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The huge call was made today at a Welsh Rugby Union board meeting held in Cardiff
The Welsh Rugby Union will enter a period of exclusive negotiation with Ospreys owners Y11 Sports & Media as its three-team solution comes one step closer.
Y11 are majority shareholders of the Ospreys and after a WRU board meeting today the governing body has decided they are the right choice for Cardiff.
The WRU are in the process of reducing the number of professional clubs in Wales from four to three and Y11’s potential purchase of Cardiff is a way of achieving that.
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There will now be a period of exclusivity where the governing body will negotiate exclusively with Y11.
There would then be a potential to create what some people in the upper echelons of Welsh rugby have labelled a “super region”.
What happens in reality remains unclear at this stage.
But this development is a significant step forward for the WRU in their quest to go down to three teams.
The other bidder was a consortium led by former Cardiff director Martyn Ryan which includes Rhino CEO Reg Clarke along with three prominent Hollywood producers.
WalesOnline understands this was a financially strong bid while they also had a compelling business plan which in the long-run could catapult Cardiff back into the elite tier of European club rugby.
A major part of their plan was to create a scripted TV series based in Cardiff.
But unless there is a major U-turn that will not happen.
Y11’s likely acquisition of Cardiff will go down like a lead balloon in many quarters.
Cardiff’s official supporters trust, CF10, have already gone public to say they will not welcome Y11’s as Cardiff’s owners while fans of the Ospreys will also be up in arms.
“The WRU board met for its January meeting today and considered the recommendation from the Executive Leadership Team on the sale of Cardiff Rugby,” read a WRU statement.
“The board reviewed in detail the final two bids and unanimously approved the proposal to move forward with a preferred bidder into an exclusivity period.
“Following this decision, the WRU has obligations to liaise with a number of stakeholders over the next few days.
“We will then discuss the decision with the two bidders and the management of Cardiff Rugby and we expect to be in a position to have completed this by next week.
“The WRU hopes to finalise the detailed negotiations with the preferred bidder and sign a binding agreement within a matter of weeks.”
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