Deadline for Titans bids

NRL left in charge of club but sale draws closer

THE NRL is confident it will settle on new owners of the Gold Coast Titans within weeks after interested parties submit final bids today.

A key deadline in the process – the end of the NRL financial year – will come and go today with the governing body unable to draw a line under the sale of the Titans.

The NRL took over ownership of the club in early 2015 after it was placed in voluntary administration by directors.

But the league has long said it is not in the business of owning clubs and had vowed to have both the Titans and Newcastle Knights – which it took over in 2014 – off its books by the end of its financial year on October 31.

The Wests Group will officially assume outright ownership of the Knights tomorrow after entering into an interim partnership with the NRL in August. But the league will carry the Titans into the new financial year.

The formal sale process has been going for almost two months, with parties conducting due diligence on the business.

There are challenges, inA

cluding the absence of a major sponsor after Aquis decided against taking up the option on their deal of more than $1 million a season.

But last week’s news that star half Ash Taylor had signed a three-year extension will be

seen as a bonus by bidders. Four parties – the Darryl Kelly/Rebecca Frizelle group, North Sydney Bears, Brisbane Bombers and former Salford owner and British billionaire Marwan Koukash – remain in the running for the licence.

spokesman for the NRL said all consortiums had been given until the end of today to table their bids.

“We will then consider those bids before making a final decision on the ownership,” the spokesman said.

“Clearly, we will be looking at the financial aspects but we know that the relationship with the local community and providing stable owners is just as important.”

But price will not be the only criteriums on which the bids are judged.

Objectives including the best outcome for the game, the Titans and the community will also be considered, although potential owners are in the dark about the weighting each of the criteria will be given.

Kelly said he had no reason to believe he was a favourite but believed he and Frizelle – who have stepped down from their positions on the Titans board during the bid process — have made a compelling case for ownership.

“Our bid is based around the Titans remaining a Gold Coast-based side and being called the Gold Coast Titans moving forward,” Kelly said. “It’s for the community of the Gold Coast and the Tweed.”