Titans Owners - Darryl Kelly and Rebecca Frizelle

[Titanic]

Hey Bodsie ... I reckon your posts counter is stuck ... you'd post 171 a day wouldn't you or have you gone right around the dial?

[rj62]

Great news!!! Roll on 2018

I’d hope for a sponsor announcement once it’s made formal.

[DIEHARD]

Frizelle and Kelly hold off rival bid to secure Titans’ NRL licence
http://www.couriermail.com.au/

LONG-SERVING Titans duo Rebecca Frizelle and Darryl Kelly have staved off an audacious $25 million rival bid to win the Gold Coast licence.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the battle to buy the Titans is over with the NRL awarding the licence to the Frizelle-Kelly consortium, which trumped a big-money bid from Brisbane-based fund manager Stuart McAuliffe.

The NRL is expected to formally announce the sale tomorrow. Frizelle and Kelly are working with NRL lawyers today to finalise terms and conditions of their ownership model.

The NRL has carefully managed the sale of the club with the victorious Frizelle-Kelly bid viewed as the last chance to ensure the success of the Titans on the Gold Coast.

Three rugby league clubs have died in the region since the birth of the Gold Coast Giants in 1988, with the Seagulls and Chargers also going bust.

McAuliffe has been notified of the NRL’s decision. He spent two years working on his bid, with the little-known multi-millionaire putting together a formidable proposal, including $15 million up-front in cash with a further $10m plan for grassroots investment.

But the NRL opted for the alliance of Frizelle and Kelly, who have worked tirelessly over the last five years to ensure the long-term survival of the Titans in the difficult Gold Coast market.

Up to five consortia expressed interest in the Titans licence — but it became a race in two when the Brisbane Bombers and the North Sydney Bears dropped out of the running last month.

For Kelly, the stability of the Titans has become a passionate pursuit. The property tycoon first invested in the club in 2012, only to lose a staggering $5 million when the club went bust in 2014, prompting the NRL to take control of the licence.

Respected Gold Coast businesswoman Frizelle was appointed the code’s first chair to help resurrect the club, a position she recently relinquished to formally join Kelly in a fresh bid to buy the club.

The NRL was mindful of the $30 million mess created by club founder Michael Searle and believed the Frizelle-Kelly proposal can offer the club greater long-term security.

The duo, whose combined personal wealth is estimated at more than $100 million, have devised a business model that involves other cashflow streams to help bankroll the Titans.

[DIEHARD]

^^^ great news. Now let’s all dig in.
Go Titans!

Yes sir! When it is announced I will renew and by 3 additional memberships. It's time to rally.

[Mexican titan]

Hey Bodsie ... I reckon your posts counter is stuck ... you'd post 171 a day wouldn't you or have you gone right around the dial?

Bodsy might be at Ken's - he is quiet today.

Thank God the ownership has been sorted. I now look forward to hearing of their plans because we need some strong direction and cash spent. I might consider renewing now.

[DIEHARD]

Five things the NRL’s decision to sell the Titans to Rebecca Frizelle and Darryl Kelly means for Gold Coast
http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/

WITH reports emerging this morning of Rebecca Frizelle and Darryl Kelly’s consortium finally winning the ownership race for the Titans, the Bulletin looks at what it means for NRL on the Gold Coast.

LONG LIVE THE TITANS

There had been plenty of conjecture about whether the Gold Coast would be set for a sixth guise as a professional rugby league club when it became apparent the North Sydney Bears and Brisbane Bombers were among the bidders.

LOCAL PAIR WIN BATTLE FOR THE TITANS

Norths in particular had been vocal about rebranding the club to capture the attention of long-awaiting Bears fans.

However, Frizelle and Kelly’s appointment means the Titans’ name and colours are safe.

Rebecca Frizelle and Darryl Kelly will ensure the Titans brand lives on. Picture: Luke Marsden.

STABILITY
It’s a word rarely associated with rugby league on the Gold Coast in the past three decades. Until now.

Frizelle and Kelly have played central roles in the club in recent years through thick and thin.

Under their leadership, the club will not have to start completely afresh at a time when they have new coaches and players on-board.

DIRECTION
The Titans had been in a holding pattern for months as they awaited an announcement about who the NRL would sell their licence to.

Now key decisions can start being made, such as staff structures including replacing departed chief operating officer Tony Mestrov.

NRL CONFIDENT OF SETTLING TITANS OWNERSHIP

With Frizelle and Kelly at the helm, a direction can also be declared with regards to areas such as potential involvement in the upcoming women’s NRL competition.

SHOESTRING BUDGET
Gold Coast have been operating on one of the tightest budgets in the NRL and that is unlikely to change.

