New Zealand Rugby Union expresses concerns about 2015 Rugby World Cup tournament
The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU), the governing body that oversees Rugby in the country, has hinted at missing out of the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) 2015 Rugby World Cup (RWC) tournament. NZRU Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Steve Tew, publically
announced their concerns which could hamper their participation in the 2015 global tournament on Tuesday, September 27.
Tew has termed the huge financial losses NZRU has incurred from participating in the global tournaments as the main reason for their concerns regarding their participation in the next edition of the RWC. He added that NZRU has so far suffered a loss of £7
million from participating in the RWC tournament.
Providing the details, Tew elaborated that during a World Cup year, a team’s income is cut down, as they are not able to go on tours. He also added that both teams and players are denied the opportunity to show their association with sponsors during the
length of the tournament.
Tew said, “We lose NZ$13.2m [£6.7m] worth of revenue after income from Rugby World Cup and costs are adjusted. It cannot carry on. We said at the last board conference that we needed a full review of the IRB's financial model, Rugby World Cup commercial
rules and RWC money flows.”
Tew again has raised NZRU demands to review the process in which the RWC tournament is carried out. He expressed his hope that the IRB will complete their ongoing RWC review in time and will put the subject in front of member association to discuss the matter
further.
The NZRU CEO has termed the recent IRB measures to address the concerns of the major union as not enough. He referred to the IRB’s announcement to give the major rugby unions a sum of £1 million. He added that the current economic conditions and ever-increasing
player salaries.
Another major concern for the NZRU is their ability to retain All Blacks players in New Zealand from going abroad. To do so, they have to match the offers made by European clubs in-order to retain their key players with the union.
Tew has hinted FIFA World Cup commercial rules as a possible alternative of the current issues.
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