Super Rugby side ACT Brumbies CEO Michael Jones said that it is "up to the Super Rugby club and the Canberra Raiders to prove they deserve a bigger slice of ACT government funding as they find a way to co-exist with the GWS Giants in the capital," according to Dutton & Wilson of the CANBERRA TIMES. But Jones and Raiders CEO Don Furner insist that "they are not at loggerheads with the Giants," who have a 10-year, A$23M ($17.6M) deal with the government to play four Australian Football League games per season in Canberra. Jones, Furner and Giants COO Richard Griffiths "met in Canberra two weeks ago to discuss the challenges each team faces and their slice of the capital's sporting market." Jones said, "We're all experiencing similar problems and we all have similar aspirations. None of us actually see that we compete against each other. At the moment we're competing against the apathy of not turning up to games. That's the biggest issue." The Brumbies and Raiders "are about to open new negotiations with the government to extend their deals to play in Canberra beyond the end of the year." Giants CEO Dave Matthews wants the codes to join forces to avoid "cannibalizing" each other as they fight for market share in the capital (CANBERRA TIMES, 4/15).
