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ARU CEO Says Super Rugby Franchises Have Received Extra Funding

Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver confirmed Australia’s five Super Rugby franchises have each received an additional A$1.8M ($1.4M) on top of their grants "as the code battles to create a financially sustainable model," according to Bret Harris of THE AUSTRALIAN. With the advent last December of a new, improved broadcast deal which will deliver A$285M ($219M) over the next five years, the Super Rugby franchises received increased grants from the ARU of A$5.7M ($4.4M), "but they also got" the extra A$1.8M to help with financial issues. The Western Force will receive a further A$50,000 ($38,400) a year over the next five years to help the franchise meet the "unique challenges" of rugby in the west. On top of this the ARU also granted another A$6M ($4.6M) to the Melbourne Rebels, which have new private owners, and has paid A$800,000 ($615,000) to the Force "for their intellectual property as a form of financial assistance," while the Brumbies, Queensland Reds and NSW Waratahs are "believed to be borderline." Pulver: "In fairness to them five years ago they were getting more. There were some reductions in their funding over the last four years in order to keep the game afloat, which had to be corrected." There was an expectation that the new broadcast agreement "would be a panacea for the game’s financial problems" with even the ARU itself reporting a A$4.8M ($3.7M) loss for last year. Pulver, who launched a five-year strategic plan to grow the game in Australia, said that the Super Rugby franchises "were suffering the same as other professional sporting teams in rival codes." He said, "There is a lot of discussion between all the professional rugby entities in Australia about how we deliver better outcomes. We are all completely linked at the hip. Australian rugby needs more financially stable Super Rugby clubs and one way of being able to support that is successful national teams. There is a challenge across many sporting codes, rugby league clubs, AFL clubs, soccer clubs, rugby in other countries, to get that level of the game onto a sustainable financial footing" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 4/13).

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