Brumbies in talks with ARU over forming an Alliance
The Australian Rugby Union is negotiating with the Brumbies to enter into a financial partnership with the Super Rugby franchise, stopping short of a takeover.
The national governing body formed an “alliance” with the *financially struggling Western Force earlier this year, buying the club’s intellectual property rights for $800,000.
The same offer has been put to Australia’s four other Super Rugby franchises — the Brumbies, NSW Waratahs, Queensland Reds and Melbourne Rebels — who are all experiencing financial challenges to varying degrees.
ARU chief executive Bill Pulver said the Brumbies were yet to take up the offer of an alliance, but they were in deep discussions.
“There is some pretty detailed dialogue going on,” Pulver said. “I met with Rob Kennedy (Brumbies chairman) and Phil Thomson (interim chief executive) a couple of days ago about the Brumbies’ *environment. They are looking hard at the opportunities. I’d like to think so. I think the arguments we are putting forward are pretty compelling.
“Essentially, no one cares about administration. What people care about are their clubs and their teams and their Wallabies and their Wallaroos and their men’s and women’s sevens teams.
“That’s what people love about rugby. You don’t need a whole lot of expensive administration. So why not streamline all of that in a way that delivers the best possible outcome from a high performance perspective and let people focus on what they love about the game. It’s not the administrators.”
Unlike, the Force, it is understood the Brumbies, or more spe*cifically the ACT Rugby Union, are unwilling to sell their intellectual property rights to the ARU, which would effectively result in a takeover.
“Not that we wouldn’t, but that’s not the sort of conversation we are having,” Pulver said. “It’s about how we are allowing them to focus more energy with our support on their high performance community. There are three key functions: your community engagement, your professional rugby environment and your commercial outcomes.
“We need to deliver the best possible result in each of those areas by minimising the cost of the administration. ACT Rugby Union is a wonderful enterprise, but we think it could operate even more effectively with a slightly closer *relationship with us.
“In terms of a timing perspective we are probably further down the track with the ACT than we are with the others.”
Pulver said he would continue to talk to the Waratahs, Reds and Rebels about forming an alliance with the ARU.
“I’m talking to every Super Rugby club,” Pulver said. “The Western Force alliance is a good example. We managed to take a fair bit of cost out of the enterprise. Stuff that really didn’t add value to their enterprise. They are leaning more heavily on our high performance capability, which will help. It’s a more logical way to run the business.
“We have been caught in this federated model for a long time. These are opportunities for enhancement that I’m putting in front of every state union. I’d love to think the vision for the future is we are collaborating a lot more *effectively, avoiding expensive duplication and cutting costs and taking advantage of all those areas where you can approve high performance outcomes.
“We are also talking to Queensland and NSW and every state about opportunities to operate more effectively together.”
Pulver described the financial state of Australian rugby as “okay”, but admitted the Super Rugby franchises were still a concern.
“We did a terrific broadcast deal, which took us from a really troublesome financial environment to one that is far more stable,” Pulver said.
“Overall, it’s okay is how I would assess it. We still have some financial challenges, particularly in Super Rugby.”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spor...36b08a7564b840
