As famous investor Warren Buffet once said, “It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who has been swimming naked” – and sevens’ financial woes come at a time when rugby’s global finances are suffering.
Seven UK Premiership rugby clubs were all judged to be “balance-sheet insolvent” by an independent financial report last year, England’s Rugby Football Union lost about $87m in 2023-24, and both New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia reported losses of about $9m each in 2023, and South Africa a small deficit.
NZ Herald reporter Liam Napier’s piece on sevens being at a crossroads thus made for disturbing reading, as did his “insider’s estimate” that the World Series Sevens circuit has lost up to $55m since it was taken over by World Rugby, instead of being produced by local interests.
It’s a surprise after the record-setting interest in sevens at the recent Paris Olympics made it seem as if this version of the game was enjoying its time in the sun. The reality is the sport is suffering sunburn.
Napier’s story: “Those attending events cite excessive World Rugby staff, all of whom travel first-class and stay in five-star accommodation, as a major contributing factor in those deficits, whereas locals used to largely run the events. In a rugby world where financial prudence is increasingly front of mind, such staggering losses are not sustainable.”
The problem isn’t just the five-star-hotel hangers-on. It’s also the vast travel and accommodation expenses involved in flying 24 men’s and women’s teams around 11 countries for each tournament – a major reason why the 2024-25 World Series has been chopped back to seven tournaments.
Obviously, more surgery is required. While the Olympics, Hong Kong, Dubai and Perth all make money, it simply isn’t sustainable to have a quadrennial Olympic tournament, plus two or three others, forming the basis of the sport’s income.
Returning tournament control to local interests is one possible solution, though sponsors and broadcasters will prefer the certainty of organisation by World Rugby to the potential pitfalls of a local enterprise falling over if the finances do not add up.
New Zealand Rugby clearly wants its sevens tournament reinstated after losing it, and it’s a fair bet it could be held here for a small profit or even break-even status, particularly if local control is re-established. However, it seems much of the rest of the World Series may not be able to achieve that.
So what to do? Clearly, cutting back on what New Zealand rugby fans used to call “fish heads” (a derogatory term aimed at rugby officials, possibly emanating from the old saying that a fish rots from the head down) will help.
World Rugby could have an overview/step-in facility but leave the running of a tournament to the locals. Another option: leave Hong Kong, Dubai and Perth as they are currently, since they are all “washing their face”, as common business vernacular puts it. Bring in New Zealand as the fourth on a guaranteed break-even basis.
That leaves three tournaments. However, instead of flying 24 teams to three different countries, why not hold the last three in one country, thus cutting air travel costs? The idea is to have a different country host those three each year.
For example, South Africa could hold one tournament each at Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth; Australia at Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra. New Zealand: Auckland, Wellington and Hamilton (to keep flying costs down and the Cook Strait ferries out of the picture).
Currently, there is about a month between each of the seven World Series tournaments. For the one-country tournaments, cut that to a gap of only two weeks. That will obviate back-and-forth flights from countries of origin, though accommodation costs will rise and there may have to be some inventive planning/sourcing.
World Rugby has committed to reviewing the World Series from 2026, as well they should – there could be another $55m burned up by then.
