NRC Will Make Good Money, Pulver Says
Following the recent announcement of National Rugby Championship, slated to begin in the month of August, ARU chief executive Bill Pulver is confident this new competition will end up with good financial gain in its first year.
The competition will see participation of nine teams around Australia, including teams from Queensland, four from New South Wales along with three others to play for the upcoming championship.
However, the financial worries seemed to be grappling the mind of senior management. ARC has already spent $5 million in one season, which raised significant doubts about the future of the championship.
It is envisaged that this new competition will give more room to a player to hone their skills and better their quality.
Pulver stated that broadcaster like Fox Sports and Foxtel have pledged to cover the costs of the competition and with other sponsors and financial guarantors backing the teams, the business model of the championship is neatly designed compared to its predecessor.
At a press conference on Monday, Pulver said, "I'd be very disappointed if this competition didn't at least break even in 2014 and I think we have a real opportunity moving forward to make money out of this competition...."
"If you want to grow the revenue of the game, which is clearly something we're interested in, and you recognise that broadcasting rights are a key component of that. You have an absolute obligation to create incremental quality broadcasting content."
The participating teams will have half of the Super Rugby players and the other half, the best local players to each team.
Having measured potentiality behind the new competition, the next big challenge comes in measuring the rugby fans during late August to early November. But Culver confirmed that the financial success of the competition does not rely much on the number of crowds.
Pulver said, "There have been very modest assumptions made around crowds...."
The new competition is likely to increase the popularity of rugby and enable a better platform to the players, internationally.
Pulver further corroborated the fact that Australia has defined local competitions that can now be compared with other prestigious rugby tournaments like, New Zealand's ITM Cup and South Africa's Currie Cup.