Engineering and infrastructure group Downer "has stepped up as the new naming sponsor" for the 2016 National Rugby League Nines, after original major supporter Dick Smith "went into receivership," according to Holly Ryan of the NEW ZEALAND HERALD. The contract will see the group sponsor the '16 year with a "possible option to continue." Tournament organizer Duco Events CEO Martin Snedden said that the deal was "the result of a lot of hard work in a short space of time," adding that changing the branding and advertising would take the better part of the week and "would be costly -- something Duco was fronting." Snedden: "It's amazing how much is involved in the changeover." He said that the tournament itself "would not be affected by the change." The teams, players, prize money and event itself "would be unchanged," with the prize pool still sitting at about NZ$2.6M ($1.7M) (NZ HERALD, 1/19). STUFF reported Dick Smith had been in the third year of a five-year deal, but Snedden said the Downer sponsorship was "only for this year's event." Snedden: "I think what that does, is it gives us and Downer an opportunity to get used to each other. After the event, I think both of us will look at it and I would anticipate some sort of discussion about possible sponsorship for the 2017 and 2018 Nines, but that's not something we're working on now, we're just concentrating on the 2016 event." Snedden said that fans and players "would have noticed nothing had a replacement sponsor not been found." He added, "It was very much something about behind the scenes helping us with the financial stability of what it is that we're doing. Dick Smith, at the time it went into receivership, owed us some money. I can't say exactly what, for commercial reasons" (STUFF, 1/19).
