Thanks mate, love a bit of bad news for the union, btw, the loss was 36.8m, not nitpicking, just revelling in the fact that every dollar lost is one step closer to insolvency.
The following clear-eyed article is by SMH union reporter Paul Cully:
Rugby Australia is right to celebrate the cash bonanza from a Lions tour and a home world cup. But it needs on-field results, too.
www.smh.com.au
In the latest Rugby Australia annual report, Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh trumpets the fact they have secured an increase of about 40 per cent in the new broadcast deal with Nine, the publisher of this masthead, making it valued at up to $240 million.
It’s easy to strip about $50 million out of that figure, however. The free advertising component of the deal amounts to about $30 million over five years, reducing the cash amount to $210 million, and subtract a further $25 million if the Wallabies and the Super Rugby sides don’t meet certain performance criteria.
In other words, the $240 million deal “value” is actually $185 million in real terms, with the potential of rising to $210 million if Australian rugby shoots the lights out over the next five-year period.
That is a far different figure to the one presented – far more sobering – but it is actually a far more helpful one for Australian rugby fans trying to make sense of the seemingly contradictory signals that keep emerging.
But the reality is that Lolesio’s exit is a sign that RA is involved in an ongoing struggle to live within its means on the back of a $36.8 million deficit in 2024.
The absorption of the Waratahs and the Brumbies into RA also clouds the longer-term picture. While RA was keen to point out the “one-off costs” involved in bringing them under the RA umbrella, it remains to be seen whether they’ll be a persistent cost burden.
Who makes money in Super Rugby? The Reds, the Drua (with healthy support from DFAT, NZ Rugby and World Rugby) and whoever hosts the final, which was the Blues last year.
Apart from that, it’s a yearly challenge for the clubs to wash their faces – the Hurricanes have lost $NZ2.1 million ($1.97 million) in the past two years, so it’s possible that the Waratahs and the Brumbies will weigh heavily on RA’s bottom line in the coming years.
It’s hard to see Australian rugby getting off the financial tightrope any time soon.
Cully fails to mention the $8m that Oz union won`t be getting off the Kiwis` due to the reduction in the latter`s broadcast deal and on-going losses. Tightrope indeed.
