Bryan Habana, Las Vegas' The Sphere and Will Warbick. Photo / Photosport / Getty Images / Photosport
Shock plans for British “Super League” merger could force a return of South Africa to Super Rugby; why the republic has the worst fans; and iconic Las Vegas landmark The Sphere draws rave reviews after hosting its first major live sports event.
Don’t whisper it too loud but an opening for South Africa to rejoin Super Rugby has emerged in the past week.
The prospect of a return of the likes of the Durban-based Sharks and the Stormers from Cape Town emerged from nowhere after London’s Telegraph newspaper reported that the English Premiership club competition is considering a merger to create a British and Irish League.
The Telegraph said Premiership Rugby has been looking at joining forces with the European-based United Rugby Championship (URC) to boost its broadcasting appeal via a “super league”-styled sell.
The URC was formed in 2021 when South Africa’s Super Rugby franchise teams quit the Sanzaar competition to link with the Pro 14 competition, which featured Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Italian clubs.
A combined British and Irish league is seen by many as a logical step in building rugby’s commercial appeal in the UK and Ireland.
More crucially, Luxembourg-based private equity giants CVC Capital hold significant stakeholdings in both the English Premiership and the URC, making such a merger more than just a pipe dream.
But here’s the crunch – for South Africa anyhow.
The English Premiership League powerbrokers don’t want the South African or Italian clubs in any combined league.
So if a merger happens, where do the Africans play their franchise rugby?
The URC has worked well for the republic after it called New Zealand Rugby’s bluff and exited Super Rugby after the Covid pandemic struck.
Super Rugby hasn’t been the same since and a lament that the lack of regular contact with South African sides has contributed to the current All Blacks malaise against the Springboks is only growing.
In the meantime, the South Africans have been strong performers in Europe, with the Stormers beating countrymen the Bulls in an all-African inaugural URC final in 2021, before losing to Ireland’s Munster in last year’s showdown. The Bulls lost to the Glasgow Warriors in this year’s decider.
But if their franchises are squeezed out of Europe, a return to Super Rugby would seem the only viable alternative.
The plan for a British and Irish league is one of several options purportedly being considered as an answer to kickstarting fresh interest after the English Premiership stalled in appeal in recent seasons while three famous clubs folded financially.
An Anglo-Welsh league is being looked at while also assessing the impact of reducing Premiership Rugby from 10 clubs to eight, or increasing England’s top tier to 12, 14 or 16 teams.
Premiership Rugby, though, would only consider making any changes to its league structure if there was a guarantee of a significant uplift in revenues, according to the Telegraph.
TV broadcasters have had a waning interest in English rugby in recent years and the competition needs to do something drastic by 2026, when a new rights deal will start.
2026 is also the year slated for the kickoff of the new Nations Cup for test rugby, allowing a more aligned northern club league to start then too.
While the Telegraph’s report seeds the prospect of a return to the past, the question is that what do we want?
While annual contact with South African franchise teams might help New Zealand Rugby (NZR) from a high-performance perspective, Kiwi fans had long tired of African involvement.
They weren’t getting up at 3am to watch the Blues play the Lions at Ellis Park. Nor were crowds turning up in New Zealand when the African teams came here.
There is no overwhelming reason to believe that will change and that everything will be magically all right simply because the South Africans are back.
Last week’s Sports Insider column lamented the looming death of the Sanzaar coalition, which has failed in its mission to foster and develop the game in the Southern Hemisphere.
South Africa were difficult partners over the first 25 years of the partnership. Their broadcaster SuperSport contributed the most income to Sanzaar and the Africans repeatedly threatened to quit the coalition to gain leverage.
When a frustrated NZR used Covid to try to take over Super Rugby as the sole owner to sweeten its public equity offering, the republic made good on its threat.
What’s needed now is fresh vision.
The future lies in high-profile cross-border finals scheduled after well-marketed and fan-centric domestic competitions.
South Africa and New Zealand could integrate their current franchises into reworked Currie Cup and NPC competitions.
The Australians could be encouraged to develop the national club competition they’ve always wanted and which will appeal to their broadcasters more than Super Rugby.
If Japan and Major League Rugby in the United States could be encouraged to run their competitions in the same window as Africa, New Zealand and Australia, the natural flow-on is prestigious cross-border finals (top two or four teams from each competition, grand final at a neutral venue moving around the world).
Union officials, I’m in my trailer if you need me.
The reports of a British-Irish League and CVC’s potential role in it reminded me of a promise made by New Zealand Rugby and Silver Lake close to three years ago.
Remember this?
The reporting reminded me of NZR’s sales pitch around “Global Rugby Opportunities” to provincial unions and the public.
Dancing with the private equity devils hasn’t worked well for English rugby but at least it seems CVC is trying.
