NZR ready to dig deep

New Zealand Rugby’s significant cash reserves are about to get a hammering as coronavirus realities bite home, though chief executive Mark Robinson believes they have the resources to survive the global crisis.

Robinson fronted the media this week mostly on the mooted resumption of Super Rugby amid the Covid-19 situation. He was adamant plans to reshape the competition on a localised format post the current twoweek suspension had player welfare front and centre, though conceded there was a ‘‘business’’ element to the decision.

But the new boss of Kiwi rugby also covered off on some other key issues as he, like everyone else in the world, tries to figure out a way through the landscape under this pandemic.

Asked by Stuff whether his organisation had deep enough pockets to ride out this period, Robinson steered clear of any doom-and-gloom scenarios. New Zealand Rugby has strong financial reserves, in the region of $90 million, that are in place exactly for situations like this.

For a sporting business that relies on unpredictable income streams, such as sponsorship deals and broadcasting agreements, NZ Rugby has always believed it needed a significant rainy-day fund.

Former NZ Rugby chief executive David Moffett had warned that the organisation would have to dip heavily into its reserves to weather the prolonged storm of this crisis, and Robinson’s comments indicated they were prepared to do so.

‘‘We’re working through those scenarios as we speak,’’ Robinson said in his call with media. ‘‘There are a number of different scenarios . . . essentially we’ve got to make this work.

‘‘We own the responsibility for the future financial viability of the game, we know we’ve got some incredibly challenging times and some significant head-winds in front of us but we’re confident we can work through it.’’

New Zealand players’ association boss Rob Nichol has already acknowledged that his constituency may face paycuts at some stage of this crisis, though Robinson was not keen to speculate on that at this stage of things.

Robinson also refused to buy into any theories that the pandemic was in any way a threat to the long-term viability of Super Rugby in general.

‘‘Super Rugby is a worldclass competition, and despite some of the feedback early on in the season, we’ve seen in recent times the quality of the rugby is outstanding. Absolutely we believe it’s a competition that’s got a future.

Robinson also stopped well short of offering any indications he would be seeking government help to get through this crisis.

‘‘We’ve had great dialogue with the government through this phase up to now, and that’s primarily been focused around people. We’ve had all the advice and information we could have hoped for in terms of informing the work we’re doing both in the community and professional game.

‘‘It’s too early to say what the future dialogue with the government is until we get a clear understanding of what this means for our business and our stakeholders too.

‘‘We’re looking at a range of different scenarios we’re modelling. Once we get a clearer picture what that looks like we’ll feel more confident having an ability to communicate more broadly around what this might mean for the game.’’

Tough times for rugby. Tough times for the world.