ARU hands control of new Melbourne Super Rugby team to Melbourne Rebels
From the Melbourne propergander unit.
By Adrian Warren
January 05, 2010 .The ownership saga surrounding the fifth Australian Super Rugby team has finally been resolved, with the Australian Rugby Union handing control of the franchise to the Melbourne Rebels consortium.
An agreement was announced on Tuesday between the ARU and the group headed by businessman Harold Mitchell.
Melbourne will join an expanded 15-team Super competition next year, when Australia, New Zealand and South Africa will all field five teams.
The Melbourne franchise will be based at the new 31,000-capacity rectangular stadium nearing completion in the city's sporting precinct.
Tuesday's announcement brought to an end several months of uncertainty about which interested parties would be involved in the Melbourne franchise, which will receive some loan funding from the ARU.
"Inevitably, these things take a while, but I wouldn't say it's been tortuous, I think it's been challenging,'' ARU chief executive John O'Neill told reporters on Tuesday.
"But the outcome we've reached with Harold and his team is a good one for rugby, a good one for the ARU and a good one for rugby in Melbourne.''
O'Neill said the ownership structure of the Melbourne franchise met the criteria set out by the ARU along with the funding arrangement and capital requirements.
O'Neill said the Victorian Rugby Union was not an equity partner in the Melbourne franchise, but described it as "a stakeholder''.
He said the ARU would have no more say in the running of the Melbourne team than it had in any of the existing Australian Super franchises.
Mitchell politely declined to disclose any details about pending major appointments including a coach and a chief executive.
"We are not too far away, of course we have been doing plenty of work, but I'm not about to announce it this morning,'' Mitchell told reporters.
The ARU announced on Monday that significant foreign-player concessions will be handed to Melbourne to give the franchise every chance of being competitive in their debut season.
AAP
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...002381,00.html
