Burraston hopes meeting can resolve impasse with partner
KNIGHTS chief executive Steve Burraston is keeping the club's options open regarding a long-term financial partner but hopes to make peace with the Wests Group as early as today.
The future of the 26-month-old commercial alliance between the two iconic Newcastle organisations is in doubt because Wests have baulked at contributing any of their promised $1 million to help the Knights cover an estimated $1.2 million loss for the 2007 NRL season.
That partnership is separate to the impending new lease agreement between the Knights and the Hunter International Sports Centre Trust, in which the Knights will continue as major tenants at EnergyAustralia Stadium with Wests as stadium managers until 2017.
But The Herald understands the lease and the Knights-Wests corporate joint venture are intrinsically interwoven. It is understood Wests are holding out on reducing the Knights' deficit unless the Knights agree to several clauses in an amended version of the lease.
Burraston would not comment about other options, but a new collaboration with Newcastle Jets owner Con Constantine has emerged as a possibility.
"Our first priority is to solve the Wests situation, but like any manager of any organisation, you've always got Plan B and hopefully Plan C in your pocket," Burraston said.
"I've been talking to various people to see what those options are, but I think it's a bit premature to speculate on those outcomes. Our priority will be to have discussions with Wests this week and see if we can work things out."
Burraston will meet today with Wests Group chief executive Phil Gardner and HISC Trust chairman Ted Atchison to discuss the stadium agreement.
The Knights and the trust signed a heads-of-agreement document on January 7, but Burraston said a formal lease must be ratified this week a more pressing issue than how much money Wests will give the Knights.
"The other agreement revolves around us providing the right numbers to Wests," he said.
"We are talking through the various issues, and in all honesty, we can't define a final number until we have audited figures, which we expect to happen some time this month. We closed off our accounts at the end of December, but we need to finalise our numbers and bring the auditors in to make sure we've made no mistakes.
"Once we've got a sign-off from the auditors, we can then present the true and accurate numbers to Wests and they can make a determination on whether or not they'll provide anything under the agreement, so I think we're all getting a little bit ahead of ourselves."
Gardner said his organisation would respond when the Knights presented their bottom line.
"Everything we've said we'd do, we've done; and more," Gardner said.
"At this stage, the Knights haven't made a claim on us under our guarantee. Everything else at this point is conjecture."
Apart from the lease and their financial partnership, a third agreement exists between the Knights and Wests regarding the Knights using the $16 million Wests-owned Balance gymnasium, fitness centre and adjacent field and facilities at Mayfield as a training base.
It is understood that partnership has not been affected by the breakdown in relations regarding the other two agreements, though players are not using the training field at Balance because ground renovations have taken longer than originally anticipated.
Players have been training at other grounds, including Dangar Park and Newcastle University, but continue to use the gym, pools, weights room and meal facilities at Balance.
Speculation that John Singleton remained a potential Knights saviour was off the mark, according to sources close to the millionaire businessman and racehorse owner, but his association remains through his Bluetongue Brewery sponsorship.
Burraston believed the publicity of the past 48 hours "could strain negotiations a little bit, but I hope Wests don't take it the wrong way".
"These things sometimes leak out from time to time and people find various pieces of information out, but I hope it doesn't interfere with our negotiations as we go forward this week," he said.
