The National Rugby League will "seek bids for an historic auction" of the Newcastle Knights after June 30, as it continues to restructure ownership of its debtor clubs, with the Dragons and Wests Tigers "scheduled to have different shareholding by the end of the month and the Titans next," according to Roy Masters of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. While St. George Illawarra and Wests Tigers had a combined debt of A$12M ($9.4M) to the NRL, the Knights are currently only A$1M ($780,000) "in hock to headquarters, meaning a sale price which more than covers debt will yield the NRL a handsome profit, attracting the criticism it is profiting from one of its 16 clubs." Historic ownership and debt were "major factors" in the restructure of the Dragons and Wests Tigers, but the Knights are owned by the NRL and run by a seven-person board of a mix of four independents, two NRL appointees and one community leader in former ARL CEO John Quayle. The NRL therefore "will adopt an auction approach to the sale of the Newcastle club," seeking a figure between A$10M ($7.8M) and A$20M ($15.6M). The "obvious buyer of the Knights, the wealthy Wests Newcastle group of seven licensed premises, claims to be a reluctant partner." Wests Group CEO Phil Gardner said, "We see ourselves as owners of the last resort." Gardner "denied that inheriting debt was a roadblock to a Wests Newcastle takeover." Gardner: "We have not had any discussion with the NRL over debt because there has been no discussion with them over ownership" (SMH, 4/20).
