New Zealand 2 will deal a massive blow to NZ rugby

[Vibing]

Just the usual post from you, no imagination, no style, no class, no sense, no intelligence... just so damn limited. You're just so... sad.

says the forum f**kwit
I'm devastated

 

[Te Kaha]

I'm devastated

I know. I'm sure it must be hard being as ignorant and limited as you are.

 

[Vibing]

I know. I'm sure it must be hard being as ignorant and limited as you are.

 

[Te Kaha]

And as if there was any doubt of NZ2 being dead. Even corporate NZ doesn't want it.

Business of Sport: indifference kills off NZ NRL expansion hopes

It should be a no-brainer, but the odds of another New Zealand franchise becoming the 18th club in the National Rugby League are diminishing by the week.And str...

businessdesk.co.nz

It should be a no-brainer, but the odds of another New Zealand franchise becoming the 18th club in the National Rugby League are diminishing by the week. And strangely, they are shrinking due to a lack of corporate interest on this side of the Tasman. With the successful introduction this season of the latest expansion team, the Dolphins, which ended the Broncos’ monopoly of league-mad Brisbane, the National Rugby League (NRL) has a swagger in its step. The Dolphins, under the tutelage of master coach Wayne Bennett, drew a crowd of 32,000-plus for their debut game and then 51,047 for their first-ever local derby against the Broncos. They were also responsible for the Warriors’ biggest home crowd this season (24,000). What’s interesting about the inaugural Dolphins squad is that it’s chock-full of NZ-born players. “I don’t think I’ve ever called a game where all players … from five-eighth to (lock) were all New Zealand born and that’s an Australian-based club,” said veteran Fox Sports commentator Andrew Voss after a recent Dolphins triumph. For Voss, that makes the decision on where to place the 18th franchise, a conversation that will ramp up at the end of this year, an obvious one. “A second team in New Zealand, for mine, is a must and I would rather it be sooner than later, I think now is the time to strike.” Regular readers of this column will know I have long advocated a Christchurch-based franchise for that next expansion tick against bids from Perth, Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney and even Port Moresby. Sadly, ‘Vossy’ and I are not going to get our wish. Indifference kills the moment The failure of a meaningful consortium of credible business operators to step forward with a compelling vision to sell the NRL on a second NZ franchise has all but killed off any chance of Christchurch or anywhere else in Aotearoa hosting the 18th team.
Initially, when talk of a second expansion club in NZ first surfaced a decade ago, it was all centred around the Wellington-based Orcas syndicate, which had mainly been driven by former NZ Rugby League (NZRL) chair Andrew Chalmers. Neither Chalmers nor the Orcas have resurfaced in recent times. Hopes the Crusaders organisation might step outside the box and form a joint venture to bid for a franchise, which could be a co-anchor tenant at the new Christchurch indoor stadium, went nowhere. The failure of anybody within NZ to chase the licensing opportunity boxes the NRL into a corner. It would require them to ignore other cities with active and meaningful campaigns in return for wet-nursing something into creation over here. NRL insiders that the Business of Sport have spoken to said that’s never going to happen. The more likely scenario is NZ will soon disappear as a contender for the 18th licence, likely to be issued in 2025.

 

[Vibing]

And as if there was any doubt of NZ2 being dead. Even corporate NZ doesn't want it.

Business of Sport: indifference kills off NZ NRL expansion hopes

It should be a no-brainer, but the odds of another New Zealand franchise becoming the 18th club in the National Rugby League are diminishing by the week.And str...

businessdesk.co.nz

It should be a no-brainer, but the odds of another New Zealand franchise becoming the 18th club in the National Rugby League are diminishing by the week. And strangely, they are shrinking due to a lack of corporate interest on this side of the Tasman. With the successful introduction this season of the latest expansion team, the Dolphins, which ended the Broncos’ monopoly of league-mad Brisbane, the National Rugby League (NRL) has a swagger in its step. The Dolphins, under the tutelage of master coach Wayne Bennett, drew a crowd of 32,000-plus for their debut game and then 51,047 for their first-ever local derby against the Broncos. They were also responsible for the Warriors’ biggest home crowd this season (24,000). What’s interesting about the inaugural Dolphins squad is that it’s chock-full of NZ-born players. “I don’t think I’ve ever called a game where all players … from five-eighth to (lock) were all New Zealand born and that’s an Australian-based club,” said veteran Fox Sports commentator Andrew Voss after a recent Dolphins triumph. For Voss, that makes the decision on where to place the 18th franchise, a conversation that will ramp up at the end of this year, an obvious one. “A second team in New Zealand, for mine, is a must and I would rather it be sooner than later, I think now is the time to strike.” Regular readers of this column will know I have long advocated a Christchurch-based franchise for that next expansion tick against bids from Perth, Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney and even Port Moresby. Sadly, ‘Vossy’ and I are not going to get our wish. Indifference kills the moment The failure of a meaningful consortium of credible business operators to step forward with a compelling vision to sell the NRL on a second NZ franchise has all but killed off any chance of Christchurch or anywhere else in Aotearoa hosting the 18th team.
Initially, when talk of a second expansion club in NZ first surfaced a decade ago, it was all centred around the Wellington-based Orcas syndicate, which had mainly been driven by former NZ Rugby League (NZRL) chair Andrew Chalmers. Neither Chalmers nor the Orcas have resurfaced in recent times. Hopes the Crusaders organisation might step outside the box and form a joint venture to bid for a franchise, which could be a co-anchor tenant at the new Christchurch indoor stadium, went nowhere. The failure of anybody within NZ to chase the licensing opportunity boxes the NRL into a corner. It would require them to ignore other cities with active and meaningful campaigns in return for wet-nursing something into creation over here. NRL insiders that the Business of Sport have spoken to said that’s never going to happen. The more likely scenario is NZ will soon disappear as a contender for the 18th licence, likely to be issued in 2025.

article commissioned by an unzud wugby mouth piece

 

[Te Kaha]

article commissioned by an unzud wugby mouth piece

Do you ever get tired of being wrong? I suppose it's just a habit for you now.

Trevor McKewen Business of Sports Columnist Trevor has an extensive and varied sporting career including stints in journalism and sports administration. On the latter, he has been the CEO of the Warriors NRL franchise and held senior executive positions at New Zealand Rugby and Super League. Trevor has also been head of sport for Fairfax Media (now Stuff) and NZME as well as performing consultancy works for MediaWorks and Sky TV.

 

[Vibing]

Do you ever get tired of being wrong? I suppose it's just a habit for you now.

Trevor McKewen Business of Sports Columnist Trevor has an extensive and varied sporting career including stints in journalism and sports administration. On the latter, he has been the CEO of the Warriors NRL franchise and held senior executive positions at New Zealand Rugby and Super League. Trevor has also been head of sport for Fairfax Media (now Stuff) and NZME as well as performing consultancy works for MediaWorks and Sky TV.

a consultant for a company part owned by unzud wugby
nuff said co^ckhead

nuff said

 

[Te Kaha]

a consultant for a company part owned by unzud wugby
nuff said co^ckhead

nuff said

Guess you missed this part "he has been the CEO of the Warriors " ... All that shows is you REALLY don't know what you are talking about. Hardly surprising, but to admit you don't know is a big step for you.

 

[Vibing]

Guess you missed this part "he has been the CEO of the Warriors " ... All that shows is you REALLY don't know what you are talking about. Hardly surprising, but to admit you don't know is a big step for you.

has been

& is now a consultant for a comapny part owned by unzud wugby ..... didn't miss that bit did I twat

 

[Vibing]

talk about an agenda .. seessshhh

 

[Te Kaha]

has been

& is now a consultant for a comapny part owned by unzud wugby ..... didn't miss that bit did I twat

"comapny" .. sheesh

So that is no, you don't get tired of being wrong.

