NZR, do not forget the fans

While one of the most tumultuous weeks in professional football continues to reverberate around European boardroom and dinner tables alike, New Zealand Rugby finds itself at a similarly critical juncture.

The organisation will hold its annual general meeting in Wellington on Thursday and top of the agenda will be Silver Lake’s audacious attempt to buy a slice of New Zealand rugby.

The majority of the country’s provincial unions are expected to vote in favour of selling a 12.5 per cent share of NZ Rugby’s commercial rights.

However, despite three weeks of mediation, NZR and the Players’ Association remain resolute on polar ends of the deal — seemingly split between accepting a significant cash injection that could future-proof a struggling game and fears of a future cost exceeding even the $387.5 million believed to be the US technology giant’s latest offer.

The country’s leading players are reportedly concerned about receiving a smaller piece of what may or may not become a bigger revenue pie, while administrators believe private equity — already embraced in Northern Hemisphere rugby — is the only viable way to safeguard the game for generations.

The support of the country’s provincial unions at the AGM would strengthen NZR’s position in pushing ahead with the Silver Lake deal but risks further hastening what appears to be a rapidly eroding relationship between the governing body and its players.

It remains unclear, however, whether and to what extent the opinion of the ticket- and subscriptionbuying public has been canvassed — an oversight that ultimately proved fatal in the unravelling of football’s Super League.

For all the financial sense a strengthversus-strength competition made to football’s power brokers and players, it was the backlash from the game’s most important stakeholder — supporters — that ultimately reduced European football’s new $5 billion pinnacle event announced on Monday, to a smouldering mess by Wednesday.

The reaction was swift, and the message unequivocal: never forget the fans. It’s a warning the suits at New Zealand Rugby should heed as they plot their next, possibly irrevocable, move in the Silver Lake stoush.

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