Super Rugby, Jay-Z, the AFL's $4.5B and dickheads

My apologies for the formatting on the post. For some reason, a company ( LinkedIn ) that 微软 paid $26.2 billion for, and is generating nearly $15 billion annually, has never bothered to update it's publishing platform.

If you include the 2020 and 2021 seasons, which saw New Zealand, Australia and South Africa (2020 only) run their own competitions, there have been an astonishing nine renditions* of Super Rugby and a mind-blowing 20 teams.

It is, quite simply, too much change to allow focus on the most important thing of all.

Fandom.

Ah how times change.

In 1996, Super Rugby was immediately the jewel in the crown of the three founding unions, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, allowing them to negotiate for a $555M (USD) contract over 10 years.

To put into perspective how significant this was:

• At the time the AFL was halfway through a $100M (AUD) contract for five years (1993-1998) with Channel Seven Australia
• The NSWRL (effectively the precursor of the NRL) was in the middle of a $10M (AUD) per year arrangement with Nine entertainment.

In the two decades since, the AFL and NRL's broadcasting growth has dwarfed rugby in the South.

NZ Rugby (NZR) and Sky Sports NZ closed a bumper deal in 2019 worth an estimated $500M (NZD, from 2021-2025, for both Super Rugby matches, All Blacks Tests and 5% equity of Sky for NZR) while Rugby Australia extended their $30M (AUD) three-year deal with Nine (signed in 2020) until 2025.

This is the first issue for the prestigious competition, what should be the creme de la creme of the Southern Hemisphere - with two nations responsible for five combined World Cup wins.

They should be generating a heck of a lot more broadcasting coin. The now ill-conceived plan, by expanding to Argentina and Japan, was to open up markets, and in the latter case, the 4th biggest economy in the world (to New Zealand Rugby's credit, they've kept focus on the $6T plus economy, with a deal in place from 2024 to 2027. Kiwi Super Rugby teams are playing the 2024 Super Rugby pre-season over in the land of the rising sun).

"The broadcasting wheeling and dealing is now done individually."

Indeed, there is a trans-Tasman rivalry that needs to be reinvigorated (more on that later...)

Hopefully, from 2026 onward, when the current broadcast deal is renegotiated, this can change.

The NRL's most current contract is a $2B (AUD) deal with Nine, Fox Sports and Sky NZ for $400M per season. The AFL, far and away Australia's biggest sporting league, is in the midst of a $4.5B, seven-year deal. It is the biggest broadcast arrangement in Australian Sports history and brings into focus how Super Rugby has failed to grow the game in terms of the all important broadcasting dollar.

"There is a critical element to note. The AFL and NRL, like most global sport's leagues, are reluctant to expand their formats.

When they do, the expansion teams get paid significant money (the Suns and GWS, the expansion clubs for the AFL, get approximately $25M per year from the governing body).

So there we have Super Rugby's second issue: Expansion prevents tribalism."

Tribalism is the beating heart of "domestic" sport's competitions.

In Australia the ARL and NRL understand this, with the teams representing specific cities or concentrated geographic areas - like the NFL, NBA, EPL and other successful leagues have done for decades.

Super Rugby is tricky.

The Hurricanes represent a geographic area covering most of the North Island of New Zealand. The Reds cover a state with a population exceeding five million. No concentration around a city, suburb or the like.

This is unlikely to change but one advantage is can have is that players from Hawke's Bay in New Zealand or Townsville in Queensland can represent a major team in the Hurricanes or Reds.

Representing the entire catchment area is so important and for this to work, the individuals need to rise (while the Super Rugby teams need to in turn, work with the provincial unions. That's a big job).

This is what the big leagues, from Australia to America, do so well. They promote individual talent.

This is Super Rugby's third issue. The game, so renowned for it's team values and the fact that all individuals, big and small, tall and short, need to work together for a side to thrive.

"In this day and age, the personalities need to become big. To unquote the All Blacks, they need dickheads."

People who swagger and strut - perhaps against rugby's values, but so critical to a global sporting fan base that loves a personality. New Zealand and Australia are reluctant to elevate individual stars to a level that sees them compete with the unions or teams.

Think of how successful the NFL and NBA have done this over the years.

Mahones or Brady?

The former is selling out a tour in Australia, the latter is in his fourth SuperBowl in five years. Both in their own way bigger than the sport.

LeBron or Jordan?

The former, at 39 and a billionaire, is playing in his 20th season, while the latter continues to make hundreds of millions from his Nike deal, with Air Jordan making $6.59B (USD) in 2023. The six-time NBA champion takes 5% of all earnings from his name brand. Both, by some margin, bigger now than the sport that opened all their doors.

Rugby is still, as arguably the youngest professional sporting code in the world, struggling to place their gold standard stars into a stratosphere which will carry the sport alongside it.

It is beginning to move.

Roc Nation, founded by Shawn Carter in 2013, saw the potential for rugby during the 2019 Rugby World Cup. They witnessed Siyamthanda Kolisi.

