A prominent Australian sports consultancy group has recommended Rugby Australia should opt-out of Super Rugby in its current form.
Gemba Group has previously advised New Zealand Rugby on strategies to arrest declines in Super Rugby attendances, but has now made the bold statement that Australian fans just aren't interested in the tournament enough to justify its current place in Rugby Australia's priorities.
A devastating set of statistics underlay the advice, highlighted by a 43 percent drop in the average Super Rugby audience since 2013. Within that figure, Australians aged 16-39years have recorded a 73 per cent decline.
The group's research also concluded that rugby union is the ninth most popular sport in the Australian market, compared to first place in New Zealand and third in South Africa, behind cricket and football.
The consultancy's chief executive and founder Rob Mills, told the Sydney Morning Herald from where they are coming from at the moment they think the Sanzaar model is massively problematic and Covid-19 has laid that bare a little.
The report recommended that Rugby Australia should move its focus from Super Rugby to instead rebuild its domestic game, where traditional rivalries still appeal to fans. Super Rugby can then act as a Champions League-style tournament at the end of the season.
Source: NZ Herald
