Getting its finances "finally in shape" through a A$285M ($203M) broadcast deal is "only one part of a two-stage journey to bring the Australian Rugby Union into the 21st century," with a new governance model also set to "overhaul the way the game is run," according to Wayne Smith of NEWS LIMITED. ARU CEO Bill Pulver hailed the five-year broadcast deal as "the beginning of a new era of financial stability for the game," which in recent seasons has lived a "hand-to-mouth existence." Pulver: "I like to think that our financials are in good shape forever now. I want to be careful not to overstate that. ... We're going to have a A$10M ($7.1M) future fund set aside over the first five years, and the five years after that we want to get it to a A$20M ($14.2M) future fund." With "no future fund in place, no reserves at all," effectively Australian rugby was forced to cannibalize itself "until the new broadcast deal could be done." Pulver sees this deal as heralding a future when rugby, which is second only to football in global appeal, "finally will start to command broadcast rights that will put it back in the top echelon of Australian sport." Pulver: "I think the broadcast rights, with the quality and volume of the content we’re producing, will have a wonderful future." That still would put rugby on a "lesser scale" than even the National Rugby League, "let alone" the Australian Football League, but given that Australia fields only five of the 18 Super Rugby teams -- New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and Japan provide the remainder -- and that the A$285M is "just a fraction of a much bigger pie spread across another four nations, the numbers are not inconsiderable." Each Australian franchise will be boosted by an additional A$1.8M ($1.28M) each year, taking the total to A$5.7M ($4.06M) with annual increases and high-performance funds (NEWS LIMITED, 12/18). In Sydney, Neil Cordy reported a home Test series against England, the Rio Olympics, renewed Bledisloe Cup hopes and a Grand Slam tour of Europe "are giving optimism for the code" not seen since Australia hosted the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Pulver: "Broadcasting revenue now goes from about 23 percent of our revenue to about 45 percent of revenue and about an average of A$23 million ($16.4M) to about A$57 million ($40.6M) per year which we can reinvest in the grassroots of the game." Fox Sports CEO Patrick Delany said the network would celebrate "parts of the game which have come in for criticism in the past." The A$285M over five years "looks like slim pickings" compared to the AFL’s A$2.85B ($2.03B) over six years and the NRL’s A$1.8B over five years but the ARU boss "is happy" with the 148% growth he achieved on the previous deal. Pulver said, "We would have liked more but we are happy to accept the meager pickings we did" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 12/17).
