Catch-up edition: Choppy waters at NZRC
A scouring of the news reveals I’ve missed a couple of things, PLUS: Notes from Pune
Highly touted executive Craig Fenton, celebrated as the transformational leader rugby needed when he came on board to lead NZR’s commercial subsidiary NZRC, or CommCo, is leaving after less than a year in the job.
There’s no way you can spin this as anything other than another off-field car-crash for New Zealand Rugby, and further evidence that selling off a chunk of the national game to an American private equity firm — Fenton was seen as a Silver Lake proxy — might yet go down as one of the more dubious pieces of business in New Zealand sports history.
Nobody comes out of this looking anything but silly. Everything about this news, covered off adroitly here by Liam Napier, smells.
Multiple sources told the Herald [that] Fenton’s departure had been brewing for at least a month after he fell out with senior people within NZR, with consultants believed to have been hired in recent weeks.
This is incredible, made all the more curious by his recent media marketing tour where he appeared on long-form podcasts The Fold and Between Two Beers to share his ‘vision’.
Already there are whispers circulating among the rugby cognoscenti of the “real” reasons behind his departure, including suggestions of a battle of egos between Fenton and key NZR staff.
It always pays to take these glib IMHO-type observations with caution, however more than one person mentioned that Fenton’s style seemed more appropriate for a fast-pivoting tech-bro world where decisions can be made and changed on the hoof, rather than a more buttoned-down, unwieldy world of sports administration.
Undoubtedly, the expensive experiment of the in-house NZR+ platform will be in the middle of the room when it comes to discussions about the present and future of CommCo. Rather than being the content-producing, data-harvesting boon that NZR was looking for in its overdue transition to the digital age, it’s been a source of consternation and confusion.
One key figure in the NZ rugby cosmos yesterday told me: “I could never understand the rationale for NZR+, and I still don’t.”
To use an analogy, rather than getting consumers to snorkel where the fish already were, they decided to build their own coral reef.
It cost a pretty penny to develop, failed to pick up anywhere close to its targeted subscribers and was pretty much understood to be written off by Fenton as a folly, with the former Google exec preferring to migrate content to YouTube. While undoubtedly a smart play for eyeballs, it effectively meant NZR was now developing expensive content for someone else’s real estate.
As if by magic, as I was writing this section, a press release from NZR dropped, spruiking a new content collaboration.
Ahead of the All Blacks test against Japan this Saturday, NZR+ has teamed up with Japanese You Tube sensation, Fischer’s in a content series like no other.
Known for their fun yet wacky content filled with games including Ultimate Tag which has over 18 billion YouTube views, Fischer’s challenged All Blacks and Black Ferns Sevens stars in a series of games at Eden Park.
Aside from the confusing Syntax in the intro, if it’s a new demographic you’re aiming for, I’m guessing it’s a good sign that I have never heard of this particular YouTube sensation that manages the apparently difficult balancing act of being “fun yet wacky”.
One of the reasons NZR+ casts such an outsized shadow over NZR is that they are in the midst of complex broadcast renegotiations with Sky. It is understood that the pay-TV network are not willing to mortgage the house for rugby rights this time around and that NZR’s platform, which they have signalled they want to use for live streaming of matches, has given them leverage to bargain them down.
Sky will want to know exactly what NZR’s plans are for the platform, and for All Blacks YouTube, before their next nine-figure commitment. It’s no exaggeration to say the outcome of that negotiation is the single thread that holds New Zealand’s increasingly delicate rugby ecosystem in place. The promised new revenue streams that Silver Lake’s “capability” would deliver have not materialised in the scale needed to take a huge hit on rights.
Already the budgets of the provincial unions have been plundered at the same time as the private investment fund they banked on buying them out of trouble is poised to scrape a large chunk of future NZR revenue in perpetuity.
As Gregor Paul writes ($), how must they view the recent goings on at national HQ, with CEO Mark Robinson choosing a meaningless test in Tokyo above a seat at the NPC final. Throw on top of that Dame Patsy Reddy and Bailey Mackey attending an NZRC board meeting in… Dublin?!
Reddy is standing down as chair in December and Mackey may not be reappointed as he, along with the existing board, has to reapply for his position.
It’s surely better practice… for [Mackey] and Reddy to log into the November 8 board meeting via Zoom.
The optics of spending what will likely end up being between $50,000-$80,000 – a serious amount of money in a provincial union budget – on a board member who is definitely standing down and another who may not be retained, are not good.
The optics of everything NZR right now could be described the same way: not good.
One source indicated that Fenton’s short reign could lead to one logical spinoff, which was to streamline NZRC, remove its subsidiary status and have a single NZR leadership and board.
That would mean one all-powerful NZR CEO and two business leads who report to him or her, one for rugby and one for revenue.
At the moment, as Fenton has wittingly proved, and the Pilkington Report before that, New Zealand rugby is a hamstrung beast unfit for purpose.
Japan v New Zealand, Yokohama, tomorrow 6.50pm, Sky
Napier had a big week, with this interview with Wayne Smith suggesting that at least things on the field might be looking up ($), with the much-maligned NPC held up as a shining example of where rugby, as an entertainment product, could get to.
“If you want a blueprint for New Zealand rugby, that’s what you’re seeing. It’s bringing the crowds back. There’s very little kicking, a lot of ball movement and it’s great to watch. It’s a shining light in rugby at the moment.
“Looking to the future you’d imagine laws are going to change. They’ll legislate for that NPC style game to be played so there’s fewer rucks, scrum resets, fewer penalty kicks into touch. That’s what I’m hearing. If that’s the case, we’re ahead of the game because that’s the way we’re playing. I find that really exciting.”
Wellington v Bay of Plenty, Wellington, tomorrow 3.05pm, Sky