Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Tony Philp: Hurricanes Interim CEO on the change of leadership at the club

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Tony Philp: Hurricanes Interim CEO on the change of leadership at the club · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So the Hurricanes are going to start the new season
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: with a different ownership model, and the change follows the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Wellington Rugby sale of its fifty percent stake in the club.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: So what does this mean for fans and what does
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: it mean what can we expect to see at ground level?
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I've got online interim Hurricanes CEO Tony Phelp who joins me.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Hello, Tony, get out Andrew, good morning, how are you
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: very good?
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: So what's the new model?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: It's it's exciting ownership model where we've got Malcolm Gillies
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: and John and Peter with d s I who brought
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: fifty percent of the years from Wellington Rugby.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Right and who owns the other fifty percent? Just to
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: keep everybody in line?
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, We've we've got still existing owners made up
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: of private ownership with a group called hy eleven. We've
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: also got ended our contribution and support from them as
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: well as some provincial Union board members. So between all
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: of that, we feel like we've got a really exciting and.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Balanced Okay, now, the Wellington Union sold their shares because
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the franchise had racked up two million dollars worth of losses.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: So my question is will this new ownership fix the
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: situation and why is the franchise losing so much money?
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: So I think it's as we all know, rugby's had
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: a difficult few years and you know, there's certainly some
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: opportunities here for the club moving forward to be able
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: to settle the financial reality of the club and take
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: it into the future with thinking a little bit differently
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: about the game and how we continue to engage our
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: community and our fans and get people to the stadium
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: and you know, continue to support our loyal commercial partners
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: through playing some exciting rugby on the field.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Of course, and that is that is that is that's
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: the base level. Does the Gillies and Code the new owners,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: do they have any bright new ideas?
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: As we all know about the Hurricanes, You know, we
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: dare to be different and certainly Malcolm, John and Peter
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: and our border thinking differently about how we you know,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: show rugby to the public both on and off the field.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: And you know it's fair to say that Malcolm in
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: particular is bringing some innovative thoughts and ideas to our game,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: which I think is exciting overall.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Will the fans see any change, Yeah, I.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Think they'll see Yeah, they'll see an exciting brand of
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: rugby first and foremost, and you know, we can really
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: harbor the stadium to be innovative around how we can
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: allow it to be a really great event for people
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: to attend and come along to and feel like they're
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: part of it. And you know, from a club point
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: of view, we're putting lots of energy and tension into
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: the community and engageing with our community. And as you know,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: our region is as vast and we've got a game
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: up in Napier which we're excited about and as well
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: as the Stadium of Wellington and we're looking to get
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: up to Partmerston North and our bye week and connect
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: with the community out there.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Well Tony, we wish you are the very best of
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Like Tony, philpers the interim Hurricanes ce.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan and Bridge, listen
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: live to News Talks it be from five am weekdays,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.