering three main scenarios when doing financial modelling as round one kicked off without crowds on Thursday night. The first involved the 153-game season and finals being completed without crowds, a scenario club staff were told last week was very possible at this stage.