You do not need an MBA to recognise some of our beloved sporting organisations are struggling to balance the ledger.
Just last month Southern Hockey decided not to enter teams into the National Hockey League.
The board has been reluctant to explain why but it is understood financial concerns proved the biggest factor.
Hockey is not alone. Southern United was reduced to begging earlier in the year.
It started a Givealittle page in a desperate attempt to raise funds.
Football South came to the rescue in April, taking overthe playing licence.
The Otago Cricket Association has tightened its budget, and chief executive Mike Coggan told the Otago Daily Times in May the association faced insolvency in "12 to 18 months'' had it not restructured its operation.
It has been two years since the Otago Nuggets featured in the National Basketball League and the signs of a speedy return look bleak.
And it was not that long ago the Otago Rugby Football Union was on the brink of going bust.
The bigger picture is perhaps not as gloomy, though. While sport faces some serious funding issues, there are solutions, Brimble said.
"The current funding model - no it is not broken,'' he said.
"It may not be ideal but we have to work with it until something better comes along or there are changes.
"Funding is a critical issue for sport and we have become very dependent on gaming but gaming machine expenditure is actually declining.''
It fell 22% between 2007 and 2013 and further decline is forecast. Demand for those funds, however, is up.
"That is adding to the financial pressures on sport. If we look at Otago as an example, all the sports are going to the same sources, whether it is gaming, community trusts or commercial sponsors. They are all being hammered by all the various sports.
"The reality is, there is just not enough funds to go around.''
Brimble said sports organisations need to accept that situation and make adjustments.
Mostly that means cutting expenses and there are savings to be made from banding together.
"One of the ways is to look at a more combined approach. One of the biggest costs for a sporting organisation is administration and there is certainly cost savings by creating a shared services arrangement.''
Sport Otago is doing some ground work to establish a service along those lines.
"We are getting a bit of traction with some of the funders in regards to that. It would certainly free up funds currently going to a range of individual administrators.
"Linked to that is the idea of hubbing sports together. We are starting to see more of that happening with clubs combining where you might have three or four codes sharing the one club room.
"You've got to have good people in key roles. You have to have good management and good governance. If you have that working well then you can turn sporting organisations around.''
