Rugby: Heavyweights want bigger slice of Cup pie

Steve Tew. Photo / Greg Bowker

Major rugby nations will begin their assault on the IRB's coffers this month when they try to arrange a massive compensation package to be paid out in World Cup years.

The 10 Tier One Nations - Tri Nations, Six Nations and Argentina - estimate that, by not playing June or November tests, they incur combined losses of close to $100 million in World Cup years. The Sanzar nations are harder hit as they have to truncate the Tri Nations every four years, further reducing their gate income.

The New Zealand Rugby Union believes it loses about $12 million in World Cup years which is why it is supporting a Sanzar proposal to push back the Cup a month to an October-November window from 2015.

The major unions voted in 2005 to lock the World Cup, from 2007 on, into a September-October window. However, by holding that position in the calendar, the World Cup has compromised the ability of the Sanzar countries to play a full Four Nations (including Argentina).

In 2015, with Super Rugby possibly comprising 16 teams or more, the tournament will run through until mid or possibly late July.

That doesn't leave enough time to play a full Tri Nations - where each team plays the other three home and away - before the World Cup kicks off. With no June tests either, gate revenue is massively down for the Sanzar nations every fourth year.

"The World Cup is the biggest event in the sport and yet all the major unions have to budget to make losses in the year of the tournament," says NZRU chief executive Steve Tew. "That surely doesn't make any sense."

Shifting the tournament will create the opportunity to at least offset some of those losses by extending the Four Nations - but the major unions are also going to use this month's conference into the financial future of rugby to push for a major compensation package from the IRB.

The 'Big 10' will argue that it is untenable to expect the very nations who do most to generate the hundreds of millions of dollars at the World Cup to incur heavy losses in the process.

At the end of last year, the IRB agreed to increase the participation fee to the 'Big 10'. Previously they had been paid a token 250,000 for attending the World Cup. They will receive 1 million this year and in the future. The major unions will be looking for a compensation figure at least as big, if not bigger.

New Zealand had to pay a hosting fee of 48 million to host this year's World Cup, but England had to guarantee 80 million to win the 2015 hosting rights; Japan 96 million for the 2019 event.

"Just like us [NZRU], the IRB has reserves, but again, just like us, they have a policy around those reserves," says Tew. "We will be discussing arrangements at the conference."

The Sanzar nations may struggle to gain the full support of their Northern Hemisphere colleagues to shift future tournaments. The major unions in the north are on board with the big push for compensation but their season is not so compromised by the current position of the World Cup.

They still play a full Six Nations
in World Cup years. While they
miss out on hosting November tests, much of that lost income is replaced
by hosting warm-up tests.

If the Sanzar nations fail, it may be the catalyst for a more aggressive stance in pushing for a more equitable revenue-sharing scheme.

The All Blacks in particular feel cheated that they help the likes of England, France, Wales and Ireland fill their stadiums every November and receive no payment, while in return, the Northern Hemisphere nations have been guilty of sending half-strength teams down here in June.

A concessionary measure was signed off last year, with the north agreeing to commit to three-test series from 2012 in an attempt to inject more life into the June window.

But, longer term, the Sanzar nations want a fairer system where all gate revenue is distributed in a way that more accurately reflects the standing of each country.

"At some stage, we may have to be more militant about the June window," says Tew. "But we are not going to the conference with any premeditated ideas."