'Super Rugby' 2021
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@barbarian said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@antipodean Six years ago. How long did that take to find?
Got 30k to Ireland a few years ago, I'd reckon that's decent enough. Boosted by expats, sure, but that's why the city has potential to sustain a team. The interest is there.
As said several pages ago - for domestic rugby - no, it isn't. Once a year, to watch the national team, there is sufficient interest to fill AAMI Park with 30k. That's not enough to sustain a local team week-after-week during the AFL season.
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@Crucial said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@barbarian said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@Crucial said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
Call their bluff I reckon.
They have neither the player quality or money to set up an attractive product themselves that would threaten what we want to set up.
Just to clarify this - in order to avoid having five second rate Australian teams, you will set up a comp with five third rate teams from Asia, the PIs and the Americas?
No. My thinking is that we stop looking at the past type of setup which has caused these problems and look at a totally new concept of a pro comp.
we can provide the facilities and the best broadcasters for rugby in the world. We can also provide 5 quality teams/franchises. We would want maybe 5 more to kick things off and need to widen interest beyond the old Oz teams. If they want to buy 2 or 3 franchise licences then good on them.
Our teams can still be backed by the NZRU but others can be private. It makes commercial sense for a PI “themed” franchise to start up. If the aussies don’t want their established teams in then they run the risk of players being offered contracts in NZ comp franchises.
Kind of a US sport approach.
I don’t think we are too small at all. We are arguably the best rugby country in the world and should have a quality comp to sell. Making travel domestic only removes massive costs.Who is going to watch this amazing comp you're proposing?
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@Crucial said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@nzzp said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@Crucial said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
What rivers of gold that would be more than if we “owned” the comp?
Broadcasting rights, by way of comparison, where they have 5 times our population and 20% higher GDP per person.
There is just no way to compete financially. Rugby is 3rd (well, probably 4th overall if you consdier cricket), so why aren't we helping them grow their game and the market?
How far away would those rivers be?
For decades Rugby in Australia has been propped up by the overall SANZAR broadcasting rights hasn't it?
They struggle with gaining traction on pay tv avenues and keep shifting around FTA ones as they lose interest.
If they did get really popular then they have the issue of having to show games FTA (under the sports broadcasting laws)I think we should be taking this opportunity to reset the model entirely. Look at setting up a comp that sells the product to streaming services (e.g. Amazon). If Oz Rugby wants to buy in to that and add a couple of franchises then good. If they would rather have their own comp that's fine as well, we need to have the better product. If they want to come together and have a playoff at the end of the season that works as well.
Comps like EPL, NBA, NFL etc are all based in one country with timezones awkward for the rest of the world. That hasn't stopped them being the pinnacle TV comps of the codes with franchise marketing popularity.
It would be just as long a road to build that than it would be to get Australia into a financial position to contribute.You do realise that most of the money in club football is in the Champions League, which brings together teams from all nations across Europe...?
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@junior said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@Crucial said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@nzzp said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@Crucial said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
What rivers of gold that would be more than if we “owned” the comp?
Broadcasting rights, by way of comparison, where they have 5 times our population and 20% higher GDP per person.
There is just no way to compete financially. Rugby is 3rd (well, probably 4th overall if you consdier cricket), so why aren't we helping them grow their game and the market?
How far away would those rivers be?
For decades Rugby in Australia has been propped up by the overall SANZAR broadcasting rights hasn't it?
They struggle with gaining traction on pay tv avenues and keep shifting around FTA ones as they lose interest.
If they did get really popular then they have the issue of having to show games FTA (under the sports broadcasting laws)I think we should be taking this opportunity to reset the model entirely. Look at setting up a comp that sells the product to streaming services (e.g. Amazon). If Oz Rugby wants to buy in to that and add a couple of franchises then good. If they would rather have their own comp that's fine as well, we need to have the better product. If they want to come together and have a playoff at the end of the season that works as well.
Comps like EPL, NBA, NFL etc are all based in one country with timezones awkward for the rest of the world. That hasn't stopped them being the pinnacle TV comps of the codes with franchise marketing popularity.
It would be just as long a road to build that than it would be to get Australia into a financial position to contribute.You do realise that most of the money in club football is in the Champions League, which brings together teams from all nations across Europe...?
Around a third of EPL club revenues comes from International TV rights.
Obviously the ideas I am throwing out would rely heavily on exporting the product. I am simply saying isn't it time to investigate and drive that market ourselves?
At present we rely way too heavily on the internal market for the comp. This has driven all the changes that we don't like as we have to keep expanding and adding in new markets by taking on uncompetitive teams -
@Derpus said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@Snowy Yeah except, bringing you back to the rational world, the whole starting premise was that NZRU needs someone else to play with...
If they didn't they would have told us to shove it ages ago.
Perfectly rational thanks. Aus need someone to play with too...
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We will probably end up with domestic SR comps next season the way covid is hanging around maybe with extra byes and slightly bigger squads.
