Castle eyes Bledisloe clashes as part of comeback plan
Rugby Australia chief executive Raelene Castle has her eyes on a new broadcast deal, World Rugby loans and trans-Tasman clashes as avenues to keep the game afloat.
With the pay deal for the game’s players finally signed, sealed and delivered, Castle will focus on three key areas to secure rugby’s future in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
First, rugby must secure a broadcast partner for 2021 and beyond. Castle and RA were days away from putting pen to paper on a significant deal with Optus before the brought an negotiations.
The timing of the pandemic was a cruel blow for Castle and RA, as broadcast deals around the world will almost certainly never reach the heights of the past decade.
‘‘We certainly believe that we were in a situation where the tenders were closing and we were going to have some significant tenders step into that process that was going to give Rugby Australia the ability to start negotiations with parties,’’ Castle said yesterday. pandemic end to ‘‘All of the broadcast landscape is in a challenged position, both of what ‘20 looks like and ultimately what ‘21 looks like and what contracts have been signed against what competitions, but we are confident that we’ll able to pick those conversations up probably in the back end of quarter two.’’ Securing World Rugby loans to the tune of A$16 million (NZ$16.83m) will be another priority now the pay deal has been finalised.
Castle would not be drawn on how much time the low interest loans and cash advances would buy the struggling code.
‘‘It’s not quite as straightforward as that, to be able to put a date on it like that,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s dependent on whether we get rugby back on in the back half of the year – which we are hopeful we will be able to – and what sponsorship and broadcast elements there are that we can open up.’’
Broadcast deal and World Rugby loans aside, Castle must also find a way to put a product back on field to ensure Foxtel and Channel Ten have no reason to pull any future payments.
The encouraging progress in containing the pandemic in Australia and New Zealand has given weight to the theory that transTasman club matches and Bledisloe tests will be played later this year.
‘‘That’s certainly one of the models that we are working through at the moment,’’ Castle said. ‘‘We remain in consistent discussions with New Zealand because, obviously, that makes a lot of sense.
‘‘The indications we’re getting with government agencies is that the sequence of opening up [borders] is likely to be domestic first, then into trans-Tasman, then into Asia Pacific, so we have a number of different scenarios to look at and that is certainly one of them.’’