New Zealand's top domestic competition looks to be heading back to a semi-professional footing, another sign the so-called export model may be decreasingly viable for America.
As club and provincial teams in many of rugby's top-tier countries are finding wage bills often outstrip match revenues, a generation of players which has grown accustomed to full-time compensation may increasingly turn to rugby's richer markets: England, France, and Japan. The upshot is 'tier 2' nations such as the USA could have more trouble sending their internationals abroad for everyday training.
After the 2009 collapse of hopes for a domestic pro league, USARFU's Eagle staff sought to place more test players in Europe. But economic trends are running against the possibility of sending hundreds of players abroad, as Argentina did in the last decade.
Ireland recently established a rule that severely limits imported players who are not eligible to represent the country. The move serves to reduce options for southern hemisphere internationals.
In the Shaky Isles, Northland, 1 of 14 teams in the country's provincial championship, has alerted players they should expect to hold day jobs even in season. The union will offer salaries closer to the league minimum of NZ$15,000 ($18,300) than the maximum of NZ$60,000 ($73,000). NZRU chief executive Steve Tew and several provincial executives agree the trend probably will accelerate, Rugby News reported.
The combination of stiffening competition for places abroad and America's now complete lack of domestic representative play increases the stakes riding on USARFU's so-called competitions review, which focuses on amateur senior clubs, as well as USARFU's Eagle 7s contracts, a program comprising less than a dozen athletes.
Todd Clever will retain captaincy of the USA in 2012, new coach Mike Tolkin announced yesterday.
The US Marine Corps is to sponsor USARFU's division 1A college competition, USARFU said last week. The service arm will be present at the semifinals and finals as well as 'select' regular-season games. Details such as term of the agreement or amount of consideration were not announced. The 25-team league kicked off in mid March.
New Zealand has been struggling financially for years - just look at the half-empty stadiums for even Super 14 games. For some reason, the Kiwi public don't get behind their local teams.
This is not the case in other countries - England and France seem to be doing just fine. A world record for a club game at the weekend between Saracens and Harlequins.
How many Eagles have played in New Zealand? Precisely, so this Shaky Isles meltdown is of no concern to us!
Posted by: JS | 03 April 2012 at 12:58
It is if it pushes more Kiwi players abroad, thus creating more competition for jobs in Europe.
Interesting how a rugby-mad country like NZ, where the whole place pretty much shuts down for a test match, doesn't do such a great job of supporting local representative rugby. Participation seems also to be in decline, which is a sad thing.
Posted by: Wanganui Old Boy | 03 April 2012 at 13:13
The US has 32 professional football teams ina country of 300 million or 1 team for every 9.75 mill people. NZ has how many people - 4 million? How many professional rugby teams are there - the Super 14 sides and the provincial sides. The market is well oversaturated. This should be no shock.
Posted by: I played drek rugby - and loved it | 03 April 2012 at 13:30
NZ is very similar to Australia in regards to attendance at sporting events. Both nations struggle to attract spectators as the culture is more 'watch on TV.' Of course, TV is a difficult revenue source for rugby with limited commercial breaks.
NZ and Aus are both loosing more and more athletes to Europe and Japan, and it is all about cash. The main reason to stay home is to remain eligible for the National Team, as Aussies can only play for the Wallabies if they play SuperRugby.
This will hurt USA athletes, because roster spots will be harder to come by as more southerners jump ship...and there are more and more leaving every year!
Posted by: BC32 | 03 April 2012 at 13:34
Soccer has shown that it can make money on TV with limited commercial breaks. The broadcasting of foreign soccer leagues in the US has increased dramtically over the last 10 years. The US TV market is the greatest asset the US has to offer. Hopefully the foreign rugby comps will be able to develop more lucrative broadcasting in the US beyond the current Premium Sports and Fox Soccer Plus deals. More US TV coverage will help the foreign comps and grow rugby interest in the US.
