Fiddling with finals won't cure sickness

Rugby took one step forward and two back when it announced an extended playoffs format for next year's Super 14.

The blindingly obvious decision (the competition often only cranks into life during the playoffs, only to end abruptly a week later) contained little other detail.

Although the move extends the competition by a week, surprisingly it may not return any extra revenue. New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew said they hadn't even asked broadcasters for any.

"That's something we need to discuss internally and with the broadcasters first."

Which begs the question: why did Sanzar do it? Was it an acknowledgement that the Super 14 is sick?

Dismal TV ratings in New Zealand and Australia (only South Africa bucked the dire trend) appear to be the driver.

A quick look at the ratings for the first five All Blacks tests of the year shows the game's popularity at test level is fairly stable. Audiences are hovering around the 500,000 mark. The opening match of the Tri Nations rated well (522,800 - though last week's figure fell to 471,500). So Sanzar decided to fix the Super 14 first.

If the change conjures additional interest, and there's no reason why it won't, then it will strengthen its position before re- negotiating its broadcasting contract.

If it doesn't then Sanzar is in big trouble. One detects a whiff of desperation to all this, or at least an element of experimentation.

After all not many businesses would provide their benefactors with free material unless they were testing their market.

It was interesting to note New Zealand Rugby Players' Association chief executive Rob Nichol was in Perth for this week's talks. Nichol's view on all this is simple. He and the players he represents strongly believe the solution to the game's problems rest in revamping our competitions.

Make them the best in the world and players will think twice about leaving.

One of the main reasons they head abroad is boredom - the main reason, of course, is money.

But their income situation in New Zealand is not as bad as first thought. The NZRU paid 154 players $21 million last year (about $135,000 each), excluding the 26-man world cup squad. So the bog standard Super 14 player is living pretty comfortably.

The elite All Blacks' base salary would be roughly double that. On top of that All Blacks were paid an average $100,000 each by their provinces, although most didn't even play in the Air New Zealand Cup.

Why are the provinces doing this? Well, it seems they're shelling out the big bucks to secure the services of our top players during the Super 14.

The amount was disclosed in a discussion document released by the NZRU and it's one of the reasons why the provinces will, in some cases, limp to the start line of the Air New Zealand Cup on July 31.

The other is they're paying far too much to your bog standard provincial player.

In all, the provinces spent $20.6m on player contracts last year. About $11.6m went directly into the pockets of non-Super 14 players. That means they're banking on average about $45,000 for 15 weeks' work.

The situation is unsustainable. Although, moves to rectify the situation are afoot, the game is living beyond its means and the latest changes to the Super 14 will do nothing to improve rugby's bottom line.

- © Fairfax NZ News