Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Elliott Smith: Newstalk ZB Rugby Journalist on the clash between NZ Rugby and INEOS

Transcript

Elliott Smith: Newstalk ZB Rugby Journalist on the clash between NZ Rugby and INEOS · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now New Zealand Rugby has entered a legal battle with
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: its major sponsor Anios. They say Anios have failed to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: make the first sponsorship payment of twenty twenty five and
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: they're trying to exit their six year contract three years early.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: ZBI rugby commentator Elliott Smith is with me now, Good
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: morning Elliott.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Good morning Francesca.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: So as the spot on the front of the AB
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: shirt no longer has coveted as it once was.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Well, I think there's certainly elements of that in terms
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: of just being a tough time for marketing in sports
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: and getting value out of that dollar, but also in
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: the OUs their commercial revenue has been eaten up in
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Europe and they are looking for a way to save cost.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Have now got to try and find a New America's
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Cup team that they're going to try and fund. They've
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: got the Manchester United now as well, and the squeeze
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: has really come on at Sports the sports portfolio to
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: try and save some money. So I think they've gone Actually,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: in New Zealand, we could probably flick that off and
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: save a bit of money there eight to ten million
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: New Zealand dollars a year. We can get rid of
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: that New Zealand Rugby said no, you've got a commercial
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: contract with us, and that's where the stalemate meets at
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: the moment.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: So that eight million, that was eight million per year,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: not in the not for the total of the six.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Years, not for the total of six years. So someone
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: in the facility of eight to ten million dollars a
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: year that New Zealand Rugby had agreed with Anios yere
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: that's substantial.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Is this really a case though, of them not us?
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, have the All Blacks has New Zealand Rugby
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: I should say, looked after this partnership well enough.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Well, look, having been around a lot of All Blacks events,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: you see the Innios branding on the All Blacks clothing,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: you see it a lot of sidelines of games, the
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Anios logo. The year I've been at training runs around
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: the world, including London where a lot of the Inios
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: companies are based, and you've seen a lot of Ineos
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: representatives on the touch line there and been welcomed in there.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: So in terms of trying to get that commercial dollar
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: and showing the opportun unities there and leveraging that, I
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: think New Zealand Rugby's done plenty to open the door
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: and the OS would say they could have always done more.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: But seeing a statement from any OS overnight, they're very
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: much blaming a commercial downturn in Europe and petrochemical companies
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: feeling the squeeze in Europe for the decision not to
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: go not to pay this payment that they were owed
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: to New Zealand Rugby. They said that to New Zealand
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Rugby to try and hammer out an agreement. Didn't come
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: to that from New Zealand Rugby. New Zealand Rugby weren't
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: interested so very much on a commercial side, it says
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: in the OS are blaming the fact they don't have
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: the money at the moment to try and meet those
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: payment that they agreed to with New Zealand Rugby.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: How long could it take to secure a new sponsorship contract.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Well, these things are in play for nearly two years,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: is my understanding. When they go out to tender, the
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: negotiations are hammered out. Whether you're get in front of
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: the jersey a spot on the shorts, what kind of
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: financials are involved, what kind of commercial obligations to RUF
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: from New Zealand's side in terms of tickets to matches
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: or hospitality, player appearances, promotions, everything like that. It can
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: take close to two years. So if they're not getting
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: eight million dollars this year from in the OS, it's
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: hard to see them making up in the short term.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: There aren't as we know, there's a big business turn
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: don't downturn around a lot of the globe. They're not
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: killing up to sponsor sports of any shape at the moment,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: so it's going to take a lot for New Zealand
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Rugby to try and replace this, especially at short notice.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: In you remember as well, their agreement with Ford came
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: to an end the end of last year as well,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: or earlier this year or at some point this year.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: So there's a couple of financial holes and shortfalls that
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: New Zealand Rugby's got to meet at a time when
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: you know the pressure is going on the community game.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: They're looking for new revenue streams. They've lost two that
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: they are expecting, certainly one that are expecting in their
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: bank accounts. You know, from January first.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Elliott Smith, thank you so much for talking us through that.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: to News Talks itt B from five a m.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,