The clock is ticking for the Dragons as they head into the final 24 hours for a deal of being taking into private ownership to be done.
As a condition of the six-year funding framework signed off by the four regions and the Welsh Rugby Union in March, the Dragons were given 90 days to complete a deal that would no longer see them owned by the WRU.
As such, talks have been ongoing between the WRU and a consortium of benefactors led by Dragons chair David Buttress about taking the Rodney Parade side into private ownership, with Friday, June 30, being the deadline set.
So now, with 89 days behind us and things seemingly destined to go to the wire, what exactly is set to happen as the situation reaches crunch time?
First of all, it's important to understand what needs to be completed before the start of next month.
Only a head of terms agreement needs to be signed before this weekend. The due diligence process can come at a later date.
But of course, it's still a complex process. Talk of the Dragons going into private ownership has been on the cards for many years, with the Dragons having been Union-owned since 2017.
Back then, the deal that saved the Gwent side from folding involved the WRU increasing their 50 per cent share in a takeover that included the nine-acre Rodney Parade site.
However, it's become increasingly apparent that moving back into private ownership was the right thing for all parties. It's a situation that ultimately doesn't help anyone anymore.
Cardiff, Ospreys and Scarlets would feel there's an element of favouritism in a system when one of the four clubs are union-owned, while the Dragons themselves feel that the model can hold them back at times.
Back in 2020, Buttress told WalesOnline: "Everybody on the PRB would be in violent agreement that the Dragons would be better suited back in private hands. That would be a success because we would have seen the governing body rescue the region out of bankruptcy and stabilise it.
"The logical next step, unless all regions are to be owned by the Union, would be for the Dragons to move back into the same model as the other three."
That stance has never changed. As such, the new funding model that was finally signed off earlier this year included the stipulation that the Dragons’ takeover had to happen this summer.
Everyone wants the deal to happen, but of course there's a completely understandable pressure from the other three regions for the Union to get the best deal possible.
Buttress, who was appointed chair months after the WRU took over at the Dragons, had initially no plans to own the Dragons, but that stance has changed over time.
The former Just Eat CEO had been in talks over a deal before Covid struck, with things understood to be close on that front before the financial uncertainty of the pandemic hit.
Buttress has now formed a consortium of benefactors to finally thrash out a deal. Rodney Parade bosses are understood to be confident of those heads of terms being signed, but things are also believed to be delicately poised.
Quite what the deal will entail is unclear at this stage. Ownership of Rodney Parade and the land that surrounds it could be a key issue.
Three years ago, when he first tried to take the Dragons private, Buttress said he had considered buying the whole ground - including the piece of land known as the 'cabbage patch' at the old clubhouse end, but ultimately felt it would be better served in the hands of the WRU.
"Our initial hypothesis when we embarked on this six months ago was we wanted to own the whole site because we could build things on it and get revenue streams off it," he told WalesOnline in 2020. "When I looked at that, if you look at what the WRU are doing on Westgate Street, they are building a hotel, which is probably what will happen at Rodney Parade.
"I have put an extension on my house, but I have never built a hotel, I haven’t developed land. It’s not my background. The more I looked into the idea of redeveloping that area and the financial investment required, the risk sits far better with the WRU in terms of developing that asset than it would be all on me as an individual. It started to feel uncomfortable.
"So the model we are leaning towards is where we have a long-term lease on the ground where we pay rent to the owner, the WRU. The lease we are negotiating is well over 100 years. We will control that area.
"The WRU will retain the cabbage patch and develop that, something similar to what they have done on Westgate Street. That feels to me like the right way to go."
Earlier this year, he told WalesOnline that a number of options were being explored including a financial deal that would see the WRU exiting entirely, as well as the governing body potentially retaining a landlord interest and leasing the ground to new owners.
The latest suggestion is that the deal will see the consortium take over the Dragons with the WRU remaining owners of Rodney Parade. That would allow the governing body to develop the 'cabbage patch' and derelict clubhouse while the Dragons would have a lengthy lease that would allow them to get income from it.
Of course, for the consortium, it would mean they were buying a club with no actual assets.
Right now, there's no guarantee there will be any white smoke rising from either Rodney Parade or Westgate Street anytime on Friday.
The July deadline has never been acknowledged publicly by either club or governing body in an official capacity, although Buttress has referenced it on social media.
As such, they could easily take the stance that there's little need to put something out now if that deadline does pass without any deal being struck.
It seems unlikely that the Dragons would let fans go without any update at all, given how much angst there is among Welsh rugby fans in general after another week of merger talk between two sides.
The talk of dropping down to three sides isn't going to dissipate any time soon, with a void to be filled tomorrow. An update of some form is likely, even if it says little, lest that void be filled by speculation.
At times like this, white smoke - even it's to say there's no white smoke - is appreciated by fans.
What seems fairly certain at this stage is that, once the calendar page flips over to July, the Dragons won't suddenly cease to exist one minute after midnight.
Buttress has previously denied that there was an extension to the deadline, but were a deal to be close, it's not out of the question that things could be extended.
Plus, it's understood that their fate would then to down to the Professional Rugby Board on what would happen next. New WRU chair, Richard Collier-Keywood, would likely be influential, as would the new WRU CEO.
The fact they have yet to be appointed means anything drastic is unlikely to happen immediately anyway.
With Dai Flanagan's side preparing as normal for next season, no conclusive news on Friday won't necessarily be bad news for the Dragons. There are some suggestions that, even if the notion of three clubs is followed amid the ongoing uncertainty, they wouldn't necessarily be in the firing line.
