A fresh player has emerged in the race for a second National Rugby League team in Brisbane, with a new business consortium "testing the waters for support as it seeks to rival" the Broncos in the code's "most fertile market," according to Phil Lutton of the BRISBANE TIMES. The group is "canvassing potential backers" and wants to take on the existing bid of NRL side Brisbane Bombers, which has been run by former heavyweight Brisbane backer Craig Davison. A move to have a team west of Brisbane has also been "firmly established," as has that for a team to be located in Central Queensland. But it is Brisbane "emerging as the key battleground for any expansion plans," with leading business figures in the Queensland capital convinced there will be a second team in the city for the '18 season as the NRL enters a new TV broadcast deal that "will be much more lucrative than the last." Whether the NRL adds a second team in Brisbane has now become a A$250M ($192M) question for rugby league, with that figure being "suggested as what a Broncos rival would be worth to the code when it goes to the table at the end" of the current A$1B ($766M) TV deal, which expires after the '17 season. The move has the "strong support" of Channel Nine, which has been "desperate to have a game played out of Suncorp Stadium every week." Former NRL side South Sydney CEO Shane Richardson has been "tasked with investigating the possibility of expansion" and any bid teams will "need to have their pitch on his desk" by the end of the year (BRISBANE TIMES, 4/15).
