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ARU acquires Western Force’s IP rights, but denies it’s a rescue
- NEWS LIMITED
- FEBRUARY 18, 2016 12:00AM
- Bret Harris
The ARU has acquired the intellectual property rights of the Western Force, including their Super Rugby licence, in a deal believed to be worth $800,000 in an effort to help the franchise out of financial difficulty.The Western Force’s Matt Hodgson, Waratahs’ Wycliff Palu, Reds’ James Slipper, Brumbies’ Christian Lealiifano and Rebels’ Nic Stirzaker at yesterday’s Super Rugby season launch.
The ARU has also offered to buy back the intellectual property rights from the other three Australian Super Rugby franchises, having already retained the rights of the Melbourne Rebels as part of a recent private ownership deal.
“It’s not dissimilar in other competitions, the governing body will hold the IP rights for those competitions and the teams in the competition,” ARU general manager of professional rugby Rob Clarke said at the Super Rugby season launch at the Wet and Wild waterpark in Sydney’s west yesterday. “And the ARU has the rights of the Rebels and the Force. That’s just a strategic initiative that over time may encompass the rest of the organisations.
“There’s an opportunity for those franchises if they wish to sell their IP back, then that’s something we would put to all of them. That will be an ongoing discussion.
“I wouldn’t say it may have to happen. It’s one of those things that is on the table and there will be ongoing dialogue.”
Asked whether the ARU had bought the Force’s intellectual property rights because the franchise was in financial difficulty, Clarke said: “All Super Rugby teams have financial challenges from time to time.
“I’m very confident that (Force chief executive) Mark Sinderberry and his team are managing those well, just as the other CEOs are managing their challenges in the market place.”
Sinderberry acknowledged that the ARU’s buyback was financial assistance for challenges the franchise was facing.
“It actually doesn’t mean a lot because we have an option to buy back at any time. That’s the most important thing,” Sinderberry said. “It was a way of assisting us with some funding challenges and also it protects the game more broadly.
“It’s a bit like the Rebels situation. The ARU actually own the rights but we’ve got a licensing agreement for an extended period of time. You’ve got a right to use the licence. It’s like you’ve got a lease on a car.”
The ARU had to financially support the Rebels for a few years when original private owner Harold Mitchell bailed out after losing millions of dollars on the 2011 expansion franchise.
The Imperium Group, a financial consultancy, has taken the Rebels off the ARU’s hands following a private ownership deal that was struck last year.
Asked whether the Imperium Group had any apprehension about operating the Rebels after their previous financial losses, managing director Andrew Cox said: “No. Ultimately the professional side of the sport needs to be run as a business. That’s about getting the right people doing the right things.
“And it’s about brand management. We have to deliver a better experience to people coming to our games. The food, the entertainment, the merchandise, everything.”
Clarke said the public needed to be educated about the format of the new expanded Super Rugby competition, which involves 18 teams, one each from Argentina and Japan, two divisions and four conferences.
“The first challenge is to educate people to understand what the competition is about,” Clarke said. “A lot of work has been going into that.
“We have been trying to explain it simply with the six, five, four rule. Australian teams will play six games against Australian teams. They will play the five New Zealand teams and they will play four of the eight in South Africa. And that will rotate the next season.
“I think at the end of the day rugby fans who follow their team will just focus on their team and they will be able to understand it pretty clearly.
“There’s no ideal structure when you are dealing across four different countries wrapped around this globe of ours. There’s always going to be compromise and we are never going to get some of the neat solutions we might *ideally like. But we believe what we have put together is going to add both value and fan engagement to the game.”
Meanwhile, the ARU will introduce a new Super Rugby under-20s competition to be played as Super Rugby curtain-raisers. The six-week competition, which starts in two weeks, will see the five under-20s teams playing each other once with a final between the two top-ranked sides.
“It’s been talked about for a while,” Clarke said. “We’ve just been looking at how to build it out at the right time to make sure the level of competition and the players available will be at the right level.
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