By 2022 I am sure we will see a trans tasmen comp, with a PI team included wether that is 4 Aussie teams or 5 giving us a bye with The PI team making 11 remains in negotiation.
In the end domestic comps will not work past one more year for many reasons broadcasting monies, Sustainability of the domestic product etc.Player welfare.
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Super Rugby Aotearoa: Australian billionaire linked to sensational bid for sixth New Zealand franchise in 2021
Liam Napier
Could there be six Kiwi teams in Super Rugby in 2021? A New Zealand provincial rugby union is making a bold play to join next season – and Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest is on board. Liam Napier reports
The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union, in conjunction with Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest, is believed to have made a bold expression of interest to potentially form a sixth New Zealand Super Rugby team next year - as D-Day to determine the future of the game's domestic landscape fast approaches.
The Herald understands the Bay of Plenty union is involved with a consortium which includes Chinese investment and Global Rapid Rugby, the competition owned by Forrest, to launch a sixth New Zealand team for 2021.
Forrest, one of Australia's richest people with an estimated net worth of $7.5 billion, started Global Rapid Rugby last year before the 2020 edition was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Last month, New Zealand Rugby outlined a future model for Super Rugby based on the results of the Aratipu Report, which favours a competition between eight and 10 teams including the five Kiwi franchises.
NZR said it has a "huge desire" to include a Pasifika team, while the rest of the competition would be made up by Australian rugby sides (between two to four teams).
With the NZ Rugby board set to meet next weekend to review the bids and determine a format for 2021, time is running out to get a sixth Kiwi team off the ground.
Bay of Plenty rugby chief executive Mike Rogers did not return calls but several senior NZ Rugby sources confirmed negotiations between the respective parties were on-going.
Earlier this year, the Bay of Plenty union teamed up with the China Rugby Football Association to form the China Lions - the final team added to Forrest's Global Rapid Rugby.
The vision for the Lions was to help retain New Zealand talent by providing another pathway outside Super Rugby. The team's home base was to be Rotorua Stadium but they managed one outing before Covid-19 travel restrictions hit, defeating a team of local Fijian players 29-22 in Suva.
With the structures for the Lions already in place it is believed Bay of Plenty has decided to push ahead and express interest in the team joining the five established New Zealand Super Rugby sides next year.
This latest development comes after the Herald revealed the Asia Pacific Dragons, who were also involved in Global Rapid Rugby in 2019, logged a separate expression of interest with NZ Rugby to join Super Rugby from 2022.
There are, however, major concerns surrounding the competitiveness of both the Bay of Plenty-led China Lions and Asian Pacific Dragons when pitted against the quality of the Crusaders, Blues, Highlanders, Hurricanes and the Chiefs.
The other potential sixth New Zealand-based Super Rugby team next year is a Pacific side. Several options are on the table, with NZ Rugby committed to this venture at some stage.
The Herald understands a feasibility study is being conducted to determine what it would take to ensure a Pacific team is viable and whether it would be ready by 2021 or 2022.
The Tracy Atiga-led Kanaloa Hawai'i bid is understood to have been asked to collaborate with others.
It seems increasingly likely Super Rugby Aotearoa may be forced to continue with the status quo and the addition of more bye weeks in a March to May window.
Should that holding pattern scenario eventuate the expressions of interest approach to NZR's initial vision for an eight-to-10 team Super Rugby competition next year will ultimately hit a brick wall, and largely serve to aggravate their long established Sanzaar partners.
Rugby Australia remains steadfast in refusing to drop any of its five franchises for a potential transtasman joint venture partnership, while South Africa Rugby is also believed to be miffed by the NZR's "go it alone" approach amid the financially challenging Covid-19 confines.
While domestic competitions for the respective Sanzaar partners appear the likely approach for 2021, plans remain in place for a regional cross-over tournament involving the leading sides from New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Argentina. Travel restrictions permitting, this cross-over tournament could be staged during the middle of the domestic competitions or at their conclusion.
The major caveat hanging over future plans, particularly for 2022 and beyond, is the fact broadcast deals need to be renegotiated.
For NZR that comes with a price tag of $500 million over the next five years.
The deal sold to Sky Television last year for a 14-team round-robin Super Rugby format from 2021 to 2025 is now obsolete, and NZR will be desperate to retain the same level of investment from their broadcast partner.
While Sky now has less content, NZR will argue the quality is vastly enhanced which is reflected by the 65 per cent lift in viewership figures for Super Rugby Aotearoa.
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@Yeetyaah said in 'Super Rugby' 2021:
@Tim fuuuuck we really don't need a 6th SR team
No we don't,the last thing we need to dilute our depth even more and weaken the comp
Forrest can fuck off at stay with the Force.Example were would the Chiefs and Highlanders stand if there were even less decent players to pick from.They need to rebuild a bit.
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Forrest is doubling, if not tripling his chances. He'll want the Force in a ten team trans Ta$man comp. If not the Force then he could keep pushing this other barrow. And if the BOP thing works out it can only serve to undermine NZR and our general level of depth which helps any and all Australian teams in, or wanting to be n, our comp.
