Melbourne Storm Sale To England-Based Businessmen To Be Finalized Next Week

National Rugby League Melbourne Storm's "long-awaited sale is expected to be finalised next week" with a consortium of England-based businessmen with connections to Harlequins Rugby Union Club, according to Josh Massoud of the DAILY TELEGRAPH. Just more than three years since the salary cap scandal, "owners News Limited (publisher of The Daily Telegraph) is in the home stretch of negotiations that have carried on for the past six months." The new owners "have already insisted that current CEO Ron Gauci be replaced by former Harlequins boss Mark Evans." The "identities of the new owners are mysterious," but they "all hold a current stake in Harlequins and are New Zealanders." They will also "inherit the remainder" of the A$26M ($26.5M) guarantee Melbourne was "given as part of News Limited's exit from the game last year" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 5/9).