Perth and Melbourne made their final submissions yesterday with the Western Australia capital being described by The Sydney Morning Herald as “the plucky lightweight fighting out of its weight division”.
Melbourne promises $100million investment for a revamped rectangular stadium (at Olympic Park), the lure of east coast sponsorship and bigger population.
Victorian Minister for Sport Justin Madden told reporters his state could give rugby union a stake in a world sports capital.
"(This is a) great opportunity for Victoria to cement Melbourne as the absolute sports capital of the world by securing a Super 14 team," said Madden.
"We do sport better than anywhere else in the world. We have a huge market, huge demand and huge turnout.
Perth hopes their hunger for a team and proven rugby union track record will boost its bid.
With a strong rugby following, reported support from interstate players and its geographical advantage as a stopover for other teams travelling to and from South Africa, WA said a team in Perth could make rugby union a truly national game.
West Australian Minister for Sport Bob Kucera reminded the ARU of their Members Equity Stadium (formerly Perth Oval) $25million facelift and its readily available Subiaco Oval substitute.
"We have a ground ready to play on now," said Kucera.
"We already have a stadium and we are putting $25million towards updating the stadium we already have. That is on top of the $11 million we spent on it last year.
"We don't have to mess around. We can have a team on the ground ready to go as soon as the ARU say the Super 14 team is Perth."
