Rugby Park is run by the Southland Outdoor Stadium Trust, which owes about $1.5 million it cannot pay. Part of that is a $750,000 debt to CTOS it agreed to shoulder in 2007 on behalf of Rugby Southland when that organisation was in serious financial trouble.
Mr Hicks said CTOS was offering to write off $200,000 from the loan and recoup the balance in annual repayments of $55,000 a year from Rugby Southland, over 10 years from 2020. Pushing out the start date for repayments would give Rugby Southland a chance to repay a debt it owed the New Zealand Rugby Union by 2019, he said.
In April, the stadium trust called a meeting of six groups involved in Rugby Park, including the Invercargill City Council, the Invercargill Licensing Trust (ILT), CTOS and Rugby Southland.
Stadium trust chairman Ian Tulloch made it clear help was needed to ensure the long-term financial viability of the facility.
He said then a solution had been put forward at the meeting but it would require ratification from the parties. The solution is understood to be the council taking over Rugby Park, although that has never been confirmed.
Later, the ILT indicated it would consider providing grants to cover about $120,000 the stadium trust owed other debtors, leaving the stadium trust with a debt it believed it could service.
Mr Hicks said on Tuesday it seemed clear the council was the only body in a position to take over the facility.
He said the CTOS offer would enable Rugby Southland to be a viable tenant and would help the council obtain the facility debt-free.
CTOS was not trying to force the hand of the other parties by making its offer public, he said.
''We really want to see a Rugby Park which is healthy, vibrant and alive.
''One of the casualties in all this has been Rugby Southland and they don't deserve that. For the past three years they have vastly improved their finances and governance. What we want to do is try to get the future of Rugby Park settled and take Rugby Southland out of limbo-land.''
Mr Tulloch said this week the parties had met on and off since April but no solution had been agreed yet. He said he was aware of the CTOS proposal and hoped it would lead to other parties confirming their positions.
Rugby Southland general manager Brian Hopley said on Wednesday accepting CTOS' offer hinged on the other parties agreeing to their parts in the solution.
He said the stadium trust's name was on the loan document, not Rugby Southland's.
But because the stadium trust was not in a financial position to repay the loan, Rugby Southland was prepared to ''compromise'' and repay the loan if it helped agreement to be reached on the long-term future of Rugby Park.
The question was whether Rugby Southland could repay the CTOS loan and remain viable, he said.
The organisation posted its first surplus in several years last year, but it relied on grants to break even and it was difficult for the board to predict what the financial situation would be as far out as 2029.
Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, chief executive Richard King and several senior councillors are in China visiting Invercargill's sister city Suqian. Acting chief executive Cameron McIntosh said any proposal about taking over Rugby Park would have to be decided by the council and no formal proposal had been before councillors yet.
