Sevens facing fraught future as World Rugby Series suffers multimillion-dollar losses

All Blacks Sevens players' dejection is clear after losing to Argentina in the Dubai Sevens semifinals. Photo / Photosport

At this time of year, as summer takes hold, rugby sevens would have once been preparing for its sole annual push for prominence in the congested New Zealand sporting scene.

Instead, not only has New Zealand lost its hosting rights – from the Wellington heyday to Hamilton relocation – but as the World Series grapples with multimillion-dollar losses, sevens appears at a global crossroads.

While the Paris Olympics showcased sevens on an epic scale, and the 2028 Los Angeles Games promises to be a major lure, outside those pinnacle event the variant faces a strained, uncertain future.

The axing of sevens from the significantly scaled-back Commonwealth Games, after the fragile event moved from Melbourne to Glasgow for 2026, was another recent setback. And as questions linger around the relevance of the Commonwealth Games, there are no guarantees sevens will return to that stage.

It’s in the World Series model, though, that the most pressing issues lie.

Since World Rugby assumed ownership to operate a centralised World Series model in 2023, insiders estimate the sevens circuit has lost between £15-£25 million ($33-55m).

Those attending events cite excessive World Rugby staff, all of whom travel first class and stay in five-star accommodation, as a major contributing factor in those deficits, whereas locals used to largely run the events.

In a rugby world where financial prudence is increasingly front of mind, such staggering losses are not sustainable.

In its pomp the sevens World Series featured 11 events. Next year it has been reduced to seven – one fewer than this year after the Madrid finals were ditched from the circuit to cut costs.

While the men’s and women’s sevens scene has never been more competitive, attracting crowds and viewers to the traditional Cup, Shield and Bowl format and long days centred on creating festival atmospheres is proving highly problematic.

Interest in the Olympics is assured but capturing an audience for the annual Dubai tournament is another prospect entirely. That’s the code sevens must crack to carve a sustainable future.

New Zealand Rugby general manager of professional rugby Chris Lendrum has witnessed the World Series struggle in recent years and says there’s no immediate quick fix solutions.

“It’s not dissimilar to the Commonwealth Games in that it needs to evolve,” Lendrum says. “There are clearly challenges.

“We are certainly disappointed to no longer be hosting a tournament in the series. Building connection between our teams and our fans annually was really important. That’s something we still want to work on and see how we can achieve.

“There’s going to be a need to think about how sevens remains relevant commercially and financially. It’s not an easy model to crack. Flying 12 countries, 24 men’s and women’s teams, around the world to play in different tournaments is a really high cost base.”

Hong Kong, Dubai and Perth are strongly performing tournaments but other venues had underwhelming turnouts, leaving the core sevens circuit under huge financial pressure.

“It’s not an easy thing to solve but clearly there needs to be work done to keep it relevant because sevens as a financial and commercial proposition can’t survive off the back of one Olympics and a couple of well-attended tournaments each year. There has to be a rethink about what the rest of the calendar looks like.”

With the 2024/2025 schedule under way, World Rugby has committed to reviewing the World Series hosting rights from 2026 onwards. It’s clear New Zealand is desperate to regain its tournament status.

“That’s a live process and we’re having conversations with them but we’re not clear as to what that might look like,” Lendrum says.

“I know we’ve got the capability and expertise to run a really good international sevens tournament. We don’t need as much support from World Rugby to do that.

“Hamilton in its last few iterations was a break-even proposition. The theme there is local versus central control. Some tournaments will feel the same.

“I’m sure there are ways to remove costs but the fundamental question is how do you grow revenue, eyeballs and fans through the gate. I know that’s an area World Rugby are spending time looking at.”

From a New Zealand perspective, Lendrum says the sevens pathway remains integral to talent development. Sevens differs between men and women both in terms of elite talent and success in recent years, with the latter setting the bar after the Black Ferns Sevens claimed successive Olympic golds in Paris.

Sevens was the first women’s programme to turn professional, which historically led to the abbreviated format capturing New Zealand’s best talent.

