Brora Rangers chairman William Powrie has estimated the Highland League champions could miss out on £30,000 of revenue due to the coronavirus shutdown.
The Cattachs have furloughed all players and management, who have also agreed to take “very substantial” wage cuts, with the club planning to apply for the UK government’s job retention scheme.
Although the Cattachs were declared league winners last month, Powrie reckons the absence of title-defining games, along with the cancellation of their player of the year awards and golf day, have mounted to create the expected shortfall.
Powrie said: “Success breeds success. We would have been ensured good crowds and hospitality at all our games, as well as normal commercial activities on matchdays such as raffles, merchandise sales and the like.
“That can all drop into the heading of lost potential revenue for us, so when you add it all together it’s a hit.
“On the back of the difficulties all our commercial sponsors will no doubt be facing into at the moment, it won’t be as easy to pull money in as we’ve done in the past.
“That’s for any Highland League club, not just Brora Rangers. All clubs have social functions, and various sponsorship events which have just been wiped away.
“The economics are going to contract and there lies a little bit of a ticking time bomb.
“The players’ wage cuts were in relation to the general position we found ourselves in, and every club in the Highland League found itself in.
“Even Premiership players’ wages are being cut, so we are no different.”
The SPFL proposal to end the league season would deny Brora and Lowland League winners Kelty Hearts the opportunity of promotion via the pyramid play-offs, which would be cancelled if the motion is passed.
Should they go up, Brora would stand to earn between £45,000 and £75,000 in prize money next season depending on where they finish in League 2, compared with £2,000 for winning the Highland League.
Powrie retains hope of league reconstruction providing the Cattachs a pathway into League 2 however, insisting a place among the SPFL would go a long way towards softening their recent financial blow.
Powrie added: “We are either going to get a yes or a no – it’s going to be quite binary in that sense.
“To be playing in a league where the participant remuneration is so much greater puts everything into very sharp focus for us.
“For both financial and developmental reasons, we want to progress and improve, and test ourselves at a higher level.
“The escalation to the SPFL would offer that, at the same time as ensuring the whole thing is economically viable.
“Nobody out of choice would have wanted it to end up the way it is.
“We’ve got to be ready to take advantage of any invite that comes along.”