Posted by: sevens | 03 April 2012 at 14:43
Super Rugby is all about the TV revenue for both OZ and NZ. In South Afriuca, which has a much larger population, it is not just TV by sold out stadiums too. The other reason having a financially struggling NZ and OZ is a problem for the USA is because these countries are going to demand more money from the RWC held every 4 years, and these countries lock up the options for tier 1 vs. tier 2 fixtures / tours because they depend on the big revenue share with the other tier 1 nations during fall and spring tours. Basically they are tier 2 countries with tier 1 talent and performance.
This is why the USA is so attractive to the IRB. Even if rugby is the 4th or 5th sport in the USA it would be a player in world rugby from a marketing and funding perspective. I mean MLS does about 300M per year in revenue.
Posted by: SmashMouth | 03 April 2012 at 15:46
The US sports market has exploded in value. From franchise sales to media right sales. It is only USAR which has underperformed.
Posted by: fact check | 03 April 2012 at 15:58
If we could get a professional league up and running, we wouldn't have to worry about roster spots abroad and we could pick up some of these second-tier players who are looking to get paid. Too bad we can't get it together on even a semi-pro level.
Posted by: Dreaming of pro rugby | 03 April 2012 at 18:41
SANDY, Utah, May 9, 2011 -- The Utah Warriors, the first professional rugby team in Utah, announced ........
Posted by: sevens | 03 April 2012 at 18:54
just a reminder - the usa rugby super league has spent an estimated 13 million on its league since inception.
so.....
yeah....
all we need is a sponsor...
or get a league up and running...
or....
utah warriors....
nice..
Posted by: rugbyfan1 | 03 April 2012 at 19:18
This is not easy, however it's relative easy to get sponsors, right?
Posted by: Cell phone tracker | 04 April 2012 at 00:02
Interesting to see how little money is paid for rugby players in NZ. Soccer players in the US make more.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/2012-mls-roster-rules
Posted by: sevens | 04 April 2012 at 06:58
@Drek - Keep in mind that the NBA, NHL, and MLB are also big deals in the US, as is college football (and even MLS isn't trivial in plenty of markets) so that changes your calculations considerably. Their sports market is still more saturated, but the difference is not as stark as that.
Posted by: Wanganui Old Boy | 04 April 2012 at 09:08
BC32, NZ has a similar rule regarding eligibility for the All Blacks, fyi.
And the 'empty stadium' problem in both countries is nonsense. Not only do other countries draw *far* fewer fans for pro rugby matches on average (Super Rugby easily leads all rugby competitions in avg. attendance), but Australia in particular has little difficulty packing stadiums for sports such as Aussie Rules. In fact, the AFL has more fans on average than Premier League soccer and La Liga.
Notably:
Super Rugby (SANZAR): 19,602
Top 14 (France): 15,119
Premiership Rugby (England): 11,657
Currie Cup (SA): 11,433
Celtic League (IRE/SCO/WAL/ITA): 7,571
NZ Provincial Championships (NZ): 7,203
Top League (Japan): 4,881
Rugby Pro D2 (France): 3,735
RFU Championship (England): 2,176
Super 10 (Italy): 1,443
The primary reason there are opportunities growing in other countries is simple: those countries are larger, wealthier, and have more sponsorship/television revenue opportunities.
Posted by: Why does this keep getting deleted? | 04 April 2012 at 11:51
What is the average RSL attendence?
Posted by: sevens | 04 April 2012 at 12:36
150?
Posted by: RSL attendance | 04 April 2012 at 14:04
My Seattle Sounders of the MLS has 38,000 on avg. not sure about the league-
i think USAR should auction off 7 pro franchise to the first 7 cities the have organized a management team and have 5,000 fans sign up to be season ticket holders- that could give each franchise about 1million in revenue to start and could cary a payroll of 400k max-
season ticket $250 bucks, 6-8 home games
12 league matches + pre and post season
which cities would be first to reach this goal?
Posted by: craig | 04 April 2012 at 14:56
@WDTKGD
The Super 15 rugby attendance numbers are inflated because of South Africa who will get up to 50K in their stadiums for a Super 15 match between two SA teams.
