It would be intriguing toknow, however, whether anyone is reimagining rugby without its historic fixation with alcohol and wondering whether more people might be tempted to get along to Super Rugby games if beer and drunkenness were not such a big part of the stadium experience.
Of course, the idea of reimagining rugby’s relationship with alcohol will be viewed by its hardcore fanbase as yet one more concession to the so-called “woke brigade” and another example of a nanny state being afflicted by political correctness gone mad.
Broadcast audiences have returned, but New Zealand has seen steady declines in overall attendance at provincial and Super Rugby games.
Highlanders fans cheer in the "zoo" section of Forsyth Barr Stadium. Photo / Photosport
So often now, stadiums look like ghost towns when the cameras pan to the empty stands, and rugby bosses have to be brave enough to see if a greater degree of sobriety could be a catalyst to getting more bums on seats.
England’s power brokers have decided to give it a go, having made sections of Twickenham alcohol-free during this year’s Six Nations.
It seems like an entirely reasonable policy, as it enables those with younger children, or anyone who doesn’t love the mindless profanities that tend to spew forth from those who have overdone the booze, to get what they need out of the experience, with the added bonus that they don’t have some moron clambering over them every 10 minutes to get to the bar.
Give people the confidence – certainty even – that they can take their family to the rugby and not feel like they are witnessing the last days of Rome, or worse, a Dunedin flat initiation, and maybe they will start flowing back.
The drinkers can be penned off somewhere in the far reaches of the stadium and left to their own devices so the beer barons can get their cash.
If rugby wants a diversity of audience, a new generation to fall in love not only with the game but with the idea of being at the game, then it needs to shift attitudes about what the stadium experience should and should not entail.
Frankly, it seems mad not that Twickenham has given alcohol-free zones a try, but that it has taken until 2024 for this to happen, and it would be equally mad for New Zealand not to see the merit in this concept when so many clubs struggle to sell tickets.
Super Rugby clubs have pulled nearly all the levers they can to keep people coming.
They have dropped ticket prices in the last decade and created genuine value-for-money packages that pitch their product at a competitive price point.
They have continued to put well-resourced, highly skilled players on the field, and no one can dispute that when the best Kiwi sides play each other, the rugby is intense, fast and compelling.
Anyone who doubts that should spend the winter in the UK, watching the likes of Bristol slugging it out in the sleet against Northampton.
And to some degree, the clubs have also made some headway in breaking Sky’s monopoly in playing everything at night by negotiating a better variety of kickoff times that are more conducive to getting fans through the turnstiles.
What the clubs can’t directly control or influence but would help them enormously to get people back into stadiums is the quality of the infrastructure and ease of accessibility.
The holy grail for Super Rugby clubs is to be offering a highly entertaining product at a competitive price and at fan-friendly times, in fit-for-purpose stadiums that are well-serviced by public transport, or at least relatively easy to get to.
The Highlanders certainly, and the Chiefs probably, can say they tick the last two boxes.
The Hurricanes aren’t sure if they do because Sky Stadium has relatively high costs attached to using it and the experience of watching a sport on a rectangular field in an oval venue is not ideal.
The Blues are similarly unsure whether Eden Park works for them and their fans – too big, uncovered and not as well-serviced by transport links as it should be, while the Crusaders are in a temporary home knowing they have a new home under construction.
Even should the unlikeliest of miracles occur and all five teams secure their full suite of holy grail conditions, there would still be plenty of potential new fans reluctant to go to stadiums for fear they would experience new facilities but old habits.
