Expansion Momentum Builds

Ghosts of ’95 don’t scare Perth

Of the four teams which joined the premiership in 995, only the Warriors and North Queensland are left. But just when the Perth Reds looked certain to have life breathed back into them in time for 2013, they suddenly fined themselves confronted with the ghost of the long lost fourth member of the class of ’95, the South Queensland Crushers.
Sure, the Ipswich NRL bid which surfaced last week is not going to be called the Crushers or play in black and gold. There’ll be no St John or Garrick. But although the idea of a second team at Suncorp Stadium is far from new, it could be seductive for the safety first minded members of the new Independent Commission.
“I certainly think it’s going to be challenging for them – that South East Queensland corridor is pretty crowded” says Reds CEO John Sackson when asked about the bid being assembled by the Ipswich Jets. “Especially when you consider they will have Big Brother – the Broncos- right next door. It will be commercially very competitive.”
But Sackson says the Reds aren’t spooked. “We’re happy with the way our bid is progressing” he insists. “I think when you look at new markets for television, is a new team in South East Queensland going to convert more viewers to Rugby League? Where as there is no doubt a team in Perth would expand the total television market for Rugby League. We have a commitment from the government for a $83 million in upgrades for NIB stadium and we’ve had a soft launch for our membership drive which is about to become a lot more sophisticated. We’ve got another meeting with the Department of Sport and Recreation on September 16th and we are in talks with the Dragons to play another pre-season game here next year. Provisionally it will be Feb 12th against Melbourne. Souths want to play two games back to back over here and there is a proposal in with WA events corp for next year.”
The Reds hope to have their final bid document at the NRL by March next year.
“We are talking to some very big companies about sponsorship- we know we have to amass a fair bit of capital” Sackson says. “It is all going to come down to the Commission, which we are told will be in place by November. Those first few meetings of the Commission are going to be very important for us.” – Steve Mascord. Rugby League Week