Posted by: SmashMouth | 04 April 2012 at 15:20
SA definitely raises the average. I have season tickets to the Reds. We won SuperRugby last year, and the stadium did start to fill up towards the end of the season. But in the 2 home games I attended this year there was less than 15,000. They announced more, but the stands were EMPTY! The champion cannot even draw attendance. Watch the matches on TV, and NZ and OZ stadiums are less than 1/3 full.
Maybe attendance at pro-rugby (outside SA) is bad everywhere, but there must be more commercial opportunities in Europe and Japan for the salaries to be that much higher.
Test matches are another story entirely! NZ v OZ sells out in minutes each year...
Posted by: BC32 | 04 April 2012 at 22:05
Without the quantity/quality of players, I feel like even top tier club rugby is so far away from test matches. Over the next 5 or 10 years as professionalism takes hold for a full generation, the average quality of player will rise and make the lower tiers more entertaining.
Posted by: Garrett | 05 April 2012 at 00:32
@ BC32,
attendance in French Top 14 is growing to about 5% a year. TV audiences are also growing. A survey 2 days ago in the sports daily "L' Equipe" shows that 56% of French TV audiences would rather watch a French Top 14 match than a soccer Ligue 1 game.
Posted by: Alan Airth | 05 April 2012 at 07:14
French Top 14 broadcast revenue from Canal+ is massive and the club game in France is in many ways more powerful than the national team. The similar is happening in England and the time when the club game is more important and profitable than the national team's fixtures may not be far off in rugby's future. This is what has happen in soccer (football) in many European leagues. Other than the soccer world cup and the Euro cup the national team is second to the annual league championship and the Champions League contest.
Posted by: SmashMouth | 05 April 2012 at 10:24
the BYU and Cal rugby teams outdraw most of these pro franchises. South Field and Witter Field routinely draw crowds of several thousand and on occasion produce gates of over 5k.
When the play each other the gate has a chance at hitting 15k+. The BYU-Cal match last year had about 12k with no promotion of any kind.
Posted by: SLC | 05 April 2012 at 11:17
@SLC
Two top sides drawing a crowd for a one off match is hardly a commercial success. When you look at the pro leagues around the world "butts in seats" is only a part of the equation. Many teams own their own facilities and some are real estate ventures with a hotel, spa/gym, conference rooms, banquet rooms, etc all part of the revenue stream. They have a broadcast deal and in some countries they are getting funds from their national union for developing players for the national team.
Posted by: SmashMouth | 05 April 2012 at 12:05
Smash, you're not reading well. Must be those big hits ;-)
BYU routinely sell more tickets at South Field against all type of teams, not just Cal, than the pro franchise numbers listed above. Cal sells out Witter Field to all opponents as well.
Not just referring to the National Championship game at Rio Tinto. However it is a noteworthy that this match outdrew all but a couple Eagles matches.
Posted by: SLC | 05 April 2012 at 12:57
2 or 3 college teams that can draw some modest crowds by college sports standards is not a success.
Posted by: SmashMouth | 05 April 2012 at 19:00
Westwood Gets His Nose in Front at the Masters
Posted by: Air Max 90 | 05 April 2012 at 19:08
@Smashmouth: kind of like lacrosse, then?
Posted by: Sergeant Hulka | 06 April 2012 at 11:16
So I got a look at RugbyMag's high school rankings. You know, the ones you have to pay a subscription for the privilege to see?
1. Xavier
2. Gonzaga
You dont have to go any further. What a joke! Gonzaga beat Xavier handily on March 21 and has had the better of them for the past couple of weeks. How can anyone take that seriously? Are there any rankings out there that are less legitimate than Goof's?
Posted by: college | 06 April 2012 at 11:33
RM is a joke - I absolutely refuse to pay for their garbage!
Posted by: JS | 06 April 2012 at 15:56
RugbyMag shows poorly on its owner USA7's. There is very little about RM which displays quality.
Posted by: agree 100% | 06 April 2012 at 16:23
I try to give RM as few views as possible. I don't want to assist them having a high view count. Sometimes if I see something on RM and come to GL to comment on it.
Over the last few years there have been a 1000 comments where a reader has to correct a story RM published. Those 1000 corrections create another 3000 comments concerning the correction. Then RM tries to sell all those hits as something important to their content.
I really only have complaints about RM and I don't want them to profit in anyway off my complaints. Just say no.
Posted by: no fan | 06 April 2012 at 16:41
good thread boys. too bad it began with a rant about team rankings. who cares were goof and the two toads rank your team. what do those three guys know? the reason to hate on rm is because it is a shit e-rag. mistakes throughout! bias! sloppy reporting and no meaningful editorial writing!
Posted by: #1 ranked poster on GL | 06 April 2012 at 16:50
I wrote an e-mail to BYU TV expressing my disappointment with the fact that they are showing softball instead of BYU vs. Utah rugby match, and I got the following response:
"Thank you for taking the time to write and we certainly understand & appreciate your interest in BYU's successful rugby team and potential related television coverage on BYUtv. Please be aware that our physical & financial resources only allow the capacity to televise NCAA-sanctioned sports at this time.
Again, thank you for your inquiry and your support of BYUtv sports programming."
Posted by: FrontRow | 06 April 2012 at 17:45
That's a shame. I'd daresay there is a much larger potential tv audience for a rugby game (particular this opponent, which has its own audience) than for a softball game.
Posted by: That's Entertainment | 06 April 2012 at 19:57
You guys are pathetic.
Posted by: What makes you so special? | 06 April 2012 at 21:46
@ that's entertainment: Doubt it.
Posted by: Sergeant Hulka | 06 April 2012 at 22:34
The BYU-Utah match will be available online. Not sure if it will be live on on delay.
Gainline is great but are there any other sites out there other than Rugbymag? I've liked what I have seen from Rugby America and This Is American Rugby.
Posted by: Curious | 07 April 2012 at 03:11
Thanks I will look into those two other sites, I didn't know about them.
Also the RM preview story on the Army-Navy game isn't bad in fact it is good. Agreed you have to wade through a ton of sloppy reporting before you get a good story but it does happen. Seldom, but it happens.
RM will now report the Army-Navy match score (late) after it is available elsewhere and they will leave out facts, like the correct score, etc ;-)
They might even have an ax to grind with one of the coaches so this will also come through in the match report.
What did the UC Irvine coach really do to cause that public lynching? Really, we have a group of crooks running USAR and RM says nothing while assassinating this young coach.
Posted by: army-navy & public lynching | 07 April 2012 at 08:36
Good point. If anyone gets the BYU/Utah and Army/Navy scores will you please post them on Gainline. Got my fingers crossed and waiting to hear.
Posted by: anon | 07 April 2012 at 08:46
@Public Lynching
It is bizarre. UC Irvine wouldn't even be ranked in the top 50 in the second level of college rugby. Their coach made a bafflingly stupid mistake - almost certainly in good faith - that pretty much made no difference to anything. Because he is a weasel he (passively) tried to cover it up, but eventually it came out and the issue was dealt with.
Forfeits resulted in UCI dropping out of So Cal playoffs, which means that some other team will serve as UCSB's speedbumb today.
And this merits FOUR articles, all well after the sanction was handed down and it was already a closed issue? I can't think of any way that makes sense as anything other than a personal vendetta.
This is the amount of coverage I would expect if the cops were to find a bunch of dead hookers in Jack Clark's freezer. (I'm not saying he's got them there, but then again...he's never said that he doesn't.)
Posted by: Now THAT'S Entertainment | 07 April 2012 at 10:02
I agree there is always an angle with Goof. He is always trying to disrespect someone. Now to you. What did JC do to you where you think it is cool to use him as your punch line. Did Cal win one of their many championships at your expense? Did he not select you for the Eagles? What's up?
