Latest / Best of Business / Steve Lancaster: NZ Rugby CEO on how the company can bring down the All Blacks' travel bill

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Steve Lancaster: NZ Rugby CEO on how the company can bring down the All Blacks' travel bill · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk zed B.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Follow this and our Wide Ranger podcast now on iHeartRadio Now.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: There is a call for New Zealand Rugby to consider
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: dropping the All Blacks and all the premium teams back
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: from business class into premium economy to save money. Dropping
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: all the teams in black back a class would save
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: six million dollars a year, which would almost wipe out
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: the seven million dollar loss in the last financial year
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: for Zita. Steve Lancaster is Inzida's CEO. Hi Steve, Hi,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Heather Steve. This is silly, isn't it. I mean, you
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: can't have two met to long men sitting in premium
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: economy for a trip to South Africa.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Can you excuse the pun? But it would be a
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: bit of a stretch, It would be hard.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: But even if like to be fair, even if they
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: aren't enormous men, even just you're asking somebody to do
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: a job, you're flying them literally halfway around the world.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: You've got to put them in business class, don't you.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: That's right, and we're not just doing it once. Right,
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: The All Blacks carry a huge load for us, and
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: not just applying for the All Blacks. But of course
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: they play in Super Rugby through the first part of
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: the year as well, and so we're not just sending
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: them halfway across the world and need putting them there.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: We're traveling them, flying them multiple times over long distances.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: So yeah, this is not this is not a consideration
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: for us.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Are there any teams who you have that don't fly
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: in business class?
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: Yep, So our amateur teams don't fly in business class.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: There are times when our SEVENS programs don't. So we
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: have a we have a budget for the SEVENS program
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: and once that's tapped out in terms of them traveling
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: business class, then we have a conversation with them in
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: ther Pa about what what class they travel to make.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: That So would amateur include the under twenties.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the under twenties. It also includes the under eighty
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: fives who have just returned from Sri Lanka traveled economy
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Maori all blacks, Mario all blacks and that and that
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: group is.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: All travel economy as well.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: I know premium, So we have a mixed right across
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: the teams of economy, premium, economy, business class, depending on
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: the team.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: You guys, though, must be seeing that this is costing
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: an enormous amount of money now, like even more than normal.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: So is it true that you're you're pursuing a deal
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: with maybe Emirates to try and get a contra.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Look, I mean, I don't want to talk about any
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: of our commercial arrangements, but to your your comment that
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: we are spending an enormous amount of money, that's true.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: Like we are. We are seeing the cost of IF
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: is going up and up and up, and we're monitoring that.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: But we've just got to balance that with our business
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: needs and not make needy reactions that might have a
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: performance consequence.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Are you maybe sending too many people overseas? I mean
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: in some cases, like how big is how big is
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: the squad that you're sending to South Africa players and
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: then non players?
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Well, there'll be forty four players and then the management
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: group is going to be around twenty five or so I.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Should rush sixty too many?
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Isn't it seven games? They're playing midweek games? So right
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: when in terms of players, we know that even if
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: no one gets injured, we're going to have to manage
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: them across that campaign. And having that many players to
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: manage you need you need an extra physio. You know
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: you need extra com stuff like a tour of that
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: magnitude just in whoms are Keeping people fit, healthy and
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: on song requires more support.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Hey, listen, thank you for coming and appreciate it.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: Thanks having me Steve.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Lancaster inz our CEO. It's not going to happen. They're
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: not going to be sitting next to you in cattle class,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: so we'll just have to dream on.
• 3:09
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• 3:12
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• 3:15
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