If you are at all interested in understanding what's going wrong at rugby headquarters in Wellington, can I recommend that you read Gregor Paul's piece in the Herald today? It's an excellent summation.  

The question that we had yesterday when we were looking at the financials was how on Earth is it that New Zealand Rugby pulls in more money than it ever has in a financial year and still manages to not make a profit? How do you do that? The answer is it seems going by Gregor's piece, it's just wasteful spending and spending in the wrong places.  

For example, New Zealand rugby spent more than seven and a half million dollars last year on paying board members and executives. That is more than the seven million it spent on Heartland rugby teams last year and it is more than five and a half million it spent on its five Super Rugby clubs.

No organisation should spend more on the people running the thing then on the thing itself, that's nuts.  

New Zealand Rugby flew two board members, Dame Patsy Reddy and Bailey Mackey, to the UK last year when they were leaving the organisation the following month.  

What's the point of that?  If you know that people are leaving, stop flying them places. They're now redundant, aren’t they?  

When the All Blacks played in Tokyo, they took players and coaches and management. Fair enough.  

But then they also took administrative staff and executive staff.  

That was 75 people for a rugby game. Honestly, that's way too much.  

Do you know how much they were paying at the hotel they were staying at? $900 a night.  

That is an organisation spending like it's in the gold mining game, not like it's an organisation making more annual losses than profits in recent memory.  

Gregor Paul suggests some people are going to lose their jobs and I think that's probably fair.  

To be fair to NZR, we all understand what's going on here and not all of it is their fault.

 The biggest problem they've got is that rugby is boring. That's because the rules suck and NZR has only got so much control over the rules. It's really a World Rugby problem.

But for NZR, it has been obvious for ages that the problems that they face with participation and viewership, attendance, and money are not going to get solved anytime soon.  

Now, if you know things are tough and they're not improving, do you not put the credit card away? Do you not cut the spending?  

You and I might, but not NZR, apparently, and that's their fault.

If you are at all interested in understanding what's going wrong at rugby headquarters in Wellington, can I recommend that you read Gregor Paul's piece in the Herald today? It's an excellent summation. &nbsp;
The question that we had yesterday when we were looking at the financials was how on Earth is it that New Zealand Rugby pulls in more money than it ever has in a financial year and still manages to not make a profit? How do you do that? The answer is it seems going by Gregor's piece, it's just wasteful spending and spending in the wrong places. &nbsp;
For example, New Zealand rugby spent more than seven and a half million dollars last year on paying board members and executives. That is more than the seven million it spent on Heartland rugby teams last year and it is more than five and a half million it spent on its five Super Rugby clubs.
No organisation should spend more on the people running the thing then on the thing itself, that's nuts. &nbsp;
New Zealand Rugby flew two board members, Dame Patsy Reddy and Bailey Mackey, to the UK last year when they were leaving the organisation the following month. &nbsp;
What's the point of that? &nbsp;If you know that people are leaving, stop flying them places. They're now redundant, aren’t they? &nbsp;
When the All Blacks played in Tokyo, they took players and coaches and management. Fair enough. &nbsp;
But then they also took administrative staff and executive staff. &nbsp;
That was 75 people for a rugby game. Honestly, that's way too much. &nbsp;
Do you know how much they were paying at the hotel they were staying at? $900 a night. &nbsp;
That is an organisation spending like it's in the gold mining game, not like it's an organisation making more annual losses than profits in recent memory. &nbsp;
Gregor Paul suggests some people are going to lose their jobs and I think that's probably fair. &nbsp;
To be fair to NZR, we all understand what's going on here and not all of it is their fault.
&nbsp;The biggest problem they've got is that rugby is boring. That's because the rules suck and NZR has only got so much control over the rules. It's really a World Rugby problem.
But for NZR, it has been obvious for ages that the problems that they face with participation and viewership, attendance, and money are not going to get solved anytime soon. &nbsp;
Now, if you know things are tough and they're not improving, do you not put the credit card away? Do you not cut the spending? &nbsp;
You and I might, but not NZR, apparently, and that's their fault.

With a straight down the middle approach, Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on Newstalk ZB delivers the very latest news and views to New Zealanders as they wrap up their day.

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Heather du Plessis-Allan: NZR's financial problems are its own fault

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/7c57b52e-601f-46b2-942d-b2d8006a7925/transcript