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Speaker 1: Now New Zealand Rugby has entered a legal battle with

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Speaker 1: its major sponsor Anios. They say Anios have failed to

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Speaker 1: make the first sponsorship payment of twenty twenty five and

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Speaker 1: they're trying to exit their six year contract three years early.

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Speaker 1: ZBI rugby commentator Elliott Smith is with me now, Good

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Speaker 1: morning Elliott.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Francesca.

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Speaker 1: So as the spot on the front of the AB

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Speaker 1: shirt no longer has coveted as it once was.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think there's certainly elements of that in terms

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Speaker 2: of just being a tough time for marketing in sports

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Speaker 2: and getting value out of that dollar, but also in

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Speaker 2: the OUs their commercial revenue has been eaten up in

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Speaker 2: Europe and they are looking for a way to save cost.

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Speaker 2: Have now got to try and find a New America's

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Speaker 2: Cup team that they're going to try and fund. They've

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Speaker 2: got the Manchester United now as well, and the squeeze

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Speaker 2: has really come on at Sports the sports portfolio to

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Speaker 2: try and save some money. So I think they've gone Actually,

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Speaker 2: in New Zealand, we could probably flick that off and

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Speaker 2: save a bit of money there eight to ten million

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Speaker 2: New Zealand dollars a year. We can get rid of

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Speaker 2: that New Zealand Rugby said no, you've got a commercial

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Speaker 2: contract with us, and that's where the stalemate meets at

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Speaker 2: the moment.

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Speaker 1: So that eight million, that was eight million per year,

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Speaker 1: not in the not for the total of the six.

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Speaker 2: Years, not for the total of six years. So someone

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Speaker 2: in the facility of eight to ten million dollars a

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Speaker 2: year that New Zealand Rugby had agreed with Anios yere

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Speaker 2: that's substantial.

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Speaker 1: Is this really a case though, of them not us?

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Speaker 1: I mean, have the All Blacks has New Zealand Rugby

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Speaker 1: I should say, looked after this partnership well enough.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, having been around a lot of All Blacks events,

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Speaker 2: you see the Innios branding on the All Blacks clothing,

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Speaker 2: you see it a lot of sidelines of games, the

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Speaker 2: Anios logo. The year I've been at training runs around

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Speaker 2: the world, including London where a lot of the Inios

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Speaker 2: companies are based, and you've seen a lot of Ineos

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Speaker 2: representatives on the touch line there and been welcomed in there.

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Speaker 2: So in terms of trying to get that commercial dollar

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Speaker 2: and showing the opportun unities there and leveraging that, I

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Speaker 2: think New Zealand Rugby's done plenty to open the door

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Speaker 2: and the OS would say they could have always done more.

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Speaker 2: But seeing a statement from any OS overnight, they're very

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Speaker 2: much blaming a commercial downturn in Europe and petrochemical companies

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Speaker 2: feeling the squeeze in Europe for the decision not to

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Speaker 2: go not to pay this payment that they were owed

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Speaker 2: to New Zealand Rugby. They said that to New Zealand

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Speaker 2: Rugby to try and hammer out an agreement. Didn't come

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Speaker 2: to that from New Zealand Rugby. New Zealand Rugby weren't

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Speaker 2: interested so very much on a commercial side, it says

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Speaker 2: in the OS are blaming the fact they don't have

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Speaker 2: the money at the moment to try and meet those

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Speaker 2: payment that they agreed to with New Zealand Rugby.

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Speaker 1: How long could it take to secure a new sponsorship contract.

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Speaker 2: Well, these things are in play for nearly two years,

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Speaker 2: is my understanding. When they go out to tender, the

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Speaker 2: negotiations are hammered out. Whether you're get in front of

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Speaker 2: the jersey a spot on the shorts, what kind of

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Speaker 2: financials are involved, what kind of commercial obligations to RUF

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Speaker 2: from New Zealand's side in terms of tickets to matches

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Speaker 2: or hospitality, player appearances, promotions, everything like that. It can

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Speaker 2: take close to two years. So if they're not getting

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Speaker 2: eight million dollars this year from in the OS, it's

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Speaker 2: hard to see them making up in the short term.

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Speaker 2: There aren't as we know, there's a big business turn

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Speaker 2: don't downturn around a lot of the globe. They're not

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Speaker 2: killing up to sponsor sports of any shape at the moment,

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Speaker 2: so it's going to take a lot for New Zealand

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Speaker 2: Rugby to try and replace this, especially at short notice.

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Speaker 2: In you remember as well, their agreement with Ford came

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Speaker 2: to an end the end of last year as well,

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Speaker 2: or earlier this year or at some point this year.

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Speaker 2: So there's a couple of financial holes and shortfalls that

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Speaker 2: New Zealand Rugby's got to meet at a time when

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Speaker 2: you know the pressure is going on the community game.

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Speaker 2: They're looking for new revenue streams. They've lost two that

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Speaker 2: they are expecting, certainly one that are expecting in their

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Speaker 2: bank accounts. You know, from January first.

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Speaker 1: Elliott Smith, thank you so much for talking us through that.

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Speaker 1: For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talks itt B from five a m.

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Speaker 2: Weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,