Source: Radio New Zealand
ANZ Premiership players are taking a pay cut this year. Photosport
Several New Zealand netball franchises explored joining Australia’s expanding Super Netball competition, but have ruled it out as financially unviable.
Australia’s governing body confirmed last year it was considering adding two new teams to the Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) from 2027, and was open to expressions of interest from New Zealand.
While neither Netball New Zealand nor Netball Australia would confirm whether a formal bid was submitted before last month’s deadline, RNZ understands investigations were carried out by both the national body and local franchises.
Magic team relationship manager Gary Dawson said the opportunity generated interest, but the costs involved made it unrealistic.
“I know that some zones had a look at it and thought ‘no we can’t it’s not viable for us’.”
Netball Australia invited expressions of interest from parties interested in acquiring a new licence, including private-ownership groups, existing SSN licence-holders, and entities affiliated with other codes.
“That’s been something that I know that not only has Netball NZ looked at but I think there have been interested parties in New Zealand outside of Netball NZ who have looked at that and I’m not sure where that stands.
“My understanding is that yes Netball NZ has certainly looked at it but my understanding is it’s not necessarily part of their plans at the moment.”
Dawson said some of the zones, who generally own and operate their ANZ Premiership teams, quickly realised it wasn’t feasible.
“Just about all of us sort of had a look at it but when you do the numbers you have to be pretty ambitious if you’re a zone to even look at it I would have thought. My understanding is none of them have put a bid in, some may have, I’m not sure.
“For Magic it was just out of the question anyway because we’ve got to get our own house in order before we even think about Australia.
“Our focus really at the moment has been on getting this year up and running and making it a great competition but also working with Netball NZ to make sure we’ve got plans in place for next year and beyond.”
The Tactix were crowned maiden title winners last year but lost seven players soon after. Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Dawson, a former Waikato Rugby and Chiefs chief executive, said just pursuing an SSN licence would take a lot of time and resource.
“Then you would have to pay a licence fee to join, you’ve got a whole bunch of costs like who pays for trans-Tasman travel, player remuneration is another kettle of fish, you would have to meet whatever their salary cap requirements are and all that sort of stuff so it’s a whole new ball game when you look at that competition so you would have to have pretty strong financial backing from sponsors or private equity to be able to put in a bid I would imagine.
“It’s really up to Netball NZ to decide when they look at the different financial models and so on what they can afford or not.
“Personally I don’t think it’s a big deal, I think all the focus is really going on the ANZ Premiership and making sure that it’s a great competition this year and we come out of it strong with a good product that we can go into following years with.”
Dawson said it was still possible that a private consortium in New Zealand could have put together some sort of bid.
“There could be private interests who said ‘let’s create a team to enter in the Australian league’, a bit like the Warriors or Auckland FC – that’s certainly a possibility, other organisations have done that, but I don’t know.”
NNZ exploring 2027 options
The six franchises are about to enter another ANZ Premiership season under a cloud of uncertainty as to where its future lies, with no broadcast deal in place yet from 2027.
The ANZ Premiership was launched in 2017 after the demise of the former trans-Tasman league. PHOTOSPORT
Dawson said Netball NZ had been working with the franchises and other key stakeholders over the future of the domestic competition, which starts on 11 April.
“To figure out what 2027 and even 2028 could possibly look like. They’ve come to us with a timeline and the different pieces of work that need to be done to come to decisions about next year and the year after.
“I would hope that by the end of April, early May at the very latest, that we have an indication from Netball NZ as to what 2027 will look like. Just from a practical point of view, we have to book venues, we have to start talking to potential sponsors and all those sorts of things.”
The look and feel of the ANZ Premiership has not materially changed since its inaugural season in 2017 and Dawson said the national body was exploring all sorts of options.
“I’m not across all of them but looking at a number of options as to how we could have different leagues or a league running next year and until all that work’s done and they’ve made their decision, it’s just speculation at the moment but I do know they are looking at a variety of options for what will I think ultimately be the best outcome given the circumstances.”
Dawson said everyone had to be adaptable when there was less money in the system.
“The players have taken a 20 percent pay cut this year but the quid pro quo there is that they are also not expected to train as much as they have in the past so while they’re earning less they are doing less work technically.”
He said they have had to tighten their spending across the board.
“That’s been a fact of life for just about all franchises for the last four or five years that we run on a pretty tight budget, the revenue from sponsorship gets harder and harder and obviously through Netball NZ with the broadcast rights, that revenue has reduced so it is a difficult environment financially.”
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand