For sale.

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) are looking to sell the All Blacks jersey to an investor overseas, in a groundbreaking, unprecedented, yet likely highly controversial deal that could earn the organisation more than $300 million, according to the NZ Herald.

NZR are reportedly trying to seek its entire portfolio of jersey sponsorship rights, which would include the All Blacks, Black Ferns, Sevens, Māori and the Under-20s team, to a single investor as the cash-strapped union looks to raise some serious funds.

The investor would likely be a major US company or potentially a Japanese advertising agency according to the report in a move that would certainly raise a few eyebrows. The agency would then on-sell the rights to specific companies that want to put their name on the team’s jerseys.

Sponsorship is generally one of the biggest sources of income for any sporting organisation and with current jersey sponsor AIG, which has naming rights to all the national teams, not renewing its current deal which expires in 2021 – it appears NZR are desperate for a big cash injection.

The union recently announced a $7.5m loss for 2019 and it is expected that nearly 50 per cent of its 180 fulltime jobs are set to be lost.

NZR chief commercial officer Richard Thomas says a proposal is ready to take to market.

“Our view is that we need to be flexible about what the audience and potential buyers are looking for.”

Anyone got a spare $300 million they want to lend us? We reckon this could work.