Sports can plead case after big handout

The major codes have already laid bare the extent of their financial woes – now they can put their case for a chunk of one of New Zealand’s biggest government sporting handouts.

Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced a $265 million support package yesterday as part of the 2020 Budget, in response to the financial pain dealt by Covid-19.

Now, Sport NZ is tasked with distributing the cash, starting with $83m in short-term support to help sport and recreation organisations at all levels get through the initial impact of Covid-19.

‘‘We know that revenues have been massively disrupted by Covid-19, from membership fees to class four [gaming revenue], broadcasting revenue, TAB, all of those have had a massive impact,’’ Sport NZ chief executive Peter Miskimmin said.

‘‘The first focus is making sure all sporting organisations can see themselves through this crisis and get their head up so they can think about the future.’’

The split between professional and grassroots sport wasn’t specified, but clearly those whose high-profile and lucrative competitions were put on hold require immediate attention.

Super Rugby, ANZ Premiership netball, and teams heading back to Australian competitions such as the Warriors (NRL) and Phoenix (A-League) were in that mix, Miskimmin said.

‘‘The process will be sitting down one on one and going through the short term – and part of that is their costs of getting competitions up and going.’’

Ensuring women’s competitions are treated fairly would be one requirement of the funding.

Miskimmin said Robertson made clear his priority, shared by Sport NZ, was ‘‘areas that have been missed out in the past – women and girls, people with disability, making sure they are front and centre’’.

Sport NZ announced a $25m relief package earlier this month, targeted towards clubs and regional sports bodies including a $15m ‘‘community resilience fund’’.

Yesterday’s Budget money will flow on from that, starting on July 1.

With this funding, national sporting bodies of all sizes would be encouraged to sit back and look to the future, Miskimmin said.