New 16th Team
27 May 2005
The National Rugby League Partnership has announced today that the Gold Coast will be invited to participate in the 2007 Premiership Season.
The Partnership Executive Committee has also undertaken to encourage the staging of further games on the Central Coast and has confirmed the incentives on offer for an existing team to fully relocate to Gosford. The partnership stresses that no team will be forced into relocating.
Todays expansion news comes as the Partnership authorizes further discussions in relation to television contracts.
It also coincides with the release of Rugby Leagues strategic planning document for the next five years.
Before arriving at todays decision the Partnership Committee had received reports on the progress of each of the bids since they were tabled in 2004.
Among the changes to the Gold Coast bid had been the confirmation of funding for a new stadium, an end to local disagreements over the naming of the club and a strengthening of the clubs financial position.
These factors along with South East Queenslands larger population base weighed in the clubs favour.
Another was the advantage of establishing a third Queensland club in preference to another NSW team. The environment for existing NSW teams is already being pressured by the State Governments poker machine taxes.
This is a tremendous opportunity for Rugby League and for the Gold Coast, NRL Chief Executive, Mr David Gallop said today.
Following the success of the Cowboys in the North and the ongoing strength of the Broncos, it is an opportune time to bring a third Queensland team into the game.
Since the Partnerships decision to defer this matter last year we have seen a multi million dollar investment in the Gold Coast bid from the Queensland Government and Gold Coast Council, we have a greater knowledge of the games likely future television revenues and we have seen the difficulties presented by taxation strategies in NSW.
It has been a prudent wait until this point but it is now time to move forward.
The Partnership wishes to stress that it will continue to work towards seeing a team playing out of the Central Coast.
It remains a key area and its bid, backed by John Singleton, had a number of strengths.
However, as well as Rugby League is growing, it is not in a position to effectively expand beyond 16 teams.
The Partnership confirms its previous offer of incentives of $8million for an existing team to relocate to the Central Coast.
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