League great Graham Lowe fronts relaunched bid for Christchurch-based NRL club
This article originally appeared on Stuff and is reproduced with permission.
Former Kiwis coach Sir Graham Lowe is chairing a Southern Orcas bid for an NRL expansion licence in Christchurch amid claims it has a $60 million capital funding base and "an overvalue value of $325 million", including a planned $100 million "centre of excellence'' at Rolleston.
The Southern Orcas announced on Thursday its formal proposal to be awarded a licence as part of the NRL's expansion plans.
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They are the third group bidding for a Christchurch club following the South Island NRL Bid team led by former Canterbury Rugby League chair Tony Kidd and ex-Kiwis and Warriors coach Frank Endacott, and the South Island Keas run by former NRL and NZ Rugby chief executive David Moffett.
Chairman Sir Graham Lowe is pushing for the Southern Orcas to join the NRL. 9News Sydney
Lowe, who coached the Manly Sea Eagles, Wigan and Queensland, is joined by long-time colleague Andrew Chalmers, a former New Zealand Rugby League chairman as Orcas managing director. The pair were former owners of the Bradford Bulls club in England.
The bid team also includes former NRL chief financial officer Ed Farish, former Gold Coast Titans chief executive Michael Searle, former New Zealand representative player Phil Bergman and ex-Canterbury Rugby League chairman Simon Doig.
The NRL is planning to expand to 20 teams in future, but the Sydney Morning Herald last month reported that the three NZ-based expansion bids had been formally rejected by the NRL.
That has not stopped the bidding teams - who are all touting Christchurch's new One New Zealand Te Kaha Stadium as a home base - from trying to press their cases, however.
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The Orcas had a launch to Sydney media on Thursday and issued a statement saying it had "outlined a bid with an overall value of $325m, including the provision of a substantial license fee and will be well and truly ready to take to the field soon after receipt of NRL approval".
It claimed the club would be funded by "a South Island-based group of private equity investors with a capital base of $NZ60 million".
The proposed logo for the Southern Orcas group bidding for a Chirstchurch-based NRL club. 9News Sydney
Chalmers told The Press from Sydney he would not reveal the identity of the Orcas' backers at this stage.
He said a successful bid was "big business' 'and would require "businessmen and women with big pockets'' but he was confident the Orcas had the support to "make it work''.
He said his board had significant business, commercial, investment and property experience as well as substantial experience operating professional rugby league clubs.
Chalmers, who has previously launched bids for a Wellington-based NRL team under the Orcas banner, said the Southern Orcas' bid "makes sense for everyone".
"It will bring new markets, new growth, new revenue, new spectators and new players to the sport of rugby league.
"The bid is fully funded and ready to go. We are ready and willing to pay a substantial licence fee to the NRL and make major infrastructure investments."
Warriors NRL fans during a match against the Penrith Panthers. NRL Images
The Orcas say they have "already reached provisional agreements with several highly experienced football staff members who are ready to go if the bid is accepted by the NRL". But they would not reveal names until then.
Lowe - a part-owner of the Warriors in the late 1990s - said the Orcas, if accepted, would "expect that from day one, we will be testing and challenging the best teams in the competition.
"We've got the staff and the expertise to put a competitive team on the field in week one. Christchurch is a city that loves sport and loves winners. We're sure they will get behind the Orcas and that new stadium will be a cauldron of support where visiting teams will find it very hard to pick up a win."
The Orcas said they had unveiled "advanced plans for a 20-hectare "Multi-Sport Centre of Excellence" at Rolleston, with a project value of $NZ100 million. It would include seven full-sized training fields (one of them roofed), sports science, gymnasiums, medical facilities and accommodation.
The New Zealand Kiwis perform a haka ahead of their Pacific Championships match at Christchurch's Apollo Projects Stadium. Joe Allison via Getty Images
The design phase is nearly complete with a target to have the first phase open in the second quarter of 2026.
Ten regional satellite centres would operate pathways as a sports education model with an annual intake of 25 male and 25 female athletes at each centre so that by year five, 2500 young athletes would be part of the programme.
It claimed there was a "huge untapped player base" of 18,000 registered rugby league players in the Orcas zone - which appears to be the South Island and the lower North Island. It said the Orcas aim to drive an increase to 35,000 registrations by 2028.
There were also 75,000 current registered rugby union players and three professional franchises in the zone.
Chalmers said the Orcas had not been able to go public while in talks with the NRL because of a non-disclosure agreement, but were now able to outline what they felt was "a pretty compelling case'' for a second New Zealand NRL team.