While the Frizelle/Kelly consortium will bring financial stability, they will not be able to bring the kind of war chest that opposition bidder Stuart McAuliffe could have.

McAuliffe had offered a $25 million proposition to bankroll the club.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Whispers continue that Frizelle and Kelly are open to the idea of a membership buy-in down the track.

Some fans have voiced their interest in such a concept.

[Mr Bods]

Hey Bodsie ... I reckon your posts counter is stuck ... you'd post 171 a day wouldn't you or have you gone right around the dial?

Never noticed. Must have went back to zero when the site went down. Oh well just like the club it looks like I need to hit reset and rebuild from scratch.

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Bodsy might be at Ken's - he is quiet today.

Thank God the ownership has been sorted. I now look forward to hearing of their plans because we need some strong direction and cash spent. I might consider renewing now.

Ha ha nobody likes a smart Alec MT even when they are funny.

[Toads]

Great news indeed. Though there's one other thing that needs to be addressed before it's all systems go. And that's the CEO thing. No point throwing cash in if we're still having someone making poor decisions that potentially hobble us from time to time. Transparency in contract dept wouldn't go astray either. Too many porky-pies still being told with both players and sponsors contracts. As it's getting pretty ordinary to eventually learn the truth from the media mud-raking.

Putting ones hand up and owning the sh!t stHayne debacle would be a good start..

[DIEHARD]

Stability of Rebecca Frizelle and Darryl Kelly set to trump rival’s riches
http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au

THE NRL is set to opt for long-term stability over the sugar-hit of a cash injection by awarding the Gold Coast Titans licence to Darryl Kelly and Rebecca Frizelle.

While the deal has not yet been finalised, with lawyers understood to be negotiating the details of the contract, fund manager Stuart McAuliffe is out of the running, leaving the Frizelle-Kelly consortium as the last one standing.

The NRL originally wanted the club off its books by October 31, the end of its financial year.

But protracted negotiations over the sale price and contract details, as well as a decision to make consortiums present to the ARL commission, blew the timeline out, with the league desperate to wrap the deal up in the coming days.

Swashbuckling investor McAuliffe, a man with a penchant for pirates, made a substantial upfront offer for the club and promised to pour millions more into the organisation.

The injection would have been a windfall for the NRL, which was forced to apply for a bank loan earlier this season for club funding agreements.

The promise of McAuliffe’s riches is understood to have made his bid a frontrunner at stages, even as the field narrowed to the final two consortiums.

Kelly and Frizelle were not in the same ballpark in terms of cash offered.

But the stability they offered ultimately won the support of an organisation still scarred by single-ownership models, most recently, Nathan Tinkler’s disastrous time at the helm of the Newcastle Knights.

The NRL has said several times it is not in the business of owning clubs and will no longer bail out those that get into financial trouble.

Given that, it is set to opt for the model it believes will present the best chance of survival going forward, something that is not only important for the Gold Coast, but for the NRL’s $1.8b broadcast deal.

Like the Titans, the Knights had to be taken over by the NRL to ensure they stayed afloat.

The league eventually offloaded the club to the Wests Group earlier this year.

That bid won favour in large part because of its community focus and Kelly and Frizelle have the same vision for the Gold Coast, another factor in their favour.

That investment in the grassroots will be in addition to funds the Kelly and Frizelle families pump into the club to ensure its survival.

Despite NRL handouts to clubs increasing significantly next year, it will not be enough for the Titans to break even in the short-term, something Kelly and Frizelle both understand and embrace.

Having saved the club from the brink of extinction once already — Kelly financially and both he and Frizelle with their business and leadership skills as members of the board — the pair is willing to return to the well again.

Kelly is passionate about rugby league and both he and Frizelle believe having a national league club is a major unifying factor, bringing the city and its people together and giving it a sense of identity.

But that hasn’t made them covet the ownership for themselves.

The Bulletin understands if the NRL opts for the Kelly-Frizelle consortium, the club will eventually be passed into the hands of fans under a public ownership model.

That too will take time, with the pair’s primary focus ensuring a financial bedrock is laid to ensure the long-term survival of the club.

[lonegull]

great news, loyal and hardworking owners. The impending appointment of Dennis Watt will be a massive signing moving forward for the club

[TITAN PETE]

Fantastic news now lets get on with becoming a force again

[DIEHARD]

great news, loyal and hardworking owners. The impending appointment of Dennis Watt will be a massive signing moving forward for the club

I don't know much about him but his knowledge of the Brisbane market is absolutely critical for us. We need those supporters, media and corporates. We need to fly the flag high and in the face of the Broncos.

[DIEHARD]

Today's Courier Mail. Nice headline!

[DIEHARD]

Bulletin back page.

[DIEHARD]