Titans sale talks begin
THE NRL will today begin formal talks with parties interested in buying the Titans as they prepare to offload the club by the end of October.
The league will not call for expressions of interest, as was done ahead of the recent sale of the Newcastle Knights, given several parties have been liaising with the NRL for some time waiting for an official date for the sale.
An NRL spokesman confirmed the league would not call tenders.
“A number of consortia have expressed interest in the Titans and we will begin formal discussions with them from (today),” he said.
“Those consortia have expressed interest during the three years of NRL ownership of the club.”
Former Gold Coast partowner Darryl Kelly is one of the parties that will hold talks with the league, with the Titans’ “white knight” having formed a consortium with interested business people.
Despite losing more than $5 million when the Titans were placed briefly in administration before the NRL takeover at the start of 2015, Kelly is prepared to put his hand in his pocket again.
But this time around he will have the support of others, with the well-organised group ready to put its proposal to the NRL.
The Kelly consortium is seen as the leading contender, although it’s understood there could be as many as three Gold Coast groups looking to buy the club.
The North Sydney Bears will also hold talks with the NRL and have the most financial clout, although their plan to change the name and colours will be a tough sell. The Bears held an “information session” with members last week and are ready to outline their plans to the NRL, which include taking one game a season to North Sydney Oval.
But chairman Perry Lopez said it was far from a takeover, with the Bears committed to a future on the Coast with access to another “metropolis” of fans south of the border, a group estimated at more than 500,000.
WE WILL BEGIN FORMAL DISCUSSIONS WITH THEM FROM (TODAY) ... NRL SPOKESMAN ON TITANS BIDDERS
Supporter group League of Titans has started an online petition “to publicly state our positions before any decision is made on the club’s future by the NRL”.
Almost 300 people had signed the petition by 6pm last night in which fans declared: “We support the continuation of the Gold Coast Titans brand, including the colours that represent our region and the region in which our games are played.
“We have put our heart and soul into the Gold Coast Titans over the last ten years, we love the club and we believe it has a big future on the Gold Coast. We want this crisis to be the final turning point to bring the club back the people and to find our ideal ownership partners. Owners who truly ‘get it’.”