Licences to operate New Zealand’s five Super Rugby franchises could be put on the market by the end of this year but they will only be on offer to New Zealand teams.
New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew has confirmed that the board have been given approval to continue working on ways that they can “sharpen up the governance” of the Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders and Highlanders.
While the Super Rugby franchises will be put to market they would still be owned by the New Zealand Rugby Union and the players would still be centrally contracted.
The NZRU believes that their policy of central contracting has given the All Blacks a significant competitive advantage over their rivals.
As the franchises will only be available to the New Zealand market and the players would still be controlled by the NZRU the question of who would be interested in buying a franchise with such limitations comes to mind.
“We are short of fresh capital or equity in these businesses and we have to find some way of injecting that into it,” Tew told the NZHerald.
“We’ve got an issue around the long-term financial survival of the franchises if the current economic environment continues and we’ve got to find a way of improving that.”
The NZRU board met in Auckland last and agreed they should work towards inviting parties at the end of the year to express interest in holding a licence.
The licence holders would pay a fee to the NZRU and try to recoup money through merchandising and commercial deals which would have to be approved by the New Zealand Rugby Union.
“In effect what we are looking for is to determine … the best structure and capital base for our five franchises moving forward given the challenges they have in front of them,” Tew said.
“We are looking to sharpen up the governance structures to make sure we’ve best possible administration and the most cost-effective way of running these franchises.”
Tew said that the idea was tabled with the board to a mixed response but everyone acknowledged franchises could not continue to run at a loss.