Super Rugby’s struggle brings national club competition back on agenda

Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh revealed his organisation has already had to plan for life without Super Rugby if certain financial metrics continue on a downward spiral, however is confident the challenges can be overcome.

“One of our jobs here is to ensure we’ve got a financially sustainable model,” Waugh told Code Sport.

“We’re very committed to Super Rugby and we’re committed to the JV (joint venture) agreement we have with NZR through until the end of 2030.

“We are also very conscious that the economics of the game need to change and we need to scenario plan for whatever the future may hold when we go into the next broadcast cycle which starts in 2026.”

Broadcaster Sky in New Zealand reports a 16 per cent rise in viewership from last year (Australian broadcaster Stan Sport doesn’t release figures), while Waugh was upbeat that crowds here have improved.

But with every single club struggling to break even, successful on the field or not, there is a renewed push on both sides of the Tasman to scrap Super Rugby and replace it with national club competitions.

The Melbourne Rebels are gone, still owing $23 million of debt, which is why Aussie and Kiwi officials will sit down next week to work out what the competition looks like with one less team promised to the broadcasters in 2025.

They could start the season earlier, play more games, have less teams involved in the finals to avoid the obvious issue of this year – where teams with losing records are in the playoffs.

But it will be a temporary fix, because while it may prevent broadcasters from downgrading their pay next year, it still doesn’t address how all clubs can become financially lucrative in an economically tough environment.

If RA doesn’t receive a significant upgrade in their $33 million a year deal from Nine, owners of Stan, for 2026 and beyond, Super Rugby will be virtually impossible to keep afloat given the costs of running the franchises.

A broadcasting expert, speaking on the condition of anonymity, says drastic changes are needed if Super Rugby is to survive beyond next season.

“Super Rugby can’t keep going the same way, because there’s only so long you can keep pouring money into a loss-making product before you’re penniless,” the expert said.

“Australia never had the talent for five teams, and frankly, they’re struggling for four. New Zealand has their rule that you can’t play for the All Blacks unless you’re in New Zealand, and therefore have had to pay massive overs to keep their biggest names shifting offshore.

“The South Africans figured it out – let someone else pay for your players. They let all their players go to overseas clubs, and have proven it works because they’ve won the past two World Cups.

“And they’ve left Super Rugby entirely because they could probably see the writing on the wall. Their biggest stars are in Europe and Japan, and that has created gaps and opportunities for their next generation of players to come through for the clubs (who now play in European competitions).

“If you look at Super Rugby Pacific now, you might have two Aussie teams playing locally, and the others playing overseas. Two games a weekend is just not enough domestic content.”

The clubs have long argued that the only way they can turn a profit is to have more home games.

But some of the bare stadiums sighted across this season suggest the trans-Tasman partners will still need a significant broadcast upgrade as a safety net.

And this is where the debate for national club competitions has renewed fervour.

In New Zealand, some want the National Provincial Championship (NPC) restored to its former glory, while Australia’s Shute Shield and Hospitals Cup competitions in NSW and Queensland hold loyalty the Waratahs and Reds have been unsuccessfully chasing for years.

Rather than scrap Super Rugby altogether and replace it with a national club competition, it’s more likely that a club competition would be elevated for more prominence to sit alongside a leaner, meaner Super Rugby tournament that could revert to Australian and New Zealand conferences before a trans-Tasman crossover finals series.

What is clear is that emotional attachment to the Super concept won’t pay the bills alone.

“I think the product that Super Rugby has been this year, has arguably been the best provincial competition in the world again, and even the engagement we’re seeing in New Zealand with increased broadcast ratings and the rugby and competitiveness of our Australian teams has been far better as well,” Waugh said.

“Australian crowds are up 17 per cent over the last two years, which gives us great encouragement that we’re on the right track.

“I am optimistic we can really revive Super Rugby in a similar way to what New Zealand have this year.”

The challenges, however, are not limited to this part of the world.

Despite multimillion dollar investments by private equity firms, one of the richest rugby competitions in the world is seeing clubs fold.

“The UK premiership has reduced by three teams from 13 to 10, many clubs within the URC are also under pressure, the financial challenges are not quarantined to the Australian system, there’s genuine pressure right across the professional system globally,” Waugh said.

Many in Sydney and Brisbane club land were buoyed by the national club championship match played in March between Randwick and Brothers. The 10,000 tickets to the game sold out in quick time, the atmosphere was electric and it’s clear there is a market untapped by Super.

A Shute Shield coach said he could see merit in eventually replacing Super Rugby with a club competition.

“We have established supporters who are with us through thick and thin; that has slowly eroded in Super Rugby, you’re seeing less and less fans sticking around for the Waratahs,” he said.

“I think clubs have more of a family feel to them, people come through the grades, they feel a deep connection.

“If you can transfer that to a national competition, you’ll have engaged fans who are invested in the outcomes, and you have a whole lot of games in Sydney and Brisbane every weekend that would feature Wallabies stars.”

But often, dreams and delivery can be poles apart, as another Shute Shield official points out.

“We’re flat out putting on a match-day every Saturday, we run on the smell of an oily rag and we are heavily reliant on all of our volunteers,” he said.

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“If you’re going to turn the Shute Shield and Hospitals Cup into a national competition, who is going to run it? How much money will be put in and where? You just couldn’t do it the way it’s run now.

“You’d need qualified people operating every club as a professional entity, you’d need a governance structure, an independent board, that’s not how it works now.”

Whatever the answer may be, the old adage applies: If it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense.