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After suffering initial controversy with the fact that the Victorian bid had three completely different bidders, it appears that the ARU's strategy with the landmark tenders has hit another speed bump.
The ARU confirmed that Melbourne would indeed be the location of the Australian bid, but three different proposals were in place from three very opposite parties.
The first was the official bid of the Victorian Rugby Union.
This was originally headed by Harold Mitchell and Rod McQueen, who gave the VRU heavy financial support although it is believed that both those men have since withdrawn their sponsorship.
Seen as the sentimentally correct option, the local and state governments supported the idea of the official union receiving the team, but reports from The Australian newspaper and other media outlets have revealed that this bid is on the proverbial outer.
The second bid was that of the Belgravia Group, in theory via the A-League team Melbourne Victory and said to be directly backed by Geoff Lord, the owner of the football team and former president of the Hawthorn AFL club.
Despite having no real connections to rugby, a strong relationship with John O’Neill was coupled with the fact that this was a legitimate business model.
The words private equity have been abuzz around Australian circles, with O’Neill and the ARU keen to see the Super franchises in the country financially independent of the national union, and this bid seemed to be dependent on this theory.
Then there was the third bid, the VicSuper15 consortium.
In theory a controversial bid, considering that many of the backers are resigned directors of the VRU. Fronted by former Wallabies captain Mark Ella, and backed by mining magnate Kevin Maloney, it caused a slight rift with the VRU; who made a point to say that they had no affiliation with the “breakaway” group.
The ARU then all but nominated the VicSuper15 bid as the official group that would be awarded the Super 15 licence, which caused some uproar in Victorian rugby circles.
But it now appears that the VicSuper15 financial backers have withdrawn, citing differences with the VRU, who were offered places on the board.
VicSuper15 director Ray Evans said the following this week.
''We were awarded the franchise and we actually had a draft agreement and then we went to the board meeting to be told that it was withdrawn. We were told that as we walked into the board meeting,'' Evans said.
''They indicated to us that the reason it was withdrawn was because the VRU was not prepared to work with us, but that is not our problem, that's their problem to manage.''
VRU president Gary Gray has previously stated that despite the disappointment in not being awarded the licence, the Victorian Union had been willing to work with other parties.
VicSuper15 spokesman Travis Atkins then offered this in a statement released by The Australian this week.
"VicSuper15 proposed forming a strategic alliance with the VRU including a seat on the board," Atkins said.
"To date, there has been significant conflict of interest in the bidding process as a result of the VRU's position of supporting only one party and not being prepared to establish a separation between commercial and community rugby in line with ARU policy.”
"To signal its dissatisfaction with the handling of the bid process and to avoid a perception of continuing conflict by the VRU, VicSuper15 has formally withdrawn from the process."
The deadline for the bid’s submission to SANZAR is imminent, and the licence decision will be officially made on October 21st.
The 15th team will operate out of the Australian Conference.
The new format for the competition will cease to be a one table round robin competition (as it currently is, with each team playing each other once) and will be played out in a conference style.
The format, pioneered in American sports, will see a conference set up in each SANZAR country, with New Zealand and South Africa contributing their current five teams, and Australia contributing their existing four plus the new Super 15 team – which in theory could either be the Melbourne based team, or the South African Southern Kings.
In the first round, each conference team plays the teams within their own conference. This was determined by the fact that the highest interest and attendances came from local derbies.
In the second round, each team will play four of the five teams in the other two conferences, and these eight games will be a mix of randomly allocated home and away matches.
The final round will see each conference team play the sides within their own conference again, with venues exchanged from the first round.
The Super 14 will cease to exist in its current format next year, and will become the Super 15 from 2011.
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