The Super 12 competition currently comprises of five teams from New Zealand, four from South Africa and three from Australia.
In 2006 it will increase by two teams – one from South Africa, one from Australia – prompting a flurry of bids to qualify.
But it the Western Australian and Victorian Rugby Unions, representing Melbourne and Perth, that have been invited to make a submission to the ARU following a lengthy evaluation process which included Gosford, the Gold Coast, Townsville and Adelaide.
An ARU evaluation team has spent the past two months developing a scorecard on a range of locations, examining high performance, commercial and development criteria, including the impact an additional team may have on franchises that currently field Super 12 teams.
The invited Unions have been issued with an ‘Information Memorandum’ that details the ARU's requirements and other information that will assist each union in making its submission. It includes guidelines on sponsorship, marketing, and ticketing.
All submissions must be received by the ARU by November 19.
Said ARU managing director Gary Flowers: “There is no question the quality of the submissions will determine the outcome, as both locations scored highly across the range of criteria we used in our location analysis.
"The board is conscious of disappointment in areas not selected to make submission, but the reality is that we now have two excellent options and can ultimately only choose one. To put other locations to the expense and rigors of a submission process would create false expectations and frankly, we would be wasting their time.”
A final decision will be made in December.