While that remains largely true, with 20-year-old sevens star Jorja Miller claiming NZ Rugby’s top gong, the Kelvin R Tremain memorial player of the year, there is much more crossover between the codes, with Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, Tenika Willison, Kelly Brazier, Ruby Tui, Katelyn Vahaakolo and Sarah Hirini among those interchanging in recent seasons.

The impact of the men’s sevens contingent was widespread on this year’s NPC, too. Those performances were rewarded with four players being promoted to Super Rugby Pacific next year, as loose forward Che Clark and outside back Payton Spencer were snapped up by the Blues, wing/halfback Leroy Carter joined the Chiefs and Bay of Plenty finisher Fehi Fineanganofo linked with the Hurricanes.

“It’s a significant part of the pathway,” Lendrum says. “The numbers involved in sevens are smaller but in terms of the experiences of playing, touring, travelling, playing in front of crowds, understanding the pressure to perform and the importance of moments and how they can turn a match, there’s so much that’s valuable.”

While the Black Ferns sevens continue to set standards, the men’s performances draw scrutiny.

Failing to claim a medal at the Paris Olympics – after finishing fifth – resulted in a $1 million funding cut in the latest High Performance Sport NZ distribution for the men’s team.

In their season-opening tournament in Dubai last month, after the retirement of veteran figures Scott Curry, Tim Mikkelson and Sam Dickson, the All Blacks sevens lost to Spain twice.

The men missing the podium at the Paris and Rio Games – they claimed silver in Tokyo – raises the question of whether more elite players should make the switch, and whether NZ Rugby places enough priority on the Olympics compared to the All Blacks.

“It is a real priority,” Lendrum says. “It’s the pinnacle event for New Zealand international teams. We prepare like with any other major event as we would in XVs. We go to win. I know the men didn’t medal in Paris or Rio but when you look at those two performances, they were quite different and the margin in Paris was incredibly fine. We felt the team were primed to perform.”

Antoine Dupont guiding France to Olympic gold and claiming world sevens player of the year forces every nation to ponder how they can maximise their elite XVs talent for the Los Angeles Olympics.

“Antoine Dupont undoubtedly had a big impact and supported France winning that tournament at home. He is widely regarded as one of the best players in the world so you would expect him to have an influence. It would be like having an Olympics in 2008 and putting Dan Carter in the All Blacks Sevens team. I’m sure that would’ve made a difference.”

The switching of XVs players to sevens does not guarantee success, though. New Zealand’s squad at the Rio Olympics boasted Sonny Bill Williams, Akira and Rieko Ioane and Augustine Pulu – yet they finished third in their pool and lost the quarter-final to Fiji.

“There are several examples of where that integration hasn’t worked as well. It is a slightly different game; a different fitness, rhythm, to it. It’s not conducive for everybody,” Lendrum says.

The LA Olympics take place the year after the men’s Rugby World Cup in Australia, which could be ideal timing for All Blacks like Will Jordan — who has previously flirted with the sevens scene — seeking to chase a medal.

“The challenge we have is where it falls in a cycle for us. XVs is still the financial and career best pathway for our players in the men’s game.

“Although the Olympics is a potentially attractive proposition when it occurs six or nine months into a new World Cup cycle, it’s challenging for some of our best players to give up on an opportunity to stake their claim for the All Blacks.

“How integrated do those players need to be? Do you have to come out of Super Rugby entirely or can you move between the two programmes as Dupont did with Toulouse and the French sevens team?

“Those are questions we will continue to challenge ourselves on. I don’t believe we’ve got it 100% right. We’ve learnt through three Olympics around the men’s team. In the end, if there were one or two leading All Blacks who wanted to have a crack at sevens in LA in 2028, it’s about having discussions early with those players, identifying who they are and building a plan.

“The players must want to play – we’re not going to force anyone to play at the Olympics.

“LA will be really attractive to our men’s and women’s players. An American Olympics will be enormous. We’ll start having those conversations over the next six to 12 months.”

The Olympics, as long as sevens retains pride of place on that grand stage, will remain the sport’s prime lure.

Sevens' ability to carve a sustainable financial future with its struggling yearly circuit is, however, much more fraught.

Liam Napier has been a sports journalist since 2010, and his work has taken him to World Cups in rugby, netball and cricket, boxing world title fights and Commonwealth Games.