THE FUTURE OF THE SEVENS
Sports event near end of its lifespan – expert
The man who delivered New Zealand the 2011 Rugby World Cup says the Wellington Sevens has reached the end of its lifecycle and could be destined to leave the capital.
Leading sports administrator Martin Snedden believes the halffull crowds the sevens now attracts are hurting the event’s reputation, saying governing body World Rugby may not be able to stomach much more.
‘‘History will judge the Wellington Sevens down the track as being an amazing success story but what’s really apparent now is that it’s probably run its course,’’ Snedden told The Dominion Post.
‘‘That’s not a negative comment. That’s really a reflection of the fact that an event has a lifecycle ... and this one seems to have reached the end.’’
Sevens officials are predicting that about 15,000 fans will attend the 18th instalment of the annual tournament this weekend at the 34,500-seat Westpac Stadium.
In recent years, organisers have reduced the event’s ticket price, added more entertainment and tweaked the food on offer, but they have been unable to return the tournament to the days when it used to sell out within minutes.
Snedden, who headed the 2011 Rugby World Cup organising committee and is also a former head of New Zealand Cricket, said the declining reputation of the sevens would likely be weighing on World Rugby.
‘‘If they were to reach a view that a tipping point had been reached with the Wellington Sevens, then they may consider an approach to New Zealand Rugby (NZR) saying, ‘hey, maybe this has done its time in Wellington’.
‘‘Panic won’t be part of it. It’ll just be trying to work out what’s the best way forward with this. Is it best to keep trying to re-energise it? Or is it ‘maybe we’re flogging a dead horse?’ That’s a judgment call they’ve got to make.’’
While this year’s sevens tournament is the first in a three-year deal with World Rugby, Snedden said there may be outclauses legally available to all parties if the financial hit of hosting the sevens proved too great.
‘‘I think, straight after this event, they need to take a step back again and say, ‘OK, let’s just have a really hard think again’ about whether they continue down the track they’re going for the next two years or they consider other possibilities.’’
Snedden believed the sevens was suffering from the modernday trend of people being timepoor. This was making it harder to attract fans to longer-form sporting events. ‘‘People simply aren’t prepared these days to so willingly give up their time as they might have done years ago.’’
World Rugby refused to answer specific questions about the financial viability of the Wellington tournament.
‘‘With more and more global interest in the sevens game since the Rio Olympics, we are happy that ticket sales are strong heading into the tournament and are confident that NZR will continue their stellar efforts to ensure fans have a great experience,’’ the sports body said in a statement.
Wellington Sevens general manager Steve Dunbar said a ‘‘thorough debrief’’ would follow this weekend’s event. ‘‘We’ll see where things have got to and make some decisions from there.’’
AUT associate professor of sports management Geoff Dickson said axing the sevens was unlikely. ‘‘From World Rugby’s point of view, they don’t want a tournament disappearing from, arguably, their strongest market – New Zealand,’’ he said.
‘‘From the point of view of NZR, that makes them feel a little bit awkward, embarrassed, that they might be one of the only rugby unions unable to sustain a tournament.’’
‘‘History will judge the Wellington Sevens ... as being an amazing success story but what’s really apparent is that it’s probably run its course.’’ Martin Snedden