Consortium plans to structure club to allow fans to own Tassie A-League team

TASMANIANS could own a slice of a proposed state team in the national soccer competition, documents show.

Plans for the public to be offered shares in the franchise are outlined in emails between the consortium behind the proposal and the Department of Premier and Cabinet Office.

The proposal for a Tasmanian side in the A-League would model the entity’s ownership structure on European superpower clubs Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Right to Information documents reveal.

In the emails, a representative for the interstate-based consortium said its financial backers would adopt the structure used by some of the world’s biggest soccer clubs.

It was in response to a question by DPAC about why backers of the bid – multi-millionaire former directors of A-League club Melbourne Victory Harry Stamoulis and Robert Belteky – are qualified to run an A-League team.

“The owners would hire qualified people to run the day-to-day business of the football club,” the representative for the consortium says in the emails.

“These people would be knowledgeable and experienced in the running of a football club.

“It is the wish of the owners of the club to base their ownership model around the Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona clubs. This involves having a share issue to members of the public to own a share of the Tasmanian football club.”

German giants Bayern operate under the 50+1 system, in which a minimum of 51 per cent of a club must be owned by club members. Barcelona is owned by its 180,000 members.

The emails say the new club would create about 50 jobs in Tasmania and that contact between the consortium and Premier Will Hodgman’s office was first established in August.

The correspondence said that in September bid members were concerned that information about the proposal could be leaked.

It eventually became public in October.

The emails show pre-season and cup games would be held in the North of Tasmania with the team based in the South.

Football Federation Australia is drawing up a set of criteria for A-League expansion bids, which will be released early next year.

http://www.themercury.com.au/sport/consortium-plans-to-structure-club-to-allow-fans-to-own-tassie-aleague-team/news-story/6b98f59ccdabc04270b77da40c67bafe