After three years in Super Rugby’s basement, Moana Pasifika blossomed in 2025 – but the next few months will determine whether the club can find a viable pathway to financial security, or even whether it can survive into 2026. Gregor Paul reports.
Moana’s financial prospects and ability to make it to the start line of next year’s Super Rugby Pacific don’t look good right now.
The club’s main partner and financial backer, Pasifika Medical Association (PMA), is understood to have suffered a significant loss of income earlier this year when the Government terminated several established contracts.
Sources say that the contracts account for more than 80% of PMA’s income and that its ability to fund Moana has been severely compromised.
It is understood that Sky, which signed a sponsorship deal with Moana in 2023 to have naming rights to the jersey, won’t be renewing the agreement, thought to be worth about $500,000 a year.
And the Herald has been told that World Rugby, which has been a foundation partner of Moana – pumping about $1.7m a year into the club as part of a high-performance plan to develop players for Samoa and Tonga – is looking to reduce or possibly even end its investment from next year.
Running Moana costs about $12m a year. It currently receives about $3.2m from New Zealand Rugby (NZR) in lieu of broadcast income and $1.5m from commercial sponsors (including Sky). It made about $550,000 in gate revenue this year, $1.7m from World Rugby, and in 2022 it received $4m of funding from Sport New Zealand, which came via an initial $1m grant and a $3m (interest-free) loan facility.
The remainder of the operating budget in 2025 was met by PMA, which bought into the club last year. This figure is estimated to have been between $3m and $4m.
Depending on how things play out, on current estimates, Moana could potentially be staring at a $7m income shortfall next year.
But while the financial position is precarious, there is a unanimous desire within the rugby fraternity to help Moana find a viable economic model and to keep the club in Super Rugby Pacific next year and beyond.
The next eight weeks will see high-level discussions to try to find a long-term financial solution, starting with all parties agreeing about the purpose of Moana.
This will be the critical factor in determining their future economic model, as their purpose will determine where they should be based, where they should play, and from where they should be sourcing players.
That, in turn, will determine which sports bodies have an obligation to invest, which government agencies (if any) might have an interest in funding them, and what businesses might be persuaded to buy in.
It would seem the question of purpose will be settled quickly and unanimously.
NZR’s board has agreed a strategic vision for the national game. A document detailing the sport’s purpose and identity has been sent to stakeholders and will be made public in the next few weeks.
It is understood that NZR, which owns Moana’s licence and has been a strong advocate for the club, remains committed to the concept of a Pasifika Super Rugby team to provide a pathway for players to graduate to the national teams of Samoa and Tonga.
The New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association, which was instrumental in forming Moana, is also committed to keeping the club alive, and its senior players will have a voice in the discussions set to take place over the next few weeks.
The Super Rugby joint venture, an independent commission which runs the competition, has also seen the brand value generated by Moana this year through its growing social media presence, increased crowds and broadcast audiences, and wants to see the club in the 2026 competition.
To lose Moana, a year after the Melbourne Rebels were axed, would be a disastrous marketing story for the commission and would seriously challenge the integrity of the competition’s Pacific branding.
There’s a unanimous desire, therefore, to save the club and continue with the mandate to provide a pathway for Samoan and Tongan players while being a viable, vibrant and high-performance contributor to Super Rugby.
No one is more passionate and determined to fly the flag for Moana than their captain and inspiration, Ardie Savea, who was Super Rugby’s player of the year.
“We talked about rugby dying in New Zealand,” he said after Moana’s stunning win over the Blues this year. “If you look at that tonight, we were certainly alive, and that’s a testament to the team, Tana, and everyone who’s part of the franchise and doing great things for Moana and the game.
“When you wholeheartedly believe in something, you give it your all. That’s me right now being with this team, with Tana [Umaga] alongside the brothers that you could say have come from nothing. They’re certainly showing people they are something. So, for me, it’s more than a game. And that’s when I’ll run through brick walls for them.”
There’s a collective will to save Moana and see it flourish, but that doesn’t guarantee that they will make it to the start line next year.
Having come to the rescue last year when there were serious concerns about Moana’s economic viability, it is understood that PMA is being given the opportunity to show how it can reconfigure its finances and remain Moana’s main owner.
While PMA may now have only a fraction of last year’s operating income, it has a multimillion-dollar property portfolio, and asset sales could be considered.
If PMA cannot present a viable or credible financial plan, it is understood there may already be a consortium of investors willing to step in, as the club builds its brand presence and is a more attractive proposition than it was 12 months ago.
For any private investors to step in now, they would need to believe that the club has the potential to generate enough commercial income in future to lessen or remove their current reliance on other funding streams.
Moana finished seventh this year but still had a chance of reaching the playoffs in the last game of the campaign, after they had earlier beaten the Blues, Crusaders, Hurricanes and Highlanders.
They now have an established home at North Harbour Stadium and saw a 370% lift in attendance in 2025, with a total of 48,000 fans coming to their home games.
They picked up 150,000 new social media followers and found significant numbers of fans in the US and UK. Just last week, they signed former All Black Ngani Laumape as evidence of their newfound appeal to world-class Pasifika talent.
A combination of on-field success, high-profile players and growing audience interest suggests that Moana can now attract more than $1.5m in annual sponsorship, sell significant volumes of merchandise around the world and grow their gate revenue, but that, short-term, they are still going to need other forms of investment to meet their operational costs.
This is where conversations will ultimately focus and intensify, as NZR needs to agree a revenue-sharing agreement with Rugby Australia (RA) once the former has finalised its broadcast deal for 2026-30.
