News Just In, Days Away From Being Sold To the Gordon Family

[Coffs dragon]

Plenty of insightful thoughts in regards to potential development. I have always believed Saints Leagues Club is a relic of the past and severely run down & under utilised.
Surely a total sale to Chinese investors to build "The Dragon" a Casino/Hotel complex that targets the large Chinese demographics of the St. George area and attracts tourism plus sporting groups to utilise WIN Jubilee next door.
Football club operations & management should be solely based in the Gong with training facilities.

 

[BennyV]

Very good post. I think Saints forever has come up with a great idea. And it’s easy to get excited by it.

But when the reality sets in we would have to remember it’d take the best part of a decade to come to fruition.

For those that say the club should do it, considering we are in the red to the tune of 6 million and being propped up, who’s going to give us100mil to play with?

What you do is go down the third party avenue, their benefit lies in the value of property and they will charge rent to all those proposed businesses. As a club we could proposition it by saying we’re bringing the customers through so give us a discount.

I just don’t know if in this country and in all honesty as a club we have a big enough fan/support base to make it a viable venture.

If the club could own a stadium and create an ‘experience’ there with restaurants/entertainment/accomodation etc that would be overall more viable. But once again the costs vs what we in Australia spend on that stuff is my concern.

The reality is people travel from all over the world and when they’re in Europe or US they will do a stadium tour of their favourite team/s - no one travels to Australia to do that. The rugby league brands marketability is there yet.

Fan base and support should have nothing to do with it. Any sale or development should occur completely separate to the football club and should not be relying on fans or supporters to build. It's not just Panthers or Bulldogs fans that go to Penrith or Canterbury Leagues clubs.

The Leagues Club is there to support the football club financially. When the former prospers, the latter is the beneficiary. Outside of that, the two dont really need to be linked.

 

[Old Timer]

The notion that we do something with the Leagues club site without the full co operation of council re Jubilee Oval is obviously thwart with danger and TBH the uncertainty of that would put most developers off.
IMO a better option would be to look at a total redevelopment including / incorporating that other ageing relic Beverly Park Golf Club.
I think the golf club is on a 20 year lease for the land which is zoned for "sporting use".
A much longer term view would be needed but the potential with that additional land space would I think be a much more attractive proposal and might entice a much larger developer.
Sports club, golf club, hotel just thinking out aloud.

 

[MilanDragon]

Fan base and support should have nothing to do with it. Any sale or development should occur completely separate to the football club and should not be relying on fans or supporters to build. It's not just Panthers or Bulldogs fans that go to Penrith or Canterbury Leagues clubs.

The Leagues Club is there to support the football club financially. When the former prospers, the latter is the beneficiary. Outside of that, the two dont really need to be linked.

But then we bring nothing to the table other than providing space for someone to develop. So they can do that elsewhere in a site that’s not a leagues club.

 

[Crush]

The deal was done with Gordon but the NRL knocked it back.

 

[BennyV]

But then we bring nothing to the table other than providing space for someone to develop. So they can do that elsewhere in a site that’s not a leagues club.

Yeah, real estate on a main arterial road within minutes of the airport and CBD is a pretty big carrot in itself.

 

[Gareth67]

The deal was done with Gordon but the NRL knocked it back.

What no sale , so we are back to square 1 ? ?

 

[ouryears]

The deal was done with Gordon but the NRL knocked it back.

Crush I can't see any news update to say this.
Link?

 

[MilanDragon]

Yeah, real estate on a main arterial road within minutes of the airport and CBD is a pretty big carrot in itself.

So the third party has two options:

1) pay for two floors of the leagues club or develop it.

2) find a site in the area, yes pay more money but much better return. The type of people that can afford option one can surely afford two.

Overall I like the idea - I’m just not sure how viable it is to a third party, so therefore the club has to do it.. however we aren’t close to being able to undertake such a project.

 

[Gareth67]

Crush I can't see any news update to say this.
Link?

I have an idea that he is having a lend of us ouryears - berstard !

 

[ouryears]

I have an idea that he is having a lend of us ouryears - berstard !

Yes I thought as much mate.
Time to do some crush(ing) of our own Gareth.

New that Nighty signs a 3 yr extension?

 

[Crush]

I have an idea that he is having a lend of us ouryears - berstard !

