A brand that has been dragged through the mud for the past two years is on the hunt for a major sponsor, and new Parramatta chief executive Bernie Gurr believes the Eels are still a "magnificent proposition" for backers.
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Tainted by a recent past littered with off-field issues – including being stripped of 12 competition points and fined $1 million this year for breaches of the salary cap – the rejuvenated blue and golds will prioritise the push for a new sponsor, despite legal action against the previous backer as a backdrop.
The Eels in October launched legal action against controversial property developer Dyldam for its alleged failure to meet scheduled sponsorship payments, but have trumpeted the blank canvas on the front of their 2017 jersey as one with huge potential.
Gurr, who has only been in the role for five weeks, concedes Parramatta's reputation has taken a battering after a run of bad publicity.
But as the club prepares to sift through applications on Monday for the five new independent director roles, Gurr is pitching to potential sponsors that the Eels have as much potential as any "professional sporting team in Sydney".
"Has the Parramatta Eels brand been damaged in the last two years? Yes, it has," Gurr admitted. "I think it would be naive not to know that. [But administrator] Max [Donnelly's] guidance at the top and the new management team have addressed that.
"We want to be a values-based organisation that's professional and ethical. I have no doubt we have the ability to recover any reputational damage very, very quickly if people can look at what we can potentially deliver.
"We are still, by any metric, the No.1 sports team in western Sydney. Whether you look at membership, TV audiences, our digital presence, our female supporter base ... no matter what metric you use, Parramatta is No.1. I think we have a magnificent proposition for a major sponsor."
Having tidied up the salary cap mess to have the club compliant in time for the 2017 season, Gurr and Donnelly will work on skewing the Eels' record $11 million operating loss during the 2016 financial year back towards a more palatable figure next year.
Independent directors on the Eels board, who sit alongside two representatives from the Parramatta Leagues Club, won't be paid and one of the club's priorities is to recruit a head of football to help coach Brad Arthur.
Daniel Anderson, part of the Eels' so-called "gang of five" who were banished from the game after the salary cap scandal, was the former general manager of football operations.
"The head of football is across many different areas of the business," Gurr said. "It's the NRL team, the NYC, recruiting, junior leagues, they have to be salary cap literate, it's quite an extensive role."
The Eels' lucrative partnership with the Northern Territory government, due to expire at the end of 2017, will take on even greater significance the longer the search for a major sponsor goes on.
Gurr plans on renewing that deal beyond next year, despite the territory's Eels-mad former chief minister Adam Giles losing his seat and government in August.
Parramatta will take their scheduled home game against Johnathan Thurston's North Queensland Cowboys to the top end in 2017.
Parramatta will play their home games for the next two years at ANZ Stadium while Pirtek Stadium is rebuilt, and Gurr is conscious it will be hard to replicate the atmosphere of their spiritual home in the same way the A-League's Western Sydney Wanderers have struggled at Spotless Stadium.
"We have told [supporters] we understand we are relocating them and, in some cases, dislocating them from their favourite ground, but we've also told them this: 'We have to relocate you for two years in order to give you in 2019 the absolute best rectangular professional sports club stadium in Australia'," Gurr said.
