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By Russell Gould
August 05, 2009 The Melbourne Rebels will urge the Australian Rugby Union to choose only one of the Victorian groups vying for the Super 15 franchise to progress to the next stage of the process.
And they say it should be the Rebels.
Three Victorian groups last week lodged expression of interest documents with the ARU, which will meet each group Wednesday and Thursday.
The ARU will inform SANZAR, super rugby's governing body, which bid it endorses at the end of the week. The ARU has said it would not have an issue endorsing not only all three Victorian bids, but all six Australian bids if they were good enough.
There were seven, but the NSW Country Rugby Union withdrew.
The Rebels bid, coming from the Victorian Rugby Union, makes its sales pitch to the ARU on Wednesday.
Bid boss Gary Gray said he would make it clear that no one could put together the best possible bid if it had to compete for local support.
"And I believe all the local groups that have lodged bids share my opinion that the best possible outcome for Melbourne and its chances of winning the licence is one endorsed bid," Gray said.
"Whichever bids get to progress to the next stage have only five weeks to finalise financial and commercial arrangements. That would be extremely difficult in an atmosphere where any potential partners are being courted by three different suitors. In this situation, having localised competition isn't the best way to move forward."
The Victorian Government is also believed to be a supporter of just one local bid and has made that clear to the ARU.
A huge team has been working to put together the Rebels bid, even enlisting the help of several corporate giants, including KPMG, to put together the most professional and credible case possible.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...002381,00.html