All Black coach Graham Henry has also revealed he is pleased his star playmaker will be able to play test rugby uninterrupted until the 2011 World Cup.
Carter revealed on Monday he intended to re-sign with New Zealand rugby until after 2011 but was also in negotiations with French clubs to sign a short-term contract.
The NZRU-approved plan would allow Carter, one of the most marketable players in world rugby, to play the Grand Slam tour with the All Blacks then play for a club such as ambitious Toulon before returning to New Zealand for the test season.
"I think that's great news for New Zealand rugby," Henry said at the naming of the All Black team to play Ireland yesterday.
"We're just delighted that he's going to be in New Zealand for the majority of the time and it could be all of the time up to the next World Cup."
Henry was cautious about offering the sabbatical to too many players.
"There needs to be a set criteria before a guy can apply. Maybe a number of test matches, longevity in the All Blacks, that sort of thing.
"I don't think a guy having a couple of test matches goes off on a sabbatical the next year."
Laidlaw and Ellis were in Dunedin yesterday for the launch of ticket sales for the Tri-Nations test at Carisbrook and both backed the Carter clause.
"It's a kind of rationalisation. If you think about the options, it's probably the only thing they could do," Laidlaw told the Otago Daily Times.
"In Carter's case, we want him back and we need him back. I don't have anything against that.
"Nobody really knows what it will do for him. We tend to believe our provincial system is the best in the world but the rest of the world has caught up.
There are very intense competitions elsewhere and I don't know if it will make any difference."
Laidlaw believes the flurry of transfers of leading players to other countries should be governed by a new organisation.
"At the moment, it's market-driven only. We need a system to sort it out. European clubs are calling the tune at the moment and it won't be long before the Japanese clubs catch up.
"It's an interesting phenomenon because it provides our players with a range of experiences which they wouldn't get otherwise. And if you can get them back, it's great."
Ellis never played rugby overseas and switched to league before rugby turned professional.
Now a businessman, he said it was a commercial reality that someone of Carter's status would look for opportunities overseas.
"We're mad if we think that Dan Carter, through sheer passion for the All Black jersey or for Canterbury, is going to hang around," Ellis said.
"He's clearly got opportunities overseas that can change his life. If any rugby player looks at four or five seasons to protect and secure their future, it makes sense.
"It's a professional sport. Let him go. Let the other All Blacks go. We've got to lose some of our draconian attitudes.
"The All Black jersey is still a wonderful thing but times have changed. It's a job for players now."
Ellis was one of the dominant personalities in Otago rugby in the 1990s but none of his eight tests were played at Carisbrook.
"I never played for the All Blacks here but I recall with great fondness running out for the blue and golds. That was probably better than a test for me.
"It's a real treat to come back and promote what should be a great game at Carisbrook."
Laidlaw played three tests in three years at Carisbrook, against Australia (1964), South Africa (1965) and the Lions (1966).
The former Rhodes Scholar and race relations conciliator has fond memories of the ground but also feels it has outlived its usefulness.
"None of us like it but it's all true. You have to have a certain standard and Carisbrook, while we all love it and feel warm and fuzzy about it, I don't think is ever going to make it to the starting line again," Laidlaw said.
"For all its faults I think the idea of another stadium is good. It's a point of difference which will attract attention and it might be time for Otago to swallow hard and do it."
