New Zealand Rugby boss Mark Robinson is optimistic about his organisation’s financial future despite major sponsor Ineos’ alleged breach of contract, which is heading to court.
Ineos, the petro-chemical giant whose branding appears on All Blacks’ shorts and training jerseys, has been accused by NZ Rugby of not paying the first instalment of their 2025 fee, leading to the collapse of the agreement.
It is only halfway through a six-year deal understood to be worth between $8 and $14 million a year.
The alleged breach by the company owned by English billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been followed by Ineos looking to end its sponsorship deal with Premier League club Tottenham. The developments have been blamed by the company on rising costs and Europe’s “extreme” carbon taxes.
1News understands that NZ Rugby have already started the process of removing Ineos branding from its training and playing kits.
Robinson, speaking to 1News this morning hours before a scheduled trip to the United Kingdom where he will attend World Rugby meetings and speak to potential commercial partners, said he had already received interest from other potential sponsors ready to step into the breach.
“The existing partners have been fantastic with the way they’ve come forward and reinforced how positive the relationships are and how much they value them,” he said.
“There are possibilities with growing some of those existing ones and then definitely there are some new prospects we’re talking to.
“The issue as it relates to Ineos is that these things don’t occur overnight. You need time and work to firstly have the conversation and build a vision for a partnership… and work through an agreement.
“Overall, we’re really optimistic in the medium and long term about the value we’re creating for partners and the strength of the brand, and all the brands, the sevens, Black Ferns and those teams alongside the All Blacks.”
Of the Ineos situation, Robinson said: “There are opportunities to continue discussing a possible resolution and there is the prospect of court, so we just have to work through that. We’re not in a position to pre-determine that - we’ll just see how those conversations go.”
NZ Rugby is also on the lookout for a technology partner.
Robinson confirmed this morning that NZ Rugby’s agreement with SAP – noticeable on the branding of the All Blacks’ coaches' laptops during Tests – came to an end last year, but he said there were no issues with the organisation’s long-term partnership with French transport company Altrad.
Altrad, the front-of-jersey sponsor for New Zealand’s major teams in black jerseys, was in the spotlight two years ago when its billionaire owner Mohed Altrad was convicted of bribery and corruption in late 2022.
So the Ineos development in particular is significant, especially in the context of an imminent re-negotiated broadcast rights deal which is not expected to be as lucrative as the last one, plus the prospect of investors Silver Lake having the right to expect a return on its investment soon.
Indeed, the New Zealand Herald wrote this month that NZ Rugby had “made high-level presentations to stakeholders late last year which showed it is losing so much money that it will have burned through its $200 million of Silver Lake cash by 2031".
For Robinson, though, the financial future remains bright.
“There has never been more revenue in the game,” he told 1News. “If you look across all the revenue coming in – the majority of it is NZ Rugby, but if you look at Super and provincial unions, I think it’s comfortably over $350 million coming into the game.
“Sponsorship has more than doubled over the last few years. It’s gone from $55 million in 2019/20 to somewhere like $120m now. We think we can continue to grow that.”
There is clearly plenty at stake for Robinson and his organisation over the next few months.
“If we get that right and continue to build on our revenue, we’re in really strong shape,” he said. “It’s right for people to have a level of scrutiny over things like Ineos or the media rights deal, but again, I’ll talk to the value we’re building over the next five years and I think that will be recognised in the market as far as media rights going forward.”
Fortunately for Robinson and NZ Rugby, there is plenty for even the most casual rugby fan to be excited about over the next few years.
The All Blacks’ management team are already in talks about logistics for next year’s extended tour of South Africa, an eight-match (three-Test) extravaganza tagged “Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry” which will also see New Zealand host the Boks in a reciprocal agreement in 2030.
The Boks will play two Rugby Championship Tests here in September, the first at Eden Park, where the All Blacks haven’t lost since 1994, the French arrive in July for three Tests, and the Wallabies will likely be a far stronger prospect following Joe Schmidt’s interventions.
“The French haven’t been here for a long time. There’s been different speculation about that tour [due to some of their best players not travelling] but when you look at them in the Six Nations and the depth they have, we know they’re going to be a really strong team.
“The Rugby Championship – the Boks certainly stands out as a fixture in Auckland because they haven’t been here consistently for so long. The fact they play two Tests in a row for the first time in a long time is exciting. But the Australians are definitely showing strong signs of improvement as well.”
The Black Ferns will also kick off their World Cup defence in England in August.
Robinson said discussions were ongoing regarding the Nations Cup – specifically around governance – which is due to start in 14 months.
“It feels like the game has come out of a pretty tough time with Covid… it’s getting settled and is becoming rejuvenated. We’re seeing that in our community numbers as well,” he said.
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