The lofty promise that Silver Lake would create worldwide opportunities for NZR and the Players Association smells of Donald Trump-style electioneering... lots of hot air and ballyhoo designed to win favour, but no real substance.
The verdict is in: GRO is a stunted dwarf.
There is much to admire about South African rugby right now, even if we admit that somewhat grudgingly.
But there is also an underlying arrogance which doesn’t always reflect well on the republic and its rabid rugby fans (the social media presence and attitude of the Bokke fans is a cesspool that sane fans should avoid at all costs).
The attitude surfaced again this week after fans picked up on several calls from former Boks test players for the British and Irish Lions to cancel their planned tour of Australia next year and travel to South Africa instead.
The inference is clear... Joe Schmidt and his Wallabies squad are not worthy of the Springboks’ attention and an Irish-dominated Lions squad would be better off touring the republic.
It won’t happen of course, and even if Schmidt’s mob proved to be mincemeat for Rassie Erasmus’ wrecking crew, the Lions are committed to the Australian tour – which is also as much about keeping rugby alive across the ditch ahead of hosting the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Of greater interest to Sports Insider is whether New Zealand Rugby will be courageous enough to include Eden Park as one of the two venues when the Springboks play two back-to-back tests here next year.
Boks fans are already bombing social media with predictions NZR will not be game to put the 30-year unbeaten streak at Eden Park on the line against the back-to-back World Cup champions.
No word yet from NZR on that score, but surely an Auckland test at the All Blacks’ most successful ground is a no-brainer.
What are the chances that a combat sport comprising almost exclusively male fans and headed by a burly, bald, T-shirt clad promoter who constantly drops F-bombs could show the world of professional sport and entertainment an exciting new future?
Dana White boasted ahead of UFC 306 that his fight night last Sunday at the iconic Las Vegas Sphere would be “the greatest live event in the history of sport”.
From a production viewpoint for both the sellout crowd attending and the record global broadcast audience, it was not hyperbole.
Indeed, the star of the show was the US$3 billion ($4.8b) Sphere, completed last year as a breakthrough entertainment venue which has already transformed music events, showcased by Irish band U2.
But other than the last NFL player draft, the Sphere had not yet hosted a major live sports event – until White stepped forward with a proposal to host a blockbuster fight night celebrating Mexican Independence Day.
The Sphere’s immersive experience via its massive digital screens allowed the UFC to showcase the long history of great boxers and combat fighters from Mexico.
White then added his own touch. Drones were used for the first time to offer unique perspectives. Fans were able to feel punches through haptic feedback in the seats.
“This changes everything... this is the future of sport,” White said after a spectacular night that assaulted the senses and was unlike anything ever seen in world sport.
From the moment UFC commentator Joe Rogan spoke collectively for the entire audience when he breathlessly reacted “Whoa!!!” to the opening scene, the Sphere transformed the live viewing experience.
“I feel like every UFC should be here,” Rogan added. “I am just blown away by the visuals.”
The lofty praise extended to world media. The Sports Business Journal described the Sphere as “inescapable in its live sporting event debut” with White afterwards predicting future sports venues will be built specifically to showcase similar innovations.
“From the beginning of the pay-per-view portion of the fight card, the live audience inside Sphere was taken on a wild ride that merged sports and entertainment on a level perhaps never seen before,” the Journal wrote.
“The incorporation of all the futuristic visual and audio capabilities available only at Sphere created the kind of experience those in attendance will never forget. But it also had to leave many wondering what on earth could be next.”
White, who spent US$20 million ($32m) on the production compared to his “normal” investment of US$2m per fight night, devised an event that was as much story-telling as it was live professional sport.
Between each of the five cards on the main bill, the Sphere’s giant video screens vividly told a chapter of Mexican combat sport history, all in a different “world”.
White, who gave a masterclass in how to host a post-event press conference (it should be compulsory viewing for all sports promoters), is a true risk-taker who is showing the world’s biggest sports where the future experience for the fan lies.
I predict America’s NBA league will be the next sport to capitalise on this breakthrough but it will be future sports venues who have the most to learn (and gain) from the UFC’s courage and vision.
A new frontier in sports entertainment has arrived.
Will Warbrick and Ronaldo Mulitalo: The two New Zealanders are the best wingers in Australia’s NRL competition right now with respective teams the Melbourne Storm and Cronulla Sharks still alive in the playoffs.
McLaren: The iconic papaya orange colours of the F1 team made famous by Kiwi motorsport giant Bruce McLaren are back on top of the Constructors Championship for the first time in more than a decade. That’s Red Bull’s knees you can hear playing cymbals.
Premier League lawyers: The legal eagles overseeing the glamour English competition opened their case against serial cheats Manchester City this week. There are more than 100 charges of competition breaches from between 2009 and 2023. Go get ‘em!
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