Super Rugby Pacific is a joint-venture agreement between NZR and RA and, under the current terms, the former (which has a broadcast deal worth about $100m a year) pays the latter (whose broadcast deal is worth about A$29m a year) $8m a year, with Moana and the Fijian Drua also receiving payments worth about $3.2m annually.
But NZR cannot be expected to do all the heavy lifting if Moana is to survive.
RA has already finalised its deal for the 2026-30 cycle, which will see its annual broadcast income increase to A$48m a year, while chief executive Phil Waugh has said that the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, which starts this week, will generate enough money to potentially pay off the $80m loan it took from Pacific Equity Partners.
Given the prosperity across the Tasman, it is likely that RA, as a joint shareholder in Super Rugby Pacific, will be leaned on to make an annual financial contribution towards Moana and that its claims of being poverty-ridden will no longer wash.
The argument will be made that, like NZR, RA has an obligation to invest in the greater health of the Pacific region.
So too will World Rugby – which is investing $650m in growing the game between 2024-27 and which pays the major unions about $11m per cycle to compensate them for reduced test schedules every fourth year – be asked to continue investing in two nations that have the potential to be serious contenders at future World Cups.
Some of World Rugby’s concerns are that its investment is not translating to a greater flow of talent from Moana to the national teams of Samoa and Tonga.
Only five Moana players have been named in the Samoa squad for the July tests.
It is believed that World Rugby has asked Moana to reinforce its links and presence in both Samoa and Tonga to justify the investment, and this whole issue of the team’s relationship with the Islands needs to be clarified.
Moana’s original mandate in 2022 was to be an Islands-based team and to gravitate their training and playing base there over time.
It was foreseen that they would predominantly, but not exclusively, pick players from Samoa and Tonga rather than recruiting those already identified and locked into the New Zealand and Australian development systems.
The concept had buy-in from the five New Zealand Super Rugby clubs, although the Blues and Chiefs were both wary that Moana could end up competing for fans, sponsors and players.
That has, at least partly, been borne out, with Moana now based at North Harbour Stadium. They did not play in the Pacific Islands at all this year (there was one game against the Chiefs slated for Tonga, but it was cancelled because of concerns about the floodlights), and the Blues feel they now have another club based in Auckland competing for all the same emerging talent.
Moana’s Under-20 team this year did not contain a single player born in the Islands.
But while there’s a case to be made that Moana has inadvertently morphed into a sixth New Zealand team, the practicalities, logistics and costs of building a greater presence in the Islands are almost insurmountable.
Samoa don’t currently have a fit-for-purpose venue, and the costs of playing in Tonga would far outweigh any returns. Hosting a game there would be a certain loss-maker for Moana.
Without being able to play in the Islands, Moana can’t affordably or practically base themselves there to train.
While there is a large Pasifika population on the West Coast of the US and there have been previous discussions around moving to West Sydney, short-term at least, the club is likely to remain in Auckland, where it is building a growing fan base.
This is both a solution and a problem. While being based in Auckland works for Moana, it is unquestionably stretching New Zealand’s talent pool and further damaging the already precarious finances of the five foundation clubs.
And there may be no solution to the accusation of competing for talent.
World Rugby ran a Pacific Combine last year for players aged 18-23 living in Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, with a view to identifying a cohort of players to induct into a high-performance programme, and to develop them for potential selection into Super Rugby.
But these players have had little previous exposure to high-performance resources. The gap between where they are and where they need to be for Super Rugby is significant and difficult to bridge quickly.
What the combine also confirmed is that the best players from Samoa and Tonga are already in New Zealand by the time they are 15, attracted by educational opportunities.
Moana are having to set their sights further downstream to access the best talent from Samoa and Tonga, something neither the Blues nor Chiefs like or endorse, as they feel this is encroaching on their territory.
But the reality for the Blues and Chiefs – in fact, everyone – to accept is that New Zealand has been a long-term beneficiary of the power imbalance between itself and the Islands. Rugby teams at all levels, up to and including the All Blacks, have accessed the best talent from Samoa, Tonga and Fiji for decades.
The All Blacks squad picked this week contained three players – Samisoni Taukei’aho (Chiefs/Tonga), Samipeni Finau (Chiefs/Tonga), Sevu Reece (Crusaders/Fiji) – who were born and grew up in one of the Island nations and came to New Zealand in their mid-teens to finish their education.
The All Blacks also picked Timoci Tavatavanawai, who played for the Fijian U20 team before coming to New Zealand in search of a professional contract.
Moana have been accused behind closed doors of being predatory and operating outside their original mandate, but it’s fairer to say they have simply had to adapt their approach to fit the realities of what they have encountered since their inception.
Despite the impact Savea made this year, they do not intend to push for a change in their mandate to be able to select more than three current All Blacks.
“We have to be true to mandate,” Moana board chairman Sir Michael Jones said in a recent interview with Stuff.
“So, we are not expecting a tidal wave of Ardie Saveas, or those current All Blacks, to all of a sudden make themselves available.
“But when you have got one-off opportunities, you will always entertain it, as we did this year with Ardie. It’s proved a windfall in every way.
“Everything the players live to represent – the Pasifika values, world view and uniqueness - was what the franchise wants to celebrate and enhance.”
There is obvious concern that it may not be possible to save Moana, but the will to do so is undeniable. If NZR is willing to continue its $3.2m, and RA World Rugby can be persuaded to make similar ongoing contributions, the income gap to be bridged by any new private investor will potentially be achievable, and the club will have a viable long-term economic future.
But the question has to be posed about what the cost of saving Moana will be to New Zealand’s five Super Rugby clubs.
The current situation demonstrates that there is a significant divide between the concept of Moana and the practical execution of Moana.
Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and written several books about sport.
Christian Lio-Willie has been called into the squad as cover.