Not having a lend mate. I heard it today. NRL wasn't happy with how the debt to the NRL was to be paid back by Gordon so they didn't accept it. I can't say anything more, you understand I'm sure.
Maybe it's BS but it's what I heard.
Cheers.

 

[Gareth67]

Not having a lend mate. I heard it today. NRL wasn't happy with how the debt to the NRL was to be paid back by Gordon so they didn't accept it. I can't say anything more, you understand I'm sure.
Maybe it's BS but it's what I heard.
Cheers.

Thank you for the reply Crush , naturally I can only say that I am disappointed with the outcome. More so with the knowledge that was the reason that the NRL knocked back the original proposal by WIN - for how the debt was to be repaid .

Sounds as if Bruce Gordon has made a similar case yet again , which is just wasting everyone's time and effort. If this is indeed the case , then the time has now arrived for the sale to be opened to more realistic and open minded buyers .

I would be saying to Mr. Gordon - thank you for your interest however the Joint Venture needs to move on , as there has been too much valuable - VALUABLE time wasted with yourself and WIN and follow through with a number of the ideas put forward by the members of this forum , whom at least have the welfare of the Dragons first and foremost .

 

[Saintsified]

Not having a lend mate. I heard it today. NRL wasn't happy with how the debt to the NRL was to be paid back by Gordon so they didn't accept it. I can't say anything more, you understand I'm sure.
Maybe it's BS but it's what I heard.
Cheers.

Never Knew A Non Owner of an entity had the right to knock back a sale on behalf of the owners of the entity. Communist bastards these NRL farks

On a side note, I dont think Gordon are as rich as they say anyway.

 

[dragonssamy61]

Its all to do with cash flow.
If they don't have it .
It will not happen

 

[Gareth67]

Its all to do with cash flow.
If tou don't have it .
It will not happen

I understand what your saying Sammy , but hell the angst and sheer bluudy agony of being put through the wringer yet again is just so disheartening . And not only the fans of the Joint Venture but the board ( think of them as we may ) also who have attempted to make this happen - all their hard work has come to nothing .

Now they must make the sale opened to all interested parties and take it from there . Pointing out before hand that one of the main stumbling blocks has been the manner in which the NRL will accept payment of the debt and take it from there .

 

[Frank Facer]

Hopefully a Saints fan buys the Illawarra half and decides that we go back to being St George Dragons. With most of our games played at Kogarah. Then we eventually have a 30 000 plus seat stadium built for us to play out of, at Kogarah.

 

[Old Timer]

Not having a lend mate. I heard it today. NRL wasn't happy with how the debt to the NRL was to be paid back by Gordon so they didn't accept it. I can't say anything more, you understand I'm sure.
Maybe it's BS but it's what I heard.
Cheers.

If proven correct the jewel that Doust was looking for to wear in his crown has turned into the hat of the court jester and he has his harlequin stick doll in his hand shaking it at all and sundry.
If the Gordon's deal was to be the one and it has gone down in flames I can't begin to imagine what sort of half arsed deal Doust could possibly cobble together in the small amount of time he has left.
Shame that their is such speculation however the club refuses to make any announcements so it is deserving of the criticism being levelled at it.

 

[Drag Queen]

The deal was done with Gordon but the NRL knocked it back.

What? Our debt is so small? Gordon would be getting a bloody bargain here. What's the deal?

 

[Saints Forever]

NRL issues the licence for Clubs to participate in the competition.

Its unusual for Licensor's(NRL) to lend money to Licensee's(Clubs) in the first place.

NRL is most unlikely to accept a transfer of our club licence or control of the Licence without being paid its debt.

If Gordon want's NRL support for his acquisition he has to put a commercially realistic proposal forward.

That means paying the $6M as a lump sum or paying it by instalments over a short period of time (1-2 years)

NRL is not a bank, they don't lend money for a living. They run a 'national" footy competition.

In a normal commercial arrangement they would sell up our licence to the highest bidder if the JV cannot meet its payment terms.

The JV needs strong financial backing.

Any new partner must pay out the NRL debt in one lump sum.

If they can't or won't do that, they should not be considered by Doust as JV partner material.

It is that simple.

Mr Doust, if you are not a hand puppet of the Gordon family please do your job and seek out as many credible/viable JV partners as are available on the open market.