As Melbourne seek to resolve the Heritier Lumumba situation by year's end, they are also chasing a sponsor for the back of their jumper.
While automotive group AHG re-committed to the club last month, it did so in a remodelled capacity. AHG's previous three-year deal with the club had been as sole major sponsor, with the organisation's name on both the front and back of Melbourne's jumper.
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AHG's new three-year agreement is as co-major sponsor, meaning the AHG logo will appear only on the front. The real estate on the back is still for sale.
Chief executive Peter Jackson said the available space provided a terrific opportunity to join a club that has been on a steady rise for three years. "We were keen to go towards co-major sponsors rather than just the single," Jackson said.
![Space for rent: Melbourne is looking for a new co-major sponsor for the back of the Demons' jumper.](/web/20161220184156im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/q/0/c/a/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtb8mm.png/1481700866025.jpg)
"A single sponsor is an all or nothing with the whole jumper. And while that was fantastic [in 2013] – it suited [AHG] and it suited us to go co-major [now.]"
The sponsor hunt comes at an exciting time for the club. The Demons haven't made the finals since 2006, but are one of several clubs with a claim on rising from outside the top eight to reach the finals in 2017, a year that marks their first season under Simon Goodwin, who took over from Paul Roos at the end of this season in accordance with the club's transition plan.
Melbourne won just two games in 2013, but improved every year under Roos, winning 10 games this season, before an aggressive trade period in which the club landed Hawthorn veteran Jordan Lewis and Essendon backman Michael Hibberd.
The Demons have turned around their off-field situation too. Jackson arrived in 2013 – initially as an interim appointment to help a club that had seemingly stumbled from crisis to crisis, and was mired in a debt of more than $5 million at the end of 2013. The club recently posted its third consecutive profit, and its women's team is preparing for the first AFLW season, after the club was awarded one of eight initial licences for the new league.
![AHG will remain on the front of the Melbourne jumper.](/web/20161220184156im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/q/8/5/6/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtb8mm.png/1481700866025.jpg)
Jackson said the picture looked much rosier than when he took over.
"Where we are as a club, we're financially sustainable as a club and our footy department has got some really good people in it doing some really good things," Jackson said.
"People started coming back to our games last year. We had match day attendances increase almost 30 per cent last year."
But the 2017 finals challenge will however almost certainly be without Lumumba, who is set to retire following issues with concussion, and has considered legal action in relation to his treatment from the club. The Collingwood premiership player has not been training with the Demons during the pre-season.
Jackson said he hoped the club and Lumumba could reach an agreement by the end of the year. "I think some discussions will happen this week, and hopefully whatever Heritier wants to do we'll resolve that pretty soon.
"It's starting to drag on a bit so I think we need to work it out one way or another pretty soon, but I think that'll happen.
"If we have to move on, we move on. It's got to be resolved."
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