Sports Insider: Meet the Aussie who controls the future of top Kiwi sport

Danny Townsend, the Warriors in Vegas, Dame Lydia Ko and Nathan Cleary. Photo / Getty Images, Photosport

It’s only a matter of time before Saudi Arabia’s disruption of world sport impacts New Zealand; Kiwi rugby officials will be among those looking for clues from the Australian controlling the Saudi cash purse strings when he speaks at a major sports conference in Melbourne next week; and allegations the Warriors were more interested in seeing the sights of Las Vegas than securing a critical season-opening win.

If you’re a leader within New Zealand professional sport, all roads lead to Melbourne next week. And if you’re New Zealand Rugby, you better be there.

SportNXT is billed as a “sports thought leadership summit” and runs the same week as the Formula One championship kicks off with the Australian Grand Prix.

The annual three-day conference has become a must-attend event for top Kiwi sports industry figures including broadcasters, sports organisations, leading athlete managers and any other substantial figures who earn a living from sport in this country.

Previous headline speakers at earlier conferences have included American NBA kingpin Adam Silver and athletics great and administrator Lord Sebastian Coe.

So Danny Townsend is among heady company, being promoted as one of the keynote speakers at the fifth edition of SportNXT.

Australian Danny Townsend is running Saudi Arabia's sports investment fund. Photo / Getty Images

Townsend, who spent four years as CEO of Sydney FC before taking on the same role at the head of the A-League competition, is the boss of SURJ Sports Investment, a newly formed division of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

The 47-year-old Australian ostensibly holds the keys to the cash cow which has become the greatest disruptor in sport’s history.

No other country is affecting major sport globally more than Saudi Arabia.

Its sovereign wealth fund has caused quite the stir, upending and creating havoc in sports like golf, tennis and football – and all funded by a regime with a marked level of ruthlessness.

There seems to be little outrage that the man appointed to run the Saudis’ sports racket gains centre stage at the conference and is being promoted as a major drawcard. Sports Insider thinks this merely illustrates that “sportswashing” is working for the Saudis.

The Saudis can’t be ignored. They are not going away and hence Townsend can expect plenty of attention at the conference.

Some attendees will be combing his public speech for clues of future Saudi investment, particularly in this part of the world.

Some, like rugby (and this conference will draw World Rugby and Rugby Australia heavyweights as well as our own), might be tempted to seek out Townsend for a private moment.

Two of them might share the same surname.

Newly-elected World Rugby chair Brett Robinson must desperately want to know if the Saudis hold any interest in the game.

Brett Robinson is the chair of World Rugby. Photo / Three Plus

Robinson campaigned on the theme of fiscal responsibility among national unions as more of them march off a financial cliff. He knows rugby needs a massive cash injection to survive as a relevant global professional sport. But where is the cash going to come from?

Best we know now whether the Saudis have an eye on rugby so the sport knows what cloth it can afford to cut – polyester or silk?

New Zealand Rugby’s (NZR) Mark Robinson, who – like his Aussie namesake has worn the playing colours of his national team – and the organisation he runs also need future surety.

NZR has run into severe financial headwinds and needs a new plan. Again, it’s best we know now if the Saudis are going to come after rugby or not.

So Townsend can expect to be a man in demand next week.

What does Townsend think of rugby?

Townsend was a surprise choice for the Saudi role and his tenure as A-League boss is mostly remembered for the ill-fated launch of a digital-content venture that the Sydney Morning Herald reported largely squandered a one third investment from Silver Lake worth nearly A$140 million ($155m).

A-League club owners have been left with the devastating outcome which includes massive repayments to the American private-equity company (a scenario that might sound familiar to New Zealand rugby fans).

Nonetheless, Townsend has wound up as the chief cheque-writer for the Saudis.

Does it help rugby in particular that an Australian is in that same position?

Who knows? I can’t imagine Townsend had any great love for rugby when he was running Australian football. He would also know the code is a distant fourth in Aussie’s footy wars and has a big mountain to climb.

But he will be aware of the All Blacks’ standing and the fact that unlike golf, the Saudis would need to convince national unions as well as players to come with them so they can secure key intellectual property assets such as the name of the team.

Oh, to be a discreet fly on the wall at Melbourne’s inner-city bars next week.

Were the Warriors on a jolly in Las Vegas?

The Warriors assistant coach allegedly going UFC in Las Vegas during the halftime break of the NRL season-opener wasn’t the only thing to catch the eye in the NRL season opener.

By comparison with the aggressive nature alleged in Richard Agar’s behaviour towards an English journalist, the observations of a Sydney Daily Telegraph sports columnist in Sin City for the double-header might seem small beer.

Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas. Photo / Photosport

After watching the sub-par performance against Canberra, Vegas Tackle columnist Travis Meyn wrote the following under a headline of “Warriors’ Sins”.

“Teams can go looking for reasons why they lost a game but the Warriors shouldn’t have to dig too deep.

“The Tackle witnessed a couple of things during the week that had us concerned.

