The financially strapped Counties Manukau Rugby Union has rejected an NZRU bailout package and is instead banking on a season-ticket drive to rescue its perilous finances.
The union has been living "hand-to-mouth" since the collapse of major sponsor construction company Tribro Holdings, which went into liquidation owing it $314,000 in unpaid sponsorship from last season.
The non-payment has left a gaping hole in CMRU finances already dented by a lack of gate income from poorly attended matches played at Mt Smart Stadium, well away from the union's Pukekohe fan base.
The NZRU had offered to cover the union's outstanding costs this season, but the deal was conditional on the Steelers volunteering to be relegated to a lower division when the competition is restructured, either next year or in 2011.
The CMRU rejected that offer and is instead hoping to sell 3000 season tickets for this season's Air New Zealand Cup campaign. Chief executive Phil McConnell hoped the drive would raise $300,000 - a figure that would more than cover this season's costs.
A public meeting at Growers Stadium on Monday night would test community support for the union's survival plan.
"The purpose of the meeting is really to see how much our community wants this team in the Air New Zealand Cup," McConnell said. "If the community isn't willing to get in behind the team, then other options will need to be considered."
The NZRU's bailout package would have allowed Counties to field a side in this year's national championship but there were "stringent terms" attached.
"The problem from our point of view is that if they do go to a two-tier premier division, we don't even know the cost structures of what we would be volunteering to go down to.
"You could volunteer to go down to something that costs as much to participate in as the current Air New Zealand Cup. Until we know a lot more about the cost structures of that lower division it is not wise for us to volunteer to go down. Also, we have to carry out the wishes of our stakeholders. We need to get their approval whatever decision we make, whether that is to stand and fight for our survival or go down."
NZRU community rugby manager Brent Anderson said Counties had asked for six to eight weeks to sort out their finances but any further requests for assistance would be considered by the board,
"It is absolutely their right and we wish them all the best."
Operating with the lowest wage bill in the competition, Counties have won just three national championship matches in three years since rejoining the top division.
New floodlights mean all home matches can now be held in Pukekohe and the union's immediate future in the top tier would now appear to swing on whether it can reconnect with its fan base.
The structure of the championship itself beyond this year is still up in the air. Provincial union representatives will attempt to agree on a new format at a meeting in Wellington this weekend. But one concept touted by the NZRU - a 10-team first division and an eight-team second division including B-teams from the bigger unions - will be sternly opposed.
"One thing that all the unions agreed was that there needed to be meaningful competition for all 14 provinces," Tasman chief executive Peter Barr said. "Four teams dropping out and playing with B teams is not a meaningful competition."
Barr favoured a competition run along similar lines to South Africa's Currie Cup, which is split into an eight-team premier division and a six-team first division.
Tasman needed a $340,000 NZRU loan and a last-ditch rescue package to survive last season but Barr said the sale of Marlborough's Lansdowne Park had helped the union rid itself of crippling debt and it hoped to break even this season.
Fans wishing to buy Steelers season tickets can do so through the union’s website http://www.steelers.co.nz/ or call the office on 09 237 0033.
