New Zealand could be set to walk away from Super Rugby with new league proposed
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Super exit.
New Zealand Rugby is set to discuss a radical proposal which could see its five teams leave Super Rugby Pacific and join a new domestic competition.
The option is reportedly included in a confidential document circulated before a major summit in Wellington on Thursday.
Around 80 representatives from NZ Rugby, its Super Rugby franchises, provincial unions and the New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association are expected to attend as the organisation considers how to address its worsening financial position.
According to The Post, three possible models for the future of New Zealand’s professional game will be debated.
The most dramatic would involve replacing both Super Rugby Pacific and the National Provincial Championship with a new professional domestic league featuring between eight and 10 teams.
Each side could reportedly receive as much as NZ$8 million for player payments, with the teams operated by provincial unions and open to private investment.
The proposal is understood to have come from New Zealand’s 26 provincial unions, which hold considerable influence as voting members of NZ Rugby.
A second option would retain Super Rugby Pacific but add two further New Zealand teams, likely representing two of the country’s stronger provincial regions. Such a move would require the approval of Rugby Australia.
The third model would also preserve the existing competitions but merge the operations of New Zealand’s five Super Rugby franchises with the provincial unions based in Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago.
That restructuring could reduce costs by removing some of the duplication which currently exists between the professional and provincial organisations.
The discussions arrive amid serious concern over NZ Rugby’s finances. Another confidential document reportedly forecasts combined losses of approximately NZ$58 million between 2027 and 2031, despite New Zealand hosting the British and Irish Lions in 2029.
NZ Rugby is believed to be operating with an annual structural deficit of around NZ$18 million, placing the cost of its elite men’s competitions firmly under scrutiny.
Despite the domestic-league proposal, sources familiar with discussions between NZ Rugby and Rugby Australia have indicated that the governing body’s leadership remains committed to its trans-Tasman partnership and Super Rugby Pacific.
The two unions are only one year into a five-year broadcasting agreement, while recent talks have also examined the possibility of expanding the competition into Japan and the United States.
Rugby Australia declined to comment on the reported proposal.
The options discussed at Thursday’s summit will help shape a final recommendation, which is expected to be presented to the NZ Rugby board in December.
