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by Jim Tucker
A "FOR sale" sign has been slapped on the Reds, with Super Rugby's biggest improvers hunting a new naming rights backer to fill a multimillion-dollar sponsorship void.
The five-year $6.6 million major sponsorship from Queensland Rail has not been extended, which pitches the Queensland Rugby Union into a tight three-month search to nail down a new one.
The news has been anticipated for months so the cash-strapped QRU is as prepared as it can be to go to the market this month to hook a new major sponsor.
"Ours has been a successful partnership, but we recognise that the landscape has changed with the restructuring of QR's business," QRU chief executive Jim Carmichael said.
The recent split of QR into the government-owned Queensland Rail and rail freight company QR National, which will be floated to the public later this year, has changed priorities.
"The QR-Reds agreement was right for its time but as a new national freight transport company, QR National has decided to investigate the opportunity of sponsoring a Central Queensland-based team in the National Rugby League competition," a QR national spokesman said yesterday.
More than 4000 of QR National's 7000 Queensland employees live and work in the catchment area of the proposed Rockhampton-based NRL team.
QR National chief executive Lance Hockridge's comment last week that Central Queensland is "rugby league heartland and QR National heartland" is a clear pointer that Suncorp Stadium no longer is.
The supreme irony is that QR came on board in 2005 to drive a "new team, new beginning" creed for the full-time move to Suncorp Stadium, yet it has taken until 2010 for it to actually happen.
Now, the sponsor is jumping off a moving train, so to speak, because the Reds finally clicked with the razzle-dazzle of 43 tries and their best finish (fifth) since 2002.
"The performance of the Reds in 2010 combined with new opportunities for the game in 2011 has attracted significant interest," Carmichael said.
"Absolutely, I expect we will have a new major sponsor signed by the end of the year.
"This is a watershed time to secure rugby's future in Queensland, and I believe we have the strong brand to do it."
St George Bank, with its red-and-white livery a perfect fit, came on board with the Reds in 2010 as a backer and are one candidate to upgrade to major sponsor.
The QR deal of 2005 was always considered a State Government-orchestrated sweetener to get the Reds from Ballymore to Suncorp.
• Melbourne Rebels yesterday announced the signing of Junior All Blacks hooker Ged Robinson, a 104kg hooker who played five times for the Wellington Hurricanes last year.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/...-1225924221048
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