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WA BEARS

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
70,189
No. He would have royally messed it up by accepting that bid as it was.


He did but expectations aren’t the same as guarantees. Your source should have informed you why we haven’t been getting updates at the present. Nothing to do with these hurdles you’re alluding too (which I’m assuming you think they’re purely financially based).
That depends, if we end up with nothing then the Western Bears would have been better than that! If we end up with more funding for jnrs and a better run club in the long run then fair play it was worth the angst and the wait and popping everyone's bubble. Time is yet to tell what the end outcome is.

I dont know what the 'many hurdles' my source was alluding to are, be it financial, ownership, license location guarantees or anything else that they may not have agreed on at that meeting. But clearly there are as the Vlad 2-3 weeks is going into week 6 and still no signs of announcement.
 

SirPies&Beers

Juniors
Messages
655
That depends, if we end up with nothing then the Western Bears would have been better than that! If we end up with more funding for jnrs and a better run club in the long run then fair play it was worth the angst and the wait and popping everyone's bubble. Time is yet to tell what the end outcome is.

I dont know what the 'many hurdles' my source was alluding to are, be it financial, ownership, license location guarantees or anything else that they may not have agreed on at that meeting. But clearly there are as the Vlad 2-3 weeks is going into week 6 and still no signs of announcement.
maybe look in the mirror and ask your source who is looking back at ya what he feels chances are. lol
so you dont actually know what hurdles are but feel need to state them whenever you can? ok
yes vlandys said possibly 2-3 weeks but he never committed to it and there was a 3 week shut down in the middle of then and now.
ways i see it its only been 3 business weeks since he made the comment. unless you thought there was a possibility that it would be announced during shut down period, which if you did youre deluded cob. but maybe man looking back at ya when you look in the mirror says otherwise


Here I Am Mirror GIF by Jeopardy!
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
70,189
Not if it fell over in a few years and consigned the fate of a WA team forever.
With the financial and Govt backing it had there is no reason to believe that would have been the case.

You'd have to be pretty poor business people to not be able to make an NRL club work with the $20mill grant these days. And these were all successful business people involved.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
35,046
Really interesting to think how he may announce it if part of pre election campaigning. Could be in four parts. NRL announce the clubs license with support of WA govt. Cook then has a few days announcing:
1. $350mill+ for HBF park upgrade talkign about the beneft for all rectangular sports and as home of the newly announced NRl club.
2. $X for jnr sport (ie RL grassroots and NRLWA CofE)
3.. Support for the NRl club (though he may not announce this at all as probably the most iffy from a vote perspective). He may instead announce the Fremantle facilities upgrade with a side note that the Perth Bears will use it in the interim.

Hopefully it's in the next week or two.
Potential nda on full details so it won’t upset fumble fans before the election
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
70,189
Potential nda on full details so it won’t upset fumble fans before the election
Maybe but he's just announced a $200mill racetrack in the city that absolutely no one wants lol
I dont think he cares that much at this point, he is just throwing around money like confetti. The HBF Park upgrade is the biggie in the announcement Id suggest and one most likely to win him votes.
 

AlwaysGreen

Post Whore
Messages
50,983
Cook: I'm pleased to announce millions of dollars of funding for the bears NRL team!

99.97% of the voters: who the f**k are the bears?
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
70,189
Todays pre election announcement $30mill to improve facilities and participation in womens sport. Hopefully some of it finds it way to NRLWA clubs.
 

SirPies&Beers

Juniors
Messages
655
With the financial and Govt backing it had there is no reason to believe that would have been the case.

You'd have to be pretty poor business people to not be able to make an NRL club work with the $20mill grant these days. And these were all successful business people involved.
they did have poor business people because they couldnt even understand the intent of license fees
 

flippikat

First Grade
Messages
5,304
Sharks wont be going anywhere, they've got cash reserves to see them through IF it is them thats flogged something off to ARLC. They've been in much worse financial positions than this and somehow survived. They may be a sht run club but they've got survival skills I'll give them that!
Wasn't "bailing out the Sharks" one of the first things Vlandys had to do when he got the gig? And here we (reportedly) are again, right...?

I imagine the last time the NRL assisted them, they put no "Next time, we'll put some heavy conditions on this" message out there.. so it'll once again be no strings attached I guess.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
35,046
[
Wasn't "bailing out the Sharks" one of the first things Vlandys had to do when he got the gig? And here we (reportedly) are again, right...?