Posted by: funny | 07 April 2012 at 11:34
why is the USA playing Welch 15 year old's with 17 year old's?
Posted by: ? | 07 April 2012 at 11:44
He's the biggest name in American rugby. That would be a big scandal. Don't be so sensitive.
Posted by: Now THAT'S Entertainment | 07 April 2012 at 12:35
BYU beat Utah according to Byu Rugby facebook pagw.
Posted by: Haystacks Calhoun | 07 April 2012 at 14:42
BYU 38 Utah 22.
Match was closer than the score.
Posted by: college fan | 07 April 2012 at 15:29
I would love to see BYU -Utah in the finals. Twenty five thousand would be in the seats.
Posted by: Haystacks Calhoun | 07 April 2012 at 15:36
same
Posted by: college | 07 April 2012 at 18:05
Vince McLeod, the coach at UC Irvine who played ineligible players and has been forced to resign, deserves to be exposed and RM did a good job to make sure the story was told. This is a guy that left a local D3 college under suspicious terms with equipment and funds missing. He then went on to appoint himself as the commissioner of the Pacific West conference, but wasn't able to finish the mission as his attempt to ratify the new conference's constitution with a hasty call for an email vote during Christmas fell apart. We do not need people with this type of record involved in rugby, and the media is right to expose them when they are caught.
Posted by: GouchoGal | 07 April 2012 at 21:23
Strong connection between the public lynching of McLeod by RM and the UC Santa Barbara coaching staff. Thanks Goucho for furthering this cowardly, behind the scenes connection.
Posted by: sickening | 08 April 2012 at 12:31
@sickening
A cheat gets exposed and you're sickened? We need more people like you in the game.
Posted by: SOCAL7S | 08 April 2012 at 17:14
One interesting thing about this whole controversy is how McLeod and/or his supporters have made a lot of oblique references to others' wrong-doing, and how everyone writing about it had their facts wrong.
With the exception of one guy on RM who detailed his departure from Whittier, that's all there's been. Never mind the lack of supporting evidence, they haven't even supplied a concrete accusation.
(I still think this is an awful lot of attention being paid to a pretty minor figure, weasel though he may be.)
Posted by: Now THAT'S Entertainment | 08 April 2012 at 17:48
McLeod's argument includes his believe that JC and CC students should be able to play at any university with a rugby club, and it would be a slam dunk for the JC guys he was playing in league games to get a waiver from USA Rugby. The idea that the waiver to play non-students of your university was a slam dunk is shear ignorance.
To throw around accusations that other teams are doing the same and "the establishment" within SCRFU called him out to get his team's playoff spot is just immature and cowardly.
The guy is a nut.
Posted by: SOCAL7S | 08 April 2012 at 18:22
JCs and CCs should be able to play in whatever college division they want as long as they can compete and the players are full time students in good standing.
Posted by: Haystacks Calhoun | 08 April 2012 at 19:44
I should have made clearer, play for the school they are enrolled in as a student in good standing.
Posted by: Haystacks Calhoun | 08 April 2012 at 19:48
McLeod's thinks they are free agents to play at the university of their choice. I think. Like I said he is a nut.
Posted by: SOCAL7S | 08 April 2012 at 22:30
why is it - there are "blackouts" when the home team does not sell out (sell all tickets) in the NFL...or in basketball, baseball playoffs.etc...
anyone...
an expert on here ...
Posted by: rugbyfan1 | 09 April 2012 at 14:03
http://www.cheapairyeezyshoes.org
Posted by: Air Yeezy 2 | 09 April 2012 at 20:09
SLC-your numbers on BYU selling more tickets on a routine basis then most pro rugby teams are unfounded. On the BYU rugby website under facilities, it lists the largest crowd at South Field as just under 4000. The lowest drawing club in the Aviva Premiership draws over 5000 per average. You can run an "internet" search and come up with all sorts of facts and figures from official websites (premiershiprugby.com or byurugby.com)
Posted by: Pete M | 10 April 2012 at 04:04