Melbourne Storm are looking to follow the model of NFL greats the Green Bay Packers and make the fans owners of the NRL club.
Storm chairman Bart Campbell announced at the post-season presentation that the club was exploring a fan ownership model.
The Green Bay Packers are the only fan-owned team among major sports in the US. Conversely, fan ownership is relatively prevalent in European football – most notably in Germany where every club must be owned by a majority of that club’s members.
“We see fan ownership as an innovative way to turbo-charge the ambitious growth plans we have for the Storm by doubling our membership to 50,000 by 2023,” said Campbell.
The club is exploring whether the model is a viable concept by engaging a leading international advisory firm Greenhill.
Campbell said if the model wasn’t found to be viable they would continue with the current model with owners Gerry Ryan, Matt Tripp and himself.
The Melbourne Storm have been the most successful NRL side of the past 15 years, appearing in eight grand finals and winning four. Their most recent trip to the big dance was last week’s 21-6 loss against the Sydney Roosters.
It was the third successive grand final for Melbourne, who farewelled star fullback Billy Slater.
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