Being paid by Sky, which is only 5% owned by NZR, as a consultant about sports management, trumps being the guy who has been pushing for NZ2 for years, is a passionate League supporter, and former CEO at the Warriors in your eyes?

f**k you are so very stupid.

 

[Vibing]

"comapny" .. sheesh

So that is no, you don't get tired of being wrong.

Being paid by Sky, which is only 5% owned by NZR, as a consultant about sports management, trumps being the guy who has been pushing for NZ2 for years, is a passionate League supporter, and former CEO at the Warriors in your eyes?

f**k you are so very stupid.

so
hes paid by Sky which is part owned by unzud wugby
which is exactly what I said

being right just comes naturally to me

 

[Te Kaha]

so
hes paid by Sky which is part owned by unzud wugby
which is exactly what I said

being right just comes naturally to me

If you actually believe that NZR commissioned Trever McKewen to write this as an "anti NZ2 article", you are seriously more stupid and deluded than even I could previously believe.

The simple truth is, he is a passionate League supporter who writes for a site called the "Business of sport". He actually knows a thing or two about the "Business of sport" after being a Warriors CEO.
He has the knowledge and contacts to know what he is talking about.

The fact that you are so in denial, acting like a four year old, stamping his feet holding his fingers in his ears and denying what is patently obvious, is both ridiculously sad and incredibly funny.

 

[Vibing]

If you actually believe that NZR commissioned Trever McKewen to write this as an "anti NZ2 article", you are seriously more stupid and deluded than even I could previously believe.

The simple truth is, he is a passionate League supporter who writes for a site called the "Business of sport". He actually knows a thing or two about the "Business of sport" after being a Warriors CEO.
He has the knowledge and contacts to know what he is talking about.

The fact that you are so in denial, acting like a four year old, stamping his feet holding his fingers in his ears and denying what is patently obvious, is both ridiculously sad and incredibly funny.

If you don't believe it
you're a dumb c*^*t & wading through a river in Africa

 

[Te Kaha]

If you don't believe it
you're a dumb c*^*t & wading through a river in Africa

Wow... you really are that stupid. It's a good thing your delusions don't matter.

I'm going to post it again so it's not lost in your deluded ranting.

And as if there was any doubt of NZ2 being dead. Even corporate NZ doesn't want it.

Business of Sport: indifference kills off NZ NRL expansion hopes

It should be a no-brainer, but the odds of another New Zealand franchise becoming the 18th club in the National Rugby League are diminishing by the week.And str...

businessdesk.co.nz

It should be a no-brainer, but the odds of another New Zealand franchise becoming the 18th club in the National Rugby League are diminishing by the week. And strangely, they are shrinking due to a lack of corporate interest on this side of the Tasman. With the successful introduction this season of the latest expansion team, the Dolphins, which ended the Broncos’ monopoly of league-mad Brisbane, the National Rugby League (NRL) has a swagger in its step. The Dolphins, under the tutelage of master coach Wayne Bennett, drew a crowd of 32,000-plus for their debut game and then 51,047 for their first-ever local derby against the Broncos. They were also responsible for the Warriors’ biggest home crowd this season (24,000). What’s interesting about the inaugural Dolphins squad is that it’s chock-full of NZ-born players. “I don’t think I’ve ever called a game where all players … from five-eighth to (lock) were all New Zealand born and that’s an Australian-based club,” said veteran Fox Sports commentator Andrew Voss after a recent Dolphins triumph. For Voss, that makes the decision on where to place the 18th franchise, a conversation that will ramp up at the end of this year, an obvious one. “A second team in New Zealand, for mine, is a must and I would rather it be sooner than later, I think now is the time to strike.” Regular readers of this column will know I have long advocated a Christchurch-based franchise for that next expansion tick against bids from Perth, Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney and even Port Moresby. Sadly, ‘Vossy’ and I are not going to get our wish. Indifference kills the moment The failure of a meaningful consortium of credible business operators to step forward with a compelling vision to sell the NRL on a second NZ franchise has all but killed off any chance of Christchurch or anywhere else in Aotearoa hosting the 18th team.
Initially, when talk of a second expansion club in NZ first surfaced a decade ago, it was all centred around the Wellington-based Orcas syndicate, which had mainly been driven by former NZ Rugby League (NZRL) chair Andrew Chalmers. Neither Chalmers nor the Orcas have resurfaced in recent times. Hopes the Crusaders organisation might step outside the box and form a joint venture to bid for a franchise, which could be a co-anchor tenant at the new Christchurch indoor stadium, went nowhere. The failure of anybody within NZ to chase the licensing opportunity boxes the NRL into a corner. It would require them to ignore other cities with active and meaningful campaigns in return for wet-nursing something into creation over here. NRL insiders that the Business of Sport have spoken to said that’s never going to happen. The more likely scenario is NZ will soon disappear as a contender for the 18th licence, likely to be issued in 2025.