Jay Z's talent agency and the now two-time winning World Cup captain have been joined by half a dozen big names, including All Blacks totem Ardie Savea.

So we've identified three areas where Super Rugby can grow.

First, settle on the competition. Embrace the trans-Tasman and Pacific culture of this new version of Super Rugby.

Second, create more effective unity with the broadcasting arrangements. Half a billion American dollars in 1996 made the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks rich.

Remember that the next broadcast cycle factors in a Lions Tour and World Cup on Australian soil. It's time to make some money. It is time to hold the broadcaster's to ransom.

"New Zealand Rugby might have an ace to play here, with their own streaming service now up and running. A threat to pull games onto their own platform as the WWE did successfully with their "Network"? That ended up in a billion $ deal with Peacock in 2021 and a mammoth $5B (USD) contract with Netflix."

Third, the individual stars need to shine, now just at international level like Siya and Ardie do, but at a domestic level.

But for this to happen, alignment is critical. Super Rugby Pacific's formation of a new administration can usher in a new period where the marketing of a competition can experiment.

In 1996 there was no social media, no influencers, no streaming.

Partnership marketing was rudimentary, there was essentially no such thing as Digital or Performance marketing - while sponsorship activation in sports has been elevated to a remarkable level.

Heck, even sovereign funds and the world's biggest tech companies have entered the chat - and Saudi and Apple's money, just like private equity, is changing sports. It is elevating footballing stars like Messi and Ronaldo, upending broadcasting deals in Major League Soccer and creating a new wave to tourism ads.

Yes, I am digressing, big time.

But Super Rugby is effectively the elite domestic competition of the country that boasts THE BIGGEST brand in rugby, and of another country that needs the tournament to be elevated to compete with a saturated market dominated by the AFL, NRL and Cricket.

Everything has changed - rugby in the Southern Hemisphere needs to change with it. It's time for a new era of alignment and cooperation.

That isn't easy. The tension between New Zealand and Australia in rugby circles over the last few years has been well documented. It doesn't help that the rivalry has been very imbalanced. But one good year can change that.

"A Wallabies Bledisloe Cup win, with no Australian skipper holding up the famous trophy since 2002, would become front page news on every newspaper in the country."

Unlike the AFL and NRL, Super Rugby club ownership is a uncoordinated affair but regular dialogue with the 12 teams can get everyone pulling in the right direction - it won't be easy but the reality is that fan interest has dwindled over the years.

Perhaps the unions themselves have let them dwindle. In New Zealand's case this could certainly be forgiven, for long periods over the last decade and a bit the All Blacks brand has been so strong it has held up the game all over.

Tribalism, drafts (and hence different winners each year), individual stars, high level sponsor engagement (look what Howden Insurance has achieved lately with the British and Irish Lions), and looking to marketing and media that didn't exist in the nineties:

• Youtube. Despite it's reach, few sports are still putting resources into a platform that registers a billion hours of viewing each day
• Tiktok. Still new. Growing. Fast
• Music. Good music and the partnerships get the blood flowing. Remember this banger? It was the soundtrack for Super Rugby in 1996
• Podcasts. Done well they can be great. But they've got to be done well.
• Streaming. The effect of Drive to Survive on Formula 1 is now very well known. In Australia, the partnership with Stan (owned by Nine Entertainment) is proving to have some advantages, noticeably TTL advertising on Free-to-Air TV. Rugby now has it's first Netflix show

• Web3. The Rugby DAO is looking to make a major impact in this space. Partnerships with Animoca, Pumpjack Dataworks, Oval3, Connected Fanatics, Crossmint and Wasserman are creating a never-before-seen ecosystem
• Gaming. The NBA has partnered with Fortnite and the NFL is doing what the world's biggest and richest sporting league does best. Innovate with partnerships that are bringing young audiences in droves

And while on the subject of gaming, what about a throw back. Surely it is time for a 2024 edition of one of the most famous rugby games of all...

Is rugby, and Super Rugby Pacific, in need of a refresh and/or a rebrand?

Is a sport with so many passionate fans some margin behind other standard bearers in Australia, America and the world?

Perhaps. But that only means the opportunities are endless for a competition audaciously named, to once again become Super Rugby.

*

1 - 1996: Super 12

2 - 2006: Western Force and Cheetahs join. Becomes Super 14

3 - 2011: Melbourne Rebels admitted. Southern King denied

4 - 2016: Jaguares (Argentina) and Sunwolves (Japan). Two conferences formed

5 - 2018: Cheetahs, Kings and Force dropped. Three conference format

6 - 2020: COVID leads to cancellation of Super Rugby. Super Rugby Aotearoa (6th iteration), Super Rugby Unlocked (7th iteration) and Super Rugby AU (8th iteration) are formed

9 - Super Rugby Pacific commences. New Zealand and Australian Super Rugby teams are joined by two new franchises, the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika