Chasing after the big bucks

By DITA DE BONI

When is a rugby game not just a rugby game?

When it's using cheerleaders, corporate boxes, video referees and players' sex appeal to grab as much of the discretionary entertainment dollar as possible.

The issue is an eye-gouger to old-school rugby fans who prefer their game rough, raw and unfettered, but means big bucks to the business of rugby - a business now influenced as much by bean-counters and marketing experts as by the rugby legends that draw the fans.

Auckland Rugby, which must stage a meaner fight against a plethora of top venues for the entertainment dollar than unions in other regions "must be interesting, exciting and attractive enough for people to make us the best expenditure option," according to chief executive officer Geoff Hipkins.

With the Super 12 kick-off date of February 25 now in sight, plans to make the Super 12 2000 a super-draw are in full swing while a sweltering summer of cricket unfolds outside Auckland Rugby's corporate office.

"The days of coming to watch rugby and getting a half gallon of beer and a cold pie are long gone - it now includes in-seat service for beer and food; it's a white linen table cloth deal - really sharp, really upmarket."

Auckland Rugby made revenue of $10 million in the last financial year, with profits of $335,217. Around $250,000 of that profit was ploughed back into 19 amateur clubs in the Auckland region.

The club's takings have levelled out since the 1997/98 year - when a bumper Bledisloe Cup match saw 5000 corporates enjoy pre and post-match talks, a meal, drinks and prime seats as part of a package of services that helped to almost double the club's revenues as well as inject $30 million into the local business economy.

But profits and revenues continue to rise year-on-year, more rapidly in the years of a National Provincial Championship win and somewhat depressed in years when both the All Blacks and Auckland Blues disappoint crowds.

The rugby industry as a whole has been trying to widen the appeal of the game and since the 1995 establishment of rugby's entertainment series - the Super 12 - has managed to capture the imagination of a young, female audience, for reasons Mr Hipkins think are not so mysterious.

"Super 12 is seen as an exciting, sexy product and people are identifying with the new stars of the Super 12 - why else would Carlos Spencer be chosen to market Toffee Pops semi-naked?"

Super 12 - starring five New Zealand regional franchises/teams - has now surpassed the National Provincial Championship for attendance and as Mr Hipkins sees it, pays for the growth of amateur rugby.

A Masters in Economics graduate, Mr Hipkins says the real impetus to profitability is keeping the amateur league afloat and young people interested in the game.

Rugby development officers working on recruiting interest for rugby in schools is one offshoot of the rugby business, as is an academy for young players. The 19 amateur clubs which receive funding from Auckland Rugby are linked by a database which holds 28,000 registered rugby players on file.

The move to technology - encompassing Auckland Rugby web site links to Ticketek and Canterbury - is part of a new, more serious focus by the clubs on retaining the enthusiasms of sponsors.

"We've taken the view that we have to really look to enhance our sponsor's business - we have to be able to link rugby with Export Gold, for example - or consider their market share. We are in partnership with our sponsors," says Mr Hipkins.

Women's rugby is also an important interest-generating tool, he says, and has the potential to breed rugby-friendly mothers and entice crowds with an "exciting style" of play.

"The women's team have defended their [top ranking] in 24 consecutive games .

"They played a curtain raiser here at Eden Park - which in itself was reflective of a major revolution of attitude - and where Aucklanders usually turn up only for the main game, we were encouraged by the number of people who turned up early to watch [it]."

New rules have been mooted to make the game more exciting for viewers - "the rule changes are really designed to enhance the ability of teams to play open, attacking rugby, with a real focus on scoring tries, high risk taking and counter-attack - in other words, non-stop action."

But not everyone is thrilled about the direction in which rugby is being taken.

Doyen of rugby commentary and self-described "old fashioned rugby expert" Don Cameron, says Super 12 rugby is "not really authentic" and that while rugby should be chasing the entertainment dollar, its the focus on the corporate dollar which is causing upset in the loyal guard of Eden Park season ticket-holders.

"With Super 12, the rights of the rank and file season ticket-holders disappear," he says.

"The people who paid sterling 100 for a 20-year ticket, who consider themselves the 'founders of Eden Park', are getting shaken out and the stands they helped finance used for the boxholders and corporate hosts."

But Auckland Rugby clearly believes a balance is being struck between the regular rugby-going citizen and the corporate client.

"There has to be a balance. This is where the pure economic model doesn't apply precisely to rugby because we have to be cognisant that the average citizen of Auckland still wants to be able to come along to a test match," says Mr Hipkins.

"Even though we are suboptimising our profit by not continuing to increase that corporate hospitality base too much, we are by optimising our spread of the market."