Sponsor's woes bad news for Bears
THE Central Coast Bears' bid for NRL inclusion has taken a blow following the likely loss of their major sponsor.
The Sun-Herald can reveal that major backer Mortgage House has less than three weeks to settle an ownership dispute to avoid the company being sold by a liquidator.
The development comes less than two years since the company agreed to tip $3 million into the Bears in their first three seasons in the NRL. Mortgage House managing director Ken Sayer subsequently promised to underwrite the franchise to the tune of $10 million, but that now appears highly unlikely.
Bears chief executive Greg Florimo said he was unaware of the case between Sayer and former business partner Zoltan Tomanovic, which was heard in the NSW Court of Appeal last week.
Tomanovic claimed that Sayer, the majority shareholder, failed to meet financial obligations under an alleged written agreement between the two men. Tomanovic wanted the company, one of Australia's largest home-loan broking networks, wound up so that he could be paid out his 45 per cent stake.
The court said it would not issue a wind-up order, but ordered that Sayer buy out shares owned by Tomanovic. Sayer and Tomanovic were given 21 days to come to an agreement about how the buy-out would proceed or the case would return to the court.
''I'm unaware of that particular scenario,'' Florimo said. ''We're still confident of having Mortgage House be a part of the Central Coast Bears. In saying that, it is a very popular property and there has been plenty of interest in the corporate sector.''
Mortgage House has a long association with rugby league, having sponsored teams including Parramatta, Melbourne and the Roosters. Sayer said he was looking forward to buying out Tomanovic's share and claimed that the company's sponsorship of the Bears would not be affected. ''The relationship with the Bears is unaffected, unaltered, unchanged,'' Sayer said yesterday. ''Absolutely zero effect.''
The Bears and half a dozen rival franchises are attempting to earn an NRL licence. Other contenders include a second Brisbane team, Central Queensland, Wellington Orcas, Western Reds, Ipswich Jets and Papua New Guinea. Some of the prospective teams are hopeful of an NRL berth as soon as 2013 but the continued delays to the formation of an independent commission have put their issue on the backburner.
Regardless of the outcome with Mortgage House, Florimo was confident the Bears would have the required corporate support to push for NRL inclusion. ''We're confident that we'll present a powerful and compelling case to the NRL,'' Florimo said.
''All the criteria we've set ourselves will be met, including a substantial capital and a sustainable business model.''
Despite not being a part of the competition, the Bears have a membership base of 6667, a figure almost as high as some NRL clubs. Over 60 per cent of those members are residents of the Central Coast. Other important steps in their bid include the establishment of an office headquarters on the coast, the appointment of David Fairleigh as inaugural coach and guaranteed access to Bluetongue Stadium.
''We're really engaging with the community here,'' Florimo said
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...s-for-bears-20110507-1ed6q.html#ixzz1LiGPxPNe
* funds have been already paid for the last 3 years as major sponsor and therefore has gone into equity
* this only affects the Central Coast Bears POST-NRL license, not bid stage (which Mortage House was only ever signed on as for 3 years, which ends at the end of this year anyway)
* the "Party-of-3" which I mentioned last week relate to this and are being courted for an overall better solution and stronger sponsorship
* the ownership model without Ken Sayer is definitely stronger overall than with him, though he states this doesn't affect the CCBears.
** I've known about this for about 1 and a half months now. I apologise for not mentioning it earlier.
** there is bigger news concerning sponsorships being announced soon. All the other sponsors are still pumping funds into the bid including Fortunity, JJ Lawson, Norths, Harvey Norman and Sinalli.
** it's all steam ahead for the Central Coast Bears NRL bid.
