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Thread: TV cash boosts Vic Super 15 chances

  1. #1
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    TV cash boosts Vic Super 15 chances

    Wayne Smith | October 16, 2009

    Article from: The Australian

    MELBOURNE's chances of beating South Africa's Southern Kings for the Super 15 expansion licence next week are set to rise dramatically on the strength of persistent rumours that broadcasters are backing the Victorian capital.

    It is understood broadcasters are so keen to tap into the lucrative Victorian sporting marketplace they have indicated they are prepared to pay substantially more for the broadcast rights if SANZAR votes next week to award the new Super rugby expansion franchise to Melbourne.

    It would not just be Australia that benefits but also its SANZAR partners, New Zealand and South Africa.

    "All would get a bigger slice of a larger pie," a reliable source told The Australian yesterday.

    If the broadcast deal with News Corporation (publisher of The Australian) does have a Melbourne bonus built in, it could be the final trump for Australia's candidate city in what is shaping as a far tighter contest with the Southern Kings than most observers had anticipated.

    South Africa, clearly suspecting Australia and New Zealand will gang up on it as they did to defeat the SARU's attempts to win the 2015 World Cup, has rejected a Kiwi proposal that the licence be awarded on a majority vote at the SANZAR meeting in Sydney on Wednesday.

    Unless there is a unanimous vote, which hardly seems likely with South Africa every bit as determined in its support of the Port Elizabeth-based Kings as is Australia behind the Melbourne Rebels, the matter will have to go to arbitration.

    Somewhat surprisingly, there are indications South Africa would accept the appointment of a Sydney QC to hear the matter while all parties are in town.

    It had seemed an open-and-shut case that the ARU would win a fifth licence when it was announced that the expansion team would be required to play in the Australian conference during the home-and-away derby stage of the tournament.

    But South African sources have revealed the SARU will counter that advantage by proposing that instead of the three competing countries breaking off into their own individual conferences, the derby matches be worked into the wider draw.

    That would mean that the Waratahs, Brumbies, Reds and Western Force all would play the Kings in Port Elizabeth as part of their annual tours to the republic, while the Kings, in turn, would play all four provinces as part of their annual sweep through Australia and New Zealand.

    "The impact of the logistics would be fairly trivial," the South African contact said.
    "It would mean the Kings play six matches in Australia and New Zealand, not five, while the Australian provinces would play three matches annually in South Africa, in place of the current arrangement where they play three one year and only two the next."

    While details of the Australian presentation remain a mystery, South Africa has submitted a 60-page document to SANZAR in support of the Southern Kings.

    Almost certainly the Kings submission comes with the full backing of the South African government which is anxious for a predominantly black Super rugby team to have its headquarters on the Eastern Cape.

    While speculation continues to swirl around possible Melbourne coaches, the Kings already have announced their coach if they are admitted to the Super 15 in 2011 -- former Stormers coach and assistant Springboks coach Alan Solomon.

    Under Solomon, who will help Nick Mallett coach a Barbarians side including Matt Giteau and Stirling Mortlock against the All Blacks at Twickenham in December, the Southern Kings put up a brave performance against the British and Irish Lions before going down 20-8 in front of 36,000 spectators at their brand-new ground in Port Elizabeth in June.

    Former Bulls boss Stefan Pretorius already is in place as the Kings' chief executive.
    Meanwhile, Ewen McKenzie has marked his first day on the job at Ballymore as Queensland coach by announcing long-time Brumbies strength and conditioning coach Damian Marsh as the Reds' new fitness guru.

    Marsh, who spent nine years working with the Brumbies, takes over from former athletic performance coordinator Dirk Spits.

    http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...0-2722,00.html

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  2. #2
    Veteran beige's Avatar
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    I wonder if that is just some strategically timed scuttlebutt...

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    Legend Contributor Thequeerone's Avatar
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    A take is that if you are a New Zealand voting person - your teams would have better recovery times flying to Victoria rather than Sth Africa

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    Surely if the Kings were in the Australian conference it would mean two extra games for them on their out of Africa leg. Playing all four Australian teams at home and then 2 or 3 from New Zealand. A bit hypocritical really. I mean the South Africans bitch about a 4 game away leg and they bitch like little girls about a 5 match away leg. How will they be about 6 or 7 games?! Before the Bulls finally won one back in 2007 that was the running excuse in South Africa- the travel distances are too big for us boohoo - but now its only a "trivial logistical impact".

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