Andrew Pragnell (CEO of NZ Football), Jennie Wyllie (CEO of Netball NZ), Cameron George (CEO of the Warriors) and Mark Robinson (CEO of NZ Rugby). Photos / Photosport
Andrew Pragnell (CEO of NZ Football), Jennie Wyllie (CEO of Netball NZ), Cameron George (CEO of the Warriors) and Mark Robinson (CEO of NZ Rugby). Photos / Photosport
Comment:
Only a few years ago, when I was leading the Warriors, there were a couple of things we could lean on to promote our upcoming home matches.
Our friends at Radio Sport and Sky Television would gear up to promote their coverage of each game. Sports reporters would attendour training sessions at Mt Smart to gather content for a range of preview stories across a wide range of media outlets. Radio announcers and commentators would get in on the act talking about the team and coming along to our games, and our loyal fans would be taking part in our promotions, sharing messages on social media and, most importantly, buying tickets.
Radio Sport is no longer on air. There are fewer sports journalists covering the game. Fans are working from and staying close to home, and there are no home games. The Warriors are playing all their games in Australia, where they have been based since May.
Some of these changes are temporary, but some will have lasting effects.
Losing Radio Sport, for example, means a significant channel for sports fans is no longer available along with the live commentaries and coverage for those who aren't able to watch the games on Sky.
This is just one slice of the immense challenges facing sports administrators here and around the world. You could argue that our sports administrators may need to be added to the list of endangered species.
My former colleagues at the NRL, Warriors and New Zealand Rugby League have all had to move heaven and earth to try and enable their codes, teams and competitions to survive 2020.
The Warriors have been based in Australia for most of the NRL season. Photo / Photosport
Like the Warriors, the Wellington Phoenix coaches and players have been based in Australia, living away from families and friends and their home at Sky Stadium, as they compete at the top end of the A-League.
New Zealand Rugby launched a radically revamped rugby competition - Super Rugby Aotearoa – which captured rugby fans around the country.
Their timing was either perfect or lucky (depending how you look at it) in that the introduction started when the country was in level 1 which allowed fans to attend matches, generating much-needed revenue for each franchise. However, the cancellation of the Blues-Crusaders match thanks to the latest Covid outbreak will have cost the Blues hundreds of thousands of dollars, putting a huge dent in their financial recovery.
At the outset of Covid-19, the NRL effectively exhausted their significant reserves to keep all 16 clubs afloat – whilst they were dealing with the loss of sponsorship and gate revenues, and at the same time spending significantly more money running the competition to meet Covid-19 bio-security requirements.
Overseas, major leagues such as the English Premier League, NFL and NBA are supported by massive broadcasting contracts, which mean the teams in those well-funded leagues can be maintained even while their stadiums remain shut to fans.
Sadly, that's not the case for sports organisations and teams in this part of the world. In March, the AFL had to call on two Australian banks for a A$500 million loan to provide financial relief for itself and its 18 clubs.
The ARL Commission agreed to new broadcast deals for the NRL with Channel Nine and Foxtel in May in order to maintain revenue flows, having had to forgo some broadcast payments while the competition was in hiatus.
The Crusaders celebrate claiming the Super Rugby Aotearoa title. Photo / Photosport
Across Australasia, as sports organisations have scrambled to reduce costs, we have seen some hard conversations taking place around salaries between professional sporting organisations and their clubs with their contracted professional athletes and staff.
We have seen these negotiations here in New Zealand as rugby, netball, rugby league and football have had to try and balance rapidly falling revenue with costs. This has seen new temporary reduced player agreements and staff redundancies for most codes.
The likelihood is that player salaries will be reduced, if not permanently, then at least for the immediate future. What will that mean for our favourite players, teams and competitions?
We can also expect that grants and other levels of sport funding from national and regional sporting organisations will be significantly reduced.
Jim Doyle (right) is a former chief executive of the New Zealand Rugby League and the Warriors. Photo / Photosport
What is preventing a total collapse is the fact that Government has stepped into the breach to provide emergency funding to various organisations, including sports, which is vital and welcome.
The big questions lie ahead. How do professional sporting codes survive 2020; adapt to the new social, health and economic realities, and remain relevant and sustainable in a radically reshaped world?
What is for sure is that nothing will be the same.