I imagine the last time the NRL assisted them, they put no "Next time, we'll put some heavy conditions on this" message out there.. so it'll once again be no strings attached I guess.
They were close to being relocated and warned they would receive no more help financially by Greenberg

With their juniors and assets and the dragons focusing on Wollongong they will be ok

Once the leagues club gets back online they will be rolling in it
 
Messages
15,273
Wasn't "bailing out the Sharks" one of the first things Vlandys had to do when he got the gig? And here we (reportedly) are again, right...?
You want to show some proof of that?
The only teams that have been "bailed out" in the NRL era are, Gold Coast, Newcastle, St. George/Illawarra and Wests Tigers.
Believe it or not the Sharks have never had to put their hand out during the NRL era, before that yes they did, but not since the NRL came into being.
I imagine the last time the NRL assisted them, they put no "Next time, we'll put some heavy conditions on this" message out there.. so it'll once again be no strings attached I guess.
The NRL haven't assisted them monetary wise, well no more than every other team in the NRL with the grants.
Get another shtick.

For the record, Cronulla bought Kareela Golf Club in 2020 for $4.6M, it's now worth $12.7M.
They bought the property at 94 Cronulla St. for $7.8M in 2023. They also have $19M, or more, sitting in the bank.

There should be fact checkers on LU instead of letting posters run riot with a simple Mole Rumour.
 
Messages
15,273
They were close to being relocated and warned they would receive no more help financially by Greenberg
Correction, "no more" is not the right term, they had not received any. They were told, along with everyone else, that no club would receive any extra financial assistance after what the NRL had done for Titans, Tigers, Knights and Dargons.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
35,046

Also this


bombshell document has revealed just how close the Cronulla Sharks came to going broke and being forced out of the NRL – just two years after their fairytale 2016 premiership victory.

The Sunday Telegraph has obtained a secret show-cause notice sent from former NRL chief

executive Todd Greenberg to the Sharks in 2018, calling on the club to provide evidence it was financially sustainable to continue to hold a licence.

A relocation to Perth was even put on the table.

“The situation was as grim as it gets and not what you expect when joining a board,” says chairman Steve Mace, “we were showing annual multimillion-dollar underlying trading losses.”

Over an eight-year period the club had combined losses of more than $20 million, dealing with the crippling costs from the peptide scandal, salary cap cheating and football club overspending.

Mace is quick to praise his board and management team for the stunning turnaround – a story of an astonishing financial comeback in which the club now has assets of almost $90 million – plus the support of billionaire U.S. businessman Mike Dorrell, who recently donated $5 million to the club.

Back in 2018 the situation was so bad that the board was even presented with a plan to relocate to Western Australia.

“Perth Venues did come and meet with us but we quickly hit that on the head,” Mace said, “No way was that ever going to happen.”

The huge annual losses were hidden from members in balance sheets masked with funds from sales of the Woolooware Bay development used to camouflage the heavy losses.

When Barry Russell quit as chief executive and Mace installed himself as the acting head of administration and Dino Mezzatesta, then Chairman and now CEO, headed up a substantial rebuild.

The fightback began in earnest.

“First we had to prove we were financially capable of holding onto our licence,” Mezzatesta said.

“It’s nice to win a premiership but not when the business is going broke.

“We had to provide a plan that we could sustainably build our way out of it.

“We had to roll the sleeves up and make it happen.”

Importantly the Sharks had independent commission chairman Peter Beattie and a then new commissioner – Peter V’landys – in their corner.

While the show cause notice came from Greenberg and the NRL’s chief financial officer Tony Crawford, V’landys and Beattie were determined to save the club.

“We have sure come a long way,” Mezzatesta said, “The support from Peter V’landys and the commission was rock solid when we really needed them.”

Mace is a highly successful businessman, believed to be worth several hundred million dollars in his own right.

He refuses to be critical of the previous administration and only agreed to comment in the story to give context around the show cause notice.

“You can’t pass judgement unless you were in their shoes at the time,” Mace said, “The off-field problems they were dealing with have been well documented.

“I have personally treated the club like it was my own business. That’s how important it is.

“We reengineered the whole structure and were very fortunate to build a board and management team led by Dino (Mezzatesta) capable of making the smart and strategic decisions that have led to where we are now.”

The Sharks now have $25 million cash in the bank.

They have purchased Kareela Golf club (worth $15 million), a retail site $8 million and own the leagues club and home ground (combined $40 million).

And as Mace and Mezzatesta now insists – they are here to stay.
 
Messages
15,273
May I add that Greenburg was let got by PVL and the commission.
Also if we're all going to run on speculation, I'll say that he was let go because he was incompetent, and not someone whom they felt could take the game forward.
 

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