1
Highlanders become first Kiwi Super Rugby club to begin staff pay cuts
By Online Editors
The Highlanders have become the first New Zealand Super Rugby franchise to reduce its staff's pay in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier this week, New Zealand Rugby injected $1.25 million into its five Super Rugby clubs as the competition remains at a standstill after being suspended following seven rounds of action.
Continue reading below...
Although the extra $250,000 has been welcomed by the Highlanders, it hasn't been enough to stop the Dunedin franchise from cutting it costs as it battles to stay afloat with no gate revenue to rely upon.
"Our business, with no product or no content, means no dollars and our reserves have been burnt up pretty quickly," Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark told Newshub.
"It's probably more than $500,000 a month to run a Super Rugby club, so we've already taken across-the-board 30 percent cuts and we've frozen all expenditure."
The Highlanders' 30 percent drop in wages follows New Zealand Rugby's decision to slash its staff's salaries by 20 percent over the next three months.
The Crusaders are currently consulting with their staff, and the Hurricanes are said to be contemplating their options, while the Chiefs didn't provide any comment to Newshub.
"None of them have cancelled on us," said Clark told Newshub.
"Some have deferred already, because some of their businesses, like ours, are not getting any money in, so they can't afford to pay at this stage."
While the picture looks dire for the Highlanders and their staff, Clark has vowed to keep the 2015 Super Rugby champions alive beyond this year regardless of whether or not any form of rugby is played.
"We will survive," said Clark. "We just don't know in what shape that will be.
"We're just trying to make sure it's the best shape we can possibly be in."
In other news:
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Stuart Hogg addresses rumours of rugby return
3
Nigel Owens has final say on URC's most controversial game
4
OTD – Declan Kidney takes step up into Test rugby
5
Latest Comments
Nice to read something positive about Vunivalu; it doesn’t happen often. I despair for rugby in Oz. Unless some form of compensation for the teams producing players is devised, there is no obvious way for us to combat poachers coming to grab players in their prime with bigger pay cheques. A return to the SR crowds we were getting in 2010-2014 and a quadrupling of the TV deal would be a start but I don’t see how those things happen. Perhaps the government could be encouraged to deliver tax breaks like in Ireland?
Go to commentsI wasn’t aware that the blitz targeted space so, as usual, something learned from reading one of your articles, Nick. Watching the game live I attributed the Saints’ inaccuracy to their own mistakes and nerves. Perhaps some credit to the Leinster D.
Go to comments