United we stand

28/03/2008 V8 Supercars Australia has announced the successful amalgamation of the two long standing separate boards which had previously managed the sport with a majority vote by team owners on the Gold Coast yesterday (Thursday).

After seven months of extensive work, merging the boards of V8SA and the Touring Car Entrants Group (TEGA) - which both previously had individual responsibilities regarding managing and running the V8 Supercar Championship Series - will create one new entity and a streamlined business structure to take the sport into the next decade.

“After 11 and a half years, this is another exciting development in the history of V8 Supercars Australia,” said Chairman Tony Cochrane. “The business has never been in better financial shape underpinned by record numbers across all income categories. This will really enable the business to move in a very progressive way to the next level.”

Currently, the teams collectively are a 75 percent stakeholder in the sport, while Sports Entertainment Limited (SEL) - the sport's marketing arm - owns the other 25 percent, and that configuration is not expected to change. But despite overwhelming support for the amalgamation with more than the required 75 percent of the 17 competing teams voting in favour, it was not a unanimous decision.

“I did vote against it,” revealed team owner Garry Rogers. “I fully support SEL's involvement in our business, I think they've done an amazing job and I think Tony in particular as the Chairman has really got the brand out there and has really made a good business for us to all share in.

“But there are some issues from my point of view in regards to the rights of the certain shareholders. I think any business that owns the majority of the shareholding, if need be, needs to have some form of control,” added Rogers.

Although there is still further work needed in forming the united entity, fellow team owner Kim Jones of Brad Jones Racing said the time was right to proceed with the amalgamation.

“The longer you work on it the better it gets but there has to be a point where it's good enough to vote on and that's what happened yesterday,” said Jones. “I think the outcome's a good outcome and it's a matter of streamlining the process and that's basically what they've done - bringing the documentation, or the foundations of the business, up to 2008.”

The amalgamation also means that the new stakeholders' agreement, the Racing Entitlements Contract, will soon replace the Team's Licence Agreement to ensure a long-term financial blueprint for the sport and increased stability moving forward.

A figurehead of V8 Supercars' growth over the past decade, Cochrane is understood to believe that the amalgamation will pave the way for a more progressive board and such has announced his intention to stand for the Chairmanship for a future three-year term.

As the current TEGA board stands, it includes four team representatives in Ross Stone (SBR), Paul Morris (SCAR), Larry Perkins (JDR) and Tim Edwards (FPR), two SEL representatives in Cochrane and James Erskine, and two independent director positions - one remains vacant but the other is filled by South Australian businessman Roger Cook who chaired the amalgamation committee.

All positions on the new united board, including the Chairmanship, will be voted on by all parties at its first meeting in April.