By Georgina Robinson
1 November 2018 — 8:00pm
Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle says she is hopeful of an uplift in broadcast revenue for the next iteration of Super
Rugby and the Rugby Championship as World League talks continue to provide optimism in the southern hemisphere.
(Hopeful and optimistic, sounds like there is no certainty at all)
Castle and her SANZAAR counterparts tacked a sales pitch at international sports broadcasting conference Sportel in Monaco on to a trip north to watch the third Bledisloe Cup clash in Japan last week.
(Who are they trying to sell to, are Foxtel not interested anymore and they need a new broadcaster??)
The southern hemisphere national unions are in the throes of negotiating the shape of their domestic and international competitions for 2021 and beyond and went to Sportel to get a feel for market interest.
(market interest, journo speak for our old broadcaster is no longer interested??)
Castle was measured but optimistic that a broadcast offering taking in the cross-hemisphere World League concept and a reformed Super Rugby would deliver more money for all the SANZAAR partners.
(more money, of course you need more money!!)
"The interesting thing is what package do you take to the broadcasters? You can’t look at Super Rugby in isolation," she said.
(no you can't it is broken and cannot be fixed)
"Our domestic competition is Super Rugby, [there's] our international product and then there’s the potential of this World League and that is no doubt a strategic conversation from World Rugby to see if we can maximise our broadcast rights right across the world.
(need some help from the big boys do ya?)
"It’s about what we can do, having broadcast conversations in this market, about the rugby package, that we can deliver.
On the package, yes I do think we can grow our broadcast revenues."
(show me the money)
The World League concept has delayed agreement on Super Rugby and the Rugby Championship, with a likely timeline now pushed back until the middle of next year while World Rugby tries to broker agreement from the home unions.
(excuses, excuses, you know it is screwed and are delaying the inevitable)
Castle, who was in Sydney to announce a new partnership between the Australian Army and Rugby Australia, confirmed it was unlikely a Fijian or Pacific Islands team would be added to Super Rugby in the next broadcast cycle, despite the success of the Drua in this year's National Rugby Championship.
(you want to take them down with you're sinking ship, hope they don't fall it)
"It’s an interesting balance for us in Super Rugby," she said. "Is that the place to try and trial new products and bring them into the environment? We know that the financial sustainability of teams has been a real challenge for every nation within the Super Rugby competition and financial sustainability is a really important part of the mix.
(new products, that worked well with Japan and the Argies didn't it)
"So for us we see the success of the Drua as an opportunity to grow and evolve. Will we see a Fijian or Pacific Islands team in the short term in Super Rugby? Possibly not in the very short term but we continue to have those conversations."
(keep stringing them along until World Rugby give you some money to take them in is what I read)
In some good news for the Australian game, next year's Bledisloe Cup Test in Perth - including a double header with the Wallaroos and Black Ferns - sold out on Thursday, just six days after going on sale. It is the first time a Bledisloe Cup Tests has sold out since 2006, albeit at a smaller venue in the 60,000-seat Optus Stadium.
(probably the only good news that we have had for Australian Rugby this year and it came from WA)
Castle said it showed rugby was alive and well in Western Australia and confirmed RA were in talks to add another Test match to next year's abridged schedule ahead of the Rugby World Cup.
(yes it is alive and well in WA, always was, despite ARU trying to kill it off)
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-u...01-p50dg8.html