Perth and Melbourne are the frontrunners, with the Western Australian capital the early favourite with its geographical advantage of being situated roughly halfway between South Africa and the rest of the teams currently in the Super 12, reports RUGBYeNEWS.com.
But the Victorian Rugby Union (VRU) is confident the new team will be based down south, despite concerns that the Melbourne Storm hasn't managed to gain a following in their six years in the National Rugby League.
The VRU says crowd figures of up to 25,000 a game can be expected, if market research carried out in the late 1990s is any guide. Back then some 411,000 people indicated an interest in attending matches, leading the VRU to believe that they can be assured of attracting even just a fraction of that number to games in the city.
For their part, those at the Melbourne Storm have welcomed the presence of what many consider a serious threat to their existence.
New Storm CEO Brian Waldron, a News Limited appointee, formerly of the St Kilda AFL club, says having a rugby union side playing alongside the league club would be of benefit, as it would give both teams the weight required to push for State Government funding to expand existing facilities at Olympic Park.
With the support of a rugby franchise, along with possible help from Melbourne's new Australian Premier League Soccer side, the ground could be converted from an 18,000 capacity, dual grandstand stadium to a fully undercover 25,00 seat facility.
