Gold Coast Titans' contract to rent Cbus Super Stadium expires after Friday's match against Cronulla.GETTY IMAGES
National Rugby League side Gold Coast Titans is "chasing" a A$40,000 ($30,200) stadium discount "in the hope of avoiding homelessness beyond Friday," according to Travis Meyn of the Brisbane COURIER-MAIL. The Gold Coast's "controversial" contract to rent Cbus Super Stadium expires after Friday's NRL clash against Cronulla. The Queensland government announced a review into its stadium operations on Sunday, but that is "not expected to be completed until late in the year." The Titans currently "fork out about" A$1.3M ($981,800) a year -- at around A$110,000 ($83,100) per game -- to rent the 27,500-seat stadium at Robina. The deal is worth nearly A$500,000 ($377,600) per year more than Newcastle Knights' arrangement to hire McDonald Jones Stadium. The Titans "privately believe Newcastle is a similar comparison and are hopeful of securing a long-term arrangement that will reduce their hiring costs" by about A$40,000 a game. Titans co-Owner Rebecca Frizelle said that the club needs "certainty." Frizelle: "We are working with the Queensland government to resolve the stadium issues. We are confident we will reach a resolution" (COURIER-MAIL, 4/26).
SQ PROBE: On the Gold Coast, Kirstin Payne reported a taxpayer-funded taskforce formed to probe government-appointed Stadiums Queensland "called in an outside consultancy firm to help." In a "duplication of tasks," the taskforce set to review the leasing arrangements and opportunities of Stadiums Queensland will now include exec-level state department bureaucrats and a private firm, the Boston Consulting Group. Terms of reference for the review "encompass responsibilities already tasked to the SQ board," which was paid a collective annual wage of A$1.3M in the last financial year. The review into the board's dealings follows accusations the stadium fees it is charging are "crippling the state's biggest sporting clubs," including the Titans and Australian Football League side Gold Coast Suns (GOLD COAST BULLETIN, 4/26).
