Canberra Brave boss Dan Amodio braces for financial hit on AIHL due to coronavirus

The Brave were initially slated to begin on the road to Australian Ice Hockey League redemption against the Sydney Ice Dogs at the Phillip Ice Skating Centre on Saturday.

But the season has been postponed indefinitely in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic which has shut down major sporting leagues and businesses around the globe.

It is a cruel financial hit for the Brave, whose owners also run the ABL's Canberra Cavalry and are already feeling the effects of a bushfire-affected summer which saw baseball games cancelled.

The Cavalry were at one stage fearing 55 per cent of their anticipated budget for the year would be lost in the midst of the smoke haze which engulfed the capital.

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Now Amodio feels as though they "can't take a trick" with the virus impacting the AIHL. Amodio says the puck may drop to open a condensed season in July but officials are prepared to accept there may be no games at all.

"It's been a tough time for sure. The bushfire stuff was a pretty big hit on the Cavalry front but we were able to weather that relatively well," Amodio said.

"With the Brave season, the virus started getting really serious just before we started pressing play on a lot of our season expenses.

"We haven't flown imports over, we haven't booked accommodation, we haven't had any of those big costs. That said, we still had several pre-season costs and staff costs we couldn't avoid.

"Those we will have to absorb as we look to have a limited revenue opportunity this winter. This is a great example of how having two teams together can help to protect both of them as we go through difficult financial times."

Brave general manager Sunny Singh penned a message to fans addressing the state of 2020 memberships, asking for "a little more time" before the club works out its next move.

Some fans have pledged to stand by the Brave while others have been understandably unable to commit to a membership package as they deal with the financial implications of the virus.

AIHL commissioner David Turik says the league's head office will continue to monitor medical advice from the World Health Organisation, IIHF, IHA and governments.

League officials have planned regular meetings to assess progress and are set to provide a further update when there is a significant change to the situation.

"We might be looking at July-August if things go pretty well. We would have some sort of short-term mini season. That's the plan," Amodio said.

"Realistically, there is still a very strong chance of zero season. We just don't know, it really depends on how things go over the next couple of weeks.

"The chances of having any international travel changes in the next couple of months looks really unlikely. We probably won't end up bringing any imports over.

"If we do, that will be much later down the road. We had five imports we were planning on bringing over. One of them was scheduled to arrive a week after all of this stuff.

"In retrospect it was probably a good thing because they would have been stranded and that would have been a rough time for them and their family.

"If we do something this year, it will likely be without international players."