Rugby: Tew remains positive despite no offers for franchises

NZRU chief executive Steve Tew. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew is yet to receive an offer from an investor keen to buy a slice of a Super rugby franchise but is remaining positive, saying there is plenty of interest in the market.

The NZRU announced last week that it was selling off the licences of Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes or Crusaders as a way of injecting cash and fresh ideas into the franchises. The Highlanders are already in the process of attracting an interested party.

The NZRU would continue to oversee the coach and player contracts.

"We've had nothing formal. But we've certainly had some enquiries,'' Tew said. "I've taken a number of calls from people who are interested in learning a little more about it and digging a little deeper.

"So we are comforted by that level of interest. But like a lot of things, you know, you can run an open home and get 1000 through [but] you don't always get an offer.

"So far it's been New Zealand-based, but a couple of people I've spoken to have got international connections.''

The scheme throws up several burning questions, not only concerning international ownership of a New Zealand franchise, but also the possibility of a franchise being moved away from its traditional base.

The Hurricanes are shaping as one of the more likely to move, with the under-performing franchise bleeding money and also home to two profitable minor unions in the form of Taranaki and Hawke's Bay.

"We've not formed a firm view on the location of these franchises, other than they must be in this country and they will remain owned by the New Zealand Rugby Union,'' Tew said.

"There's a whole lot of criteria that we will use to measure the proposals and I mean location is clearly going to be one of them. So I think it's fair to say that the current host centres have got a bit of a head start, but we have not closed the door on the possibility of a different mix of home bases.''

Tew said he would expect provincial unions that are part of the franchises to have an input into any formal proposals they would receive and didn't rule out the prospect of regional or city councils being involved, although not in a direct economic sense.

In the past, provincial unions have benefited from any surplus recorded by the franchises, but haven't been responsible for any of the losses incurred.

Tew said the new model with potential new ownership would mean the provincial unions would no longer benefit directly from a surplus made by a franchise, but could receive cash from a "central fund''.

"We believe we are being very sensible in that we are not responding to an immediate crisis. But the signals are clear that requires some proactivity, which is what we are taking.''

Meanwhile, on the topic of when a head coach of the All Blacks would be confirmed, Tew said an announcement was "imminent'' and they wanted to have it confirmed by Christmas.

Tew said the draws for next year's ITM Cup and Heartland Championship would be released shortly.