 

[Vibing]

Wow... you really are that stupid. It's a good thing your delusions don't matter.

I'm going to post it again so it's not lost in your deluded ranting.

post it 100 times
all it shows is you're a clueless wanker

but
thats not news to anyone

 

[Perth Red]

Well as we suspected looks like we can put a line through that. There’s a reason the nrl hasnt mentioned nz2 as a possible 18th club I suppose.

there’s always the north Sydney Christchurch bears I suppose?

 

[Vibing]

Well as we suspected looks like we can put a line through that. There’s a reason the nrl hasnt mentioned nz2 as a possible 18th club I suppose.

there’s always the north Sydney Christchurch bears I suppose?

says the clown desperate for the Perth Butt Pirates to get the 18th License
yea

nah

 

[Gobsmacked]

Wow... you really are that stupid. It's a good thing your delusions don't matter.

I'm going to post it again so it's not lost in your deluded ranting.

I love the irony in calling everyone stupid while simultaneously engaging with "Vibing" for your dumb.. no you're dumb..no you're dumb. For infinite pages. Ar this point I'm convinced you're both about 10 years old, any older and that’s embarrassing.
Complete spastics.

 

[Te Kaha]

I love the irony in calling everyone stupid while simultaneously engaging with "Vibing" for your dumb.. no you're dumb..no you're dumb. For infinite pages. Ar this point I'm convinced you're both about 10 years old, any older and that’s embarrassing.
Complete spastics.

Awwwww feeling left out?

And no comment on yet ANOTHER article correctly stating NZ2 is dead?...

How about this one, explaining why Super Rugby crowds are down. And Guess what... it has nothing to do with your repetitive and erroneous claim of the game dying.

Crap food, expensive beer and bad music: This is Super Rugby's biggest failure

OPINION: Super Rugby appeals to fans. The idea of watching at the stadium doesn’t.

www.nzherald.co.nz

Super Rugby has been a victim of hubris, greed and internecine politics, and with the mixed picture emerging around this year’s audience numbers, so too is it a victim of New Zealand’s chronic failure to modernise the live experience of being at games.

This failure extends to a lack of investment in infrastructure, a refusal to see fans as anything other than cash cows to be milked and an archaic belief that the experience should only cater for the knuckle-dragging, traditional Kiwi male.

Sooner or later, someone will realise that people don’t go to Super Rugby games because they think the competition is rubbish, but because the experience of being at the stadium is.

There were flawed logic claims midway through the tournament that the thousands of empty seats at most games were exclusively the result of Super Rugby’s perennial mismatches, confusing rules and endless driving mauls.

But the thousands of empty seats are not illustrative of a dying sport, but of one being hurt by its decision to put all its eggs in the broadcast basket.

Super Rugby Pacific saw uplifts in its TV audience this year, suggesting that the product appeals to fans, but that the idea of watching at the stadium doesn’t.

Super Rugby has been catered to TV audiences more than crowds in recent years. Photo / Getty Images
Rugby is paying a price for handing so much control to the execs of TV-land who have signed the giant cheques on which the sport has become so reliant.

