How to give Super Rugby the Hollywood reboot it desperately needs

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED IN 2017!!!

Unless you're Andrew Mulligan, John Campbell, Martin Devlin or an equally long suffering Hurricanes fan, did anyone really care about this season of Super Rugby?

In a time when the fight for audience's eye balls is more intense than the battle of the bastards in 'Game Of Thrones' rugby needs to recognise it's time to move on. Time to take that comfortable, filled with memories and nostalgia 1996 model Honda Civic and trade it in for a wifi equipped Prius.

Someone call Ari Gold cause here's the pitch... 


Step 1 - Break-Up With South Africa

It’s time for the NZRFU and the ARU to pull out their cell phones and flick South Africa the old “It’s not you, it’s me…” text.

Super Rugby has been in it’s current existence since the sport went professional in 96, with the formation of SANZAR to create a rugby board powerhouse three-way of NZ, Australia and South Africa.

It all started so well… Super Rugby was the professional multi-nation rugby competition that Southern Hemisphere rugby fans had been waiting for. Kiwi teams vs Aussie and South Africa teams and so it was for nine years. Then two more teams were added in 2006, another in 2011 and to fully complete the "Jumping Of The Shark" teams were added in Argentina and Japan this year…

And now no one cares, kiwi fans only care about when the NZ teams play each other, most don’t even know there is a team in Japan. And no one even knows how to pronounce the name of the Argentine team. 

So it’s time for NZ & Australia to cut and run. To create their own weekly competition where games are played in only a three hour time difference. The added interest for the NZ and Australian markets of games being in a more accessible timezone will potentially boost live viewing TV numbers, meaning higher advertising revenues for the host broadcasters.

 
Step 2 - Teams and Schedule

As Chris Martin once said “Let’s take it back to the start”. 

12 teams seems the perfect amount with 8 (Auckland, Waikato, Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago, Southland) teams in New Zealand and 4 in Australia (NSW, Queensland, ACT and Melbourne or Perth can decide their fate in a franchise Hunger Games).

This would mean a schedule of 6 a games week. 2 on Friday 7.30pm in NZ & 9.30pm in Australia, 3 games on Saturday 3.30pm in NZ or Australia, 7.30pm in NZ & 9.30pm in Australia and then Sunday 3.30pm in NZ or Australia 

So, yes that means the long awaited return of day time rugby! And could we dare to dream that one 7.30pm match each week is broadcast live on Free to air TV? SKY will fight the non exclusive set up of the TV deal, but take a look at similar models in Australia for cricket and Canada for ice hockey. Their non siphoning laws exist to make sure some sporting events of national significance are broadcast live on a free to air channel. 

Part 3 - Money

Ditching South Africa means a potential loss of millions in TV revenue. However, this finally means its time for this “professional” game to become “professional”. 

Independent owners for the franchises who are responsible for the full cost of the franchise. Player costs, staff costs etc. This will lighten the financial burden on the NZRFU, who will then only have to pay players on an All Black level. 

Potential owners would need to pay an amount for each franchise which would be spilt between the NZRFU and the local provincial rugby unions. The NZRFU would lose control of the franchises, however they would make a crap ton of money from the purchase. There is also nothing to stop a business group made up of the provinces in each area making a bid to buy a franchise.

Part 4 - International Availability & International Window

Close your eyes and think of a world where a prominent All Black wants to play somewhere outside of NZ and make a crap load of money but still be available to play for the All Blacks… A world where Dan Coles could sign with the Warratahs but still be available to play for the All Blacks. Or that dead ringer for “Riggs From Lethal Weapon” Michael Hooper could be a massive franchise changing signing for the Blues and still be eligible for the Wallabies. 

This works for the National teams as they get to keep track of their players in a Southern Hemisphere competition, not be on the hook for the base salary, and then have them available for call up for international duty. 

So, when would these international games be? If the Super Rugby season was to run from the first weekend of April until the last weekend of October there would be two distinct international windows. Starting in the first weekend of June featuring a 3 test series against the All Blacks with 3 of the Super rugby teams playing midweek games against the touring side. The Bledisloe Cup would be contested in 3 tests spread across weekends from the end of the international series and then the first weekend of every month after that. During these Bledisloe Cup weeks there would be no Super Rugby matches. 

But won’t people lose interest in the Super Rugby programme during the international window? No, because the All Blacks are a media consuming tesseract and of course teams could always make trades… 

The second international window would consist of a trip up to the Northern Hemisphere/South Africa after the Super Rugby title is handed out finishing in the first weekend of December.

That gives the international players an off season of Dec-Jan-Feb and preseason/training camp beginning in March.  

 
Part 5 - Trades, Free Agency & Draft

Why should a franchise who has a particular organisational strength not be rewarded for it? When the Crusaders had about 17 Super Rugby level 1st Fives, why shouldn't they be able to use it to help in a position of need? If Super Rugby really wants to call itself a professional sport it’s time to adopt a professional mentality when it comes to its players. This also brings about the glorious opportunity for fans, media and of course the internet to be a buzz with Trade rumours. 

Imagine if the Blues start the season without a win in four games and are still searching for that star first five they’ve been looking for since Carlos and his toffee pops left. There are rumours of Lima Sopoaga, who is on that last year of his contract and has a desire to move on from the Highlanders. The amount of possible trade packages the Blues would have to put together to get him would help fuel and drive speculation amongst fans and create buzz amongst the media. 

This also leads into the invention of a “Free Agency” period in the same mould as the US sports leagues. Teams would only be able to negotiate contracts with players in their own franchise until a date set a month after the season. From this date at 12pm, it is all on for teams to start crawling over each other to sign the key free agent. Think of the bidding war for Ardie Savea if he was set to become at Free Agent this summer? Would there be any franchise in the comp that wouldn’t be chasing him with a blank cheque? Fans will love the talk and the hype leading up to the Free Agency Day. Could the miserable season be forgotten with the hope of next year and a key signing? Or for that team that came so close, what is the key piece they could add to push them to the title?

Speaking of hope for the bad teams, that is where the draft comes in. Every player who turns 18 within a certain time period each year would then be eligible for the draft. Whether they are playing Club rugby, 1st XV rugby in New Zealand or playing overseas in Aussie, South Africa, Argentina, England, France wherever. They could be the next face of your franchise. Although the risk for teams drafting those kids in South Africa and the Northern hemisphere would be whether they would actually come down to the South Hemisphere to play.

But, as that ghost of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson once said to Kevin Costner “If you build it, he will come”. Players want to play in the best competition because they want to play against the best. New Zealand should not apologise for being a rugby super power. They should embrace it and walk with a strut that no other nation can compete with. 

Back to the draft, it would promote parity in the league and even the playing field giving the bottom placed team the best chance to add the top Under 19 rugby player in the sport. And don’t forget the draft is a massive event itself. With teams trying to deal draft picks and players to move up and possibly draft that future of the franchise...

Thoughts?   

 Words by Joseph Durie - Please direct all hate to Joe_Ray_Me on Twitter