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Consortium keen to start new NRL side in Perth
Today at 9am, West Australian businessman Tony Sage will hold a secret meeting with NRL chief executive David Gallop about starting a new club in Perth for 2015.
Former Test and Balmain hooker Ben Elias is working closely with Sage, the pair expected to be coowners of any new WA club. Elias has already spoken to Ricky Stuart about coaching the Perth franchise.
NIB Stadium in Perth will undergo a $100 million revamp for 2014 and the WA government is ready to support a bid.
Sage offered a compelling argument: "Perth has a fast growing population and a lot of expats, not only from NSW and Queensland but also New Zealand, who love rugby league," he said. "To be a truly national competition, eventually, Perth and Adelaide have to be admitted for the NRL to say it is a national brand. At the moment, really, it is only AFL.
"TV is also missing the entire time zone of the west. Imagine beaming games starting at 6pm Perth time, 9pm in the east. Great for payTV.
Sage's pipe dream is Tinkler's reality the Newcastle businessman owns two sporting franchises the Knights and Jets,[url=http://www.sport.fr/smartphones/moncler.asp]doudoune moncler[/url].
"I watched with interest what Nathan Tinkler did with the Knights and Jets. I can see so many synergies," said Sage, who played rugby league at Port Hacking High School. "I have spoken to his offsiders. I haven't yet spoken to Nathan but I would really like to get his position."
In AFLmad Perth, rugby league could struggle for healthy crowds.
Sage says: "I think you would have a core membership of 10,000. If you look at Souths, they have come to NIB Stadium for, I think, four years in a row and their average crowd has been 15,000. I know NIB Stadium inside out. I know what it takes to make money. There are a lot of expats in Perth who want rugby league weektoweek."
"Look at the Perth Scorchers in the Twenty20. Atlas, a mining company, sponsored them. It is the first time they have been involved in sponsorship," he said.
"These companies have grown from junior mining companies worth $3 million or $4 million. Atlas in two years is now worth $3 billion.
"They've got social responsibility now. They are like the BHP and Rio. There are 20 or 30 of these companies that have grown up in Perth. These companies want to get their name out there and they want to sponsor things. Sponsorship wouldn't be a problem."
Sage believes his Perth Glory staff could work through summer with soccer and then winter with NRL.
"The seasons are different so staff working on membership and sponsorship with Perth Glory can move across because of the different seasons," he said.
"Any new clubs that starts up, the salaries alone will soak up on the admin side $1.5 million. I've already got that in place.
"I know virtually every major sponsor in WA."
"You've got to accept that there will be losses," he said. "For example, I have spent $10 million of my own money propping up Perth Glory.
"It makes losses every year. But you do it for two reasons. One, because you like the game and,
two, you want to have a legacy in WA and that is I saved the Glory, otherwise they would have gone bankrupt and closed."
"We just want to know whether WA is on the radar," he said.
"We want to know if the vision going forward is expansion.
"If it's not, we'll shut up shop.
"I'd like to know whether we would be wasting our time if Perth isn't a chance to get a licence."
Asked if Gallop was interested would he start pushing forward, Sage said: "Absolutely. If 2015 is the start date then you have to get cracking now to assemble a side."