NZRU's Sponsorship Deal With AIG Worth Reported $66M

The New Zealand Rugby Union sponsorship deal with insurance group AIG is "understood to be worth" around NZ$80M ($66M), according to Bevan Hurley of the NEW ZEALAND HERALD. The 5-year deal, worth approximately NZ$15M ($12.4M) a season, was "divulged at a meeting with the All Blacks senior leadership group before being made public without the dollar amounts last month." In New Zealand sports, the agreement is second in value only to the NZRU's contract with adidas. Both AIG and the NZRU are "bound by strict confidentiality clauses" and refused to discuss what the deal was worth. AIG New Zealand CEO Cris Knell said that "age-group and woman's rugby could be the top beneficiaries" of the extra cash flowing through the NZRU's coffers (NZH, 11/4).