“On Tuesday night [local time], six Warriors players were gambling on the casino floor past 9pm. We’re not suggesting they were breaking rules but it was a strange look.

“On match eve, another group attended the Kevin Hart show at Resorts World, which didn’t finish until after midnight.

“The Warriors were the last team to arrive in the US, touching down last Saturday, and might not have got Vegas fever out of their system early enough.”

Hmmm ... seems the 10,000 travelling Wahs fans weren’t the only ones intent on savouring the sights and sounds of Sin City.

And, yes, it was a once-in-a-career opportunity for the Warriors players and given the NRL’s halls of player behaviour are littered with infamy, this might seem small-minded.

But it’s starting to look like the Vegas opener was being treated by some players as a pre-season jolly instead of a crucial first challenge in a make-or-break season.

With no apparent axe to grind, the Telegraph journo felt he had seen enough in the Warriors’ attitude during the week to explain to his Aussie audience why the team had been so unexpectedly thumped by the Raiders.

The failure to show up at Allegiant Stadium in a meaningful way was a bad look for the Warriors. The NRL can’t have been particularly pleased either that game one of their bold plan was such a dud.

The first Las Vegas double-header games last year were the most-watched club rugby league matches ever viewed in Australia. This year’s figures are apparently similar.

The takeout for the Aussie audience? “Well, the Warriors were ... well, they were the Warriors.”

Some commentators expressed their disappointment for the travelling troupe of Warriors fans, who were comfortably the biggest cohort of fans among the four clubs.

Fielding pity from Aussies doesn’t feel like a bumper way to start the season.

On this performance, Sports Insider thinks the “sold-out” signs of the past two seasons will be coming down at Mt Smart Stadium.

The challenge the franchise now faces is the pesky new co-tenants making loud noises and capturing Aucklanders’ affections.

Are we looking at a scenario where Auckland FC not just challenges the Warriors for top crowd status at Mt Smart but beat them?

There is much to play for in 2025 for the Warriors but it has only taken one round to already dampen optimism for the year among the faithful.

Warriors’ rivals back a second Kiwi franchise

The insipid display in Las Vegas comes after a poll of the NRL’s chairs and CEOs revealed 60% support for the NRL’s 20th license being issued to a South Island expansion franchise.

Papua New Guinea was recently announced as the 18th licence-holder and Perth is tipped to be the 19th (the NRL is currently negotiating with the West Australian Government), so the Sydney Morning Herald asked who should get the last one on offer.

The South Island was an overwhelming first choice, ahead of another team from Brisbane (12%) and central Queensland (8%).

Presumably, the South Island didn’t get the Warriors’ vote given the club is on record that another expansion team in New Zealand should not happen for “another 10 to 15 years”.

I believe this is a a self-serving stance that is becoming increasingly challenging for the Warriors to defend while we see what is going on with Auckland FC.

Interestingly, 4% of the club bosses who agreed to participate in the SMH’s poll said the 20th team should be in Auckland, sharing the city with the Warriors.

That is overwhelmingly the view of Sports Insider as well, but I hold no confidence it – or in fact a second Kiwi franchise – will ever happen. The prospect of a new club being funded from the public purse isn’t going to wash in New Zealand.

I believe the 20th team will come from the southeastern corridor of Queensland in a deal similar to the latest expansion team, the Redcliffe Dolphins. They joined the competition as an asset and cash-rich business operation.

What to make of Vegas?

Season two of the NRL’s Great Las Vegas Experiment revealed a few home truths.

The game is making zero dent in capturing American sports fans.

Warriors fans inside Allegiant Stadium. Photo / Photosport

For the second year, the 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium was well shy of the sellout the NRL had hoped for.

But for the size of the travelling Kiwi contingent, the NRL might have been looking at a half-full stadium. One in four among the 40,000 crowd were Warriors supporters.

Instead, it seems like the annual Vegas NRL carnival has simply become an Australian and Kiwi offshore fan experience.

The Aussies and Kiwis took over the famed Strip in Sin City central with fans saying the experience of being in Vegas was like “the Magic Round on steroids”.

Aussie media went all out, hosting breakfast TV shows out of Vegas, and with many travelling “with the assistance of the NRL”, the resulting fawning coverage was predictable but still grating.

I still don’t understand the whole point of this annual exercise. It seems to be just one massive junket.

Team of the Week

Nathan Cleary Pound-for-pound the most skillful player in either rugby code (yes, better than Antonie Dupont), as evidenced in Las Vegas where he led the Penrith Panthers to a close victory in the NRL season opener against an efficient Cronulla side. And to think he could have been a Warrior and Kiwi!

Dame Lydia Ko Another year, another victory already. Ko won the HSBC Women’s World Championship, moving her into second place on the LPGA’s all-time money list with US$20.6m ($26m) behind Annika Sorenstam (US$22.6m).

Wayne Brown The mayor is on a mission to return big events to Auckland. SailGP hit the spot and now the America’s Cup may be coming back. Bravo.