Everything host broadcaster Sky TV has ever wanted it’s been able to extract, and while rugby bosses are at pains to stress that they have failed to put the fan at the forefront of their decision-making in recent years, that’s not true.

The living room fan has had everything they could possibly have desired: every game live, mostly at times that work for them and with clever hardware that can record what they miss.


The electronics industry has done its bit to enhance the experience by bringing the price of high-tech TVs down to be comparable with a season ticket and Sky has pitched in by (finally) embracing streaming so all anyone needs to bring rugby into their homes is a good wi-fi package.

How much better off the living room fan is now compared with 30 years ago is almost too hard to comprehend.

Back in the early 1990s, TVNZ had one live NPC game on a Sunday and so the shift from analogue to satellite to digital has revolutionised the broadcast experience.

It has also radically transformed NZR’s balance sheet as putting the living room fan front and centre of their thinking has been lucrative for the national body – it nets them $100m a year from Sky, which having been the content rights owner of all rugby since 1996, has pumped more than $1bn into the professional game.

But while the living room fan now enjoys a modern rugby experience, a day at the stadium in 2023 looks much the same as it did in 1993.

Fans are served the same old tired formula of overpriced beer, seats in the rain, crap food, bad music pumped into every stoppage and a half-witted stadium announcer screaming at them to have a good time.


NZR’s head of professional rugby Chris Lendrum said this week that it is a worldwide battle for sporting codes to get fans into stadiums.

But the growth in attendance numbers out of the English Premiership, the NFL, AFL and even the NRL, where there has been sustained investment in facilities and the fan experience, suggest that is simply not true.

The situation in Super Rugby is not part of a wider sporting malaise, but a specific, localised problem.

In the professional age NZR has had no financial need to care about the stadium experience.

The big money comes from its broadcast contract, and unlike its Six Nations rivals, it hasn’t made a capital investment in its own stadium and burdened itself with debt.

While lowering stadium debt has been a perennial worry for the likes of England, Ireland and Scotland, it has had the upside of acutely focusing minds on the need to fill seats and keep people coming back.

NZR, on the other hand, has had the luxury of knowing that it barely needs to market All Blacks tests or do more than the bare minimum to jazz up the live experience, because people have unconditional love for the team and are driven to games by loyalty and perhaps even a sense of duty.


Stadium fans know they are not the priority but each year they come in their droves and NZR banks about $25m of ticket revenue.

Super Rugby doesn’t have the same indefatigable pull as the national team, and nor does it have any voice at the broadcast negotiation table to fight for kick-off times that work for them.

Teams barely have a say in the competition scheduling – they just wait to be told who they are playing when and where, which leaves them with little to no independent means to redefine the stadium experience.

The clubs, who derive anything up to 40 per cent of their revenue from ticket sales, are victims of NZR’s control-all business model and the prioritisation of broadcast needs.

But while NZR is guilty of neglecting the stadium fan, it is by no means singly culpable in this regard.

It has been aided and abetted by civic leaders who have no vision and no idea how to build a suite of fit-for purpose stadiums that cater for different sporting and entertainment needs.

This problem is most acute in Auckland and to a lesser extent Wellington, where the Blues and Hurricanes rattle around in all-purpose stadiums that are far too big and wrongly shaped for their needs.

If Auckland had a boutique, fully covered, rectangular stadium serviced by strong public transport links, people might start drifting back to Blues games.

A night at the footy might grab the imagination – feel less of an ordeal and more rewarding.

It would help, too, if there was some sense that not everyone in the stadium was out to fleece them.

That’s the bit that really grates with fans – that stadiums work on the same principle as airports that its users are captive and therefore can be exploited without fear of recrimination.

Airports can get away with this because demand for travel is insatiable, but people will put up with a lot to make it to Australia – more certainly than they will to keep watching the Blues.

Stadium fans need to feel wanted and cared for and that’s going to take investment in infrastructure and the implementation of a new plan that says rugby can win a major broadcast contract and have full stadiums.

There is no need to choose between the two.