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http://www.super14.com/news/viewarticle.asp?id=22613
Melbourne's chances of beating South Africa's Southern Kings for the new Super Rugby team when the Super 15 launches in 2011 look set to rise dramatically after there have been persistent rumours that broadcasters would prefer the new team to be in Victoria.
On the face of things it's hardly surprising that an Australian company like Newscorp would back an Australian bid over a South African one so the rumours make sense.
Broadcasters are said to be so keen to tap into the lucrative Victorian sporting marketplace they have indicated they are prepared to pay substantially more for the broadcast rights if SANZAR votes next week to award the new Super Rugby expansion franchise to Melbourne.
This means that although South Africa might not get the new Super 15 team they could still benefit from the situation.
The partners of SANZAR split whatever money comes in from the broadcasters three ways so if broacdcasters pay extra for a team in Melbourne then all three partners (Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) would benefit.
"All would get a bigger slice of a larger pie," a reliable source told The Australian yesterday.
New Zealand have what could be looked at as a swing vote and one harldy expects them to vote for less money and potentially more travel if they go the South African route.
Current SANZAR rules however state that there has to be a unanimous vote so either South Africa or Australia will have to vote against their own team gettting the franchise.
Common sense says that SANZAR should agree on a majority vote but South Africa refused that option on Wednesday.
If SANZAR's broadcaster, News Corporation, does value the Melbourne market more than the South African market then that could be the final trump for Australia's candidate city in what is shaping as a far tighter contest with the Southern Kings than most observers had anticipated.
Unless there is a unanimous vote, which hardly seems likely with South Africa every bit as determined in its support of the Port Elizabeth-based Kings as is Australia behind the Melbourne Rebels, the matter will have to go to arbitration.
South Africa are clearly expecting New Zealand and Australia to vote for Melbourne so while they have refused the unanimous vote option they appear to be willing to accept the appointment of a Sydney QC (Quade Cooper) to hear the matter while all parties are in town.
It had seemed an open-and-shut case that the ARU would win a fifth licence when it was announced that the new Super 15 team would be required to play in the Australian conference during the home-and-away derby stage of the tournament.
But South African sources have revealed the SARU will counter that advantage by proposing that instead of the three competing countries breaking off into their own individual conferences, the derby matches be worked into the wider draw.
That would mean that the Waratahs, Brumbies, Reds and Western Force all would play the Kings in Port Elizabeth as part of their annual tours to South Africa, while the Kings, in turn, would play all four provinces as part of their annual sweep through Australia and New Zealand.
"The impact of the logistics would be fairly trivial," the South African contact said.
"It would mean the Kings play six matches in Australia and New Zealand, not five, while the Australian provinces would play three matches annually in South Africa, in place of the current arrangement where they play three one year and only two the next."
Details of the Australian bid remain a mystery but South Africa have submitted a 60-page document to SANZAR in support of the Southern Kings.
The South African government are backing the Kings bid because amongst other reasons they have built a new stadium in Port Elizabeth that will almost certainly be a white elephant after the world cup if the Kings are not included in the Super 15.
There is still much speculation over the details of the Melbourne team and management but South Africa have already announced that the Kings Super 15 coach will be former Stormers coach and assistant Springboks coach Alan Solomon.
Solomon will help Nick Mallett coach a Barbarians side including Matt Giteau and Stirling Mortlock against the All Blacks at Twickenham in December.
Former Bulls boss Stefan Pretorius already is in place as the Kings' chief executive.