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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine

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Speaker 1: from Newstalks.

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Speaker 2: EDB is fast approaching.

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Speaker 3: He's no holder.

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Speaker 2: Plasters and the Crusaders have donuts.

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Speaker 3: The Redemption Artist please the role sennyside.

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Speaker 2: The Crusaders return to doctor well hopefully the Crusaders wait

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Speaker 2: went not again this year on behalf of everybody who's

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Speaker 2: not from Crusaders Country. Are the first games in the

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Speaker 2: new season less than five weeks away? Would you believe?

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Speaker 2: And the Blues begin twenty twenty six with a new CEO.

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Speaker 2: A well known and highly respected sports leader, having held

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Speaker 2: roles both domestically and overseas. Former longtime CEO of the

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Speaker 2: ASB Tennis Classic. More recently, he co founded and operated

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Speaker 2: Octo Sport Partners, driving commercial growth and engagement and long

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Speaker 2: term stratag for the likes of the New Zealand Olympic

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Speaker 2: Committee and sale GP. He also served as a Commercial

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Speaker 2: Subcommittee board member and second d to the New Zealand

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Speaker 2: Rugby Board. I'm talking, of course about Karl Butch, who

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Speaker 2: joins me our Carl, Congratulations on the role. What was

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Speaker 2: it about the job of Blue CEO that appealed to you? Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Thanks, Mannie much appreciated. And look, I'm a rugby tragic.

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Speaker 3: I absolutely love rugby. I've sat at home every weekend

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Speaker 3: watching every game. So for a chance to come in

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Speaker 3: and play as more role in that organization and play

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Speaker 3: a role in the sport that you love was a

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Speaker 3: great privilege. And I look at this and there's so

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Speaker 3: much opportunity around rugby and I couldn't wait to get second.

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Speaker 2: So you were appointed in mid October. I believe the

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Speaker 2: week we've just had was your first week. So where

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Speaker 2: do you place your focus as you get your feet

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Speaker 2: under the desk.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, three days in so so lots of experience to

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Speaker 3: be talking about party. But you know, look, I guess

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Speaker 3: we're five weeks away from our first game against the Chiefs,

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Speaker 3: as you mentioned earlier, and you know, for me, it's

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Speaker 3: about stabilizing the organization heading into that game, that we've

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Speaker 3: got an environment that everyone's ready to perform, both on

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Speaker 3: and off the field. So that's my major focus. There

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Speaker 3: will be other stuff that comes, but right now, it's

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Speaker 3: making sure the organization is in a position to perform

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Speaker 3: in five weeks time.

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Speaker 2: You've come into new roles in the past existing roles,

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Speaker 2: what is the key to coming into a role where

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Speaker 2: you know, presumably the organization is functioning pretty well. How

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Speaker 2: much do you look to just continue doing, how much

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Speaker 2: do you look to change? How does that thought process work?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, I'm someone that's always had a pretty big

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Speaker 3: ambition and drive for the roles that I've had, and

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Speaker 3: I look at the Blues. We're in a great position.

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Speaker 3: I think that the club's in a really stable position. Commercially,

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Speaker 3: it's the team's done an unbelievable job. We've got a

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Speaker 3: wonderful sponsor family that's helped us get to this position,

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Speaker 3: and so I feel like off the field that the

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Speaker 3: club's in a great space. We've got a really strong board,

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Speaker 3: which I think is really important in a sporting environment.

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Speaker 3: And then on the field we've got that real mix

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Speaker 3: of depth of some long term campaigners. I was talking

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Speaker 3: to offer toing a Farsi earlier in the week who's

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Speaker 3: been around this club since years eighteen, and so yeah,

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Speaker 3: you've got all of that experience to bring in with

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Speaker 3: a group of young players coming through as well, and

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Speaker 3: so look, I think the clubs well placed. My job is,

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Speaker 3: as I say, to make sure the environment's right that

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Speaker 3: everyone can perform on and off the field at their best,

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Speaker 3: and then really go about trying to see through the

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Speaker 3: ambition that we've got for this great club.

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Speaker 2: You mentioned the family of sponsors. What do you think

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Speaker 2: commercial partners want from their relationships with the Blues but

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Speaker 2: with sporting organizations in general? From your experience, look.

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Speaker 3: I guess it's about connecting with fans through something they

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Speaker 3: care about. I think the privilege of sponsorship is you

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Speaker 3: get a two way conversation. You get a chance to

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Speaker 3: share a passion and integrate your brand into that passion,

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Speaker 3: which is a wonderful experience. What is it a thousand

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Speaker 3: marketing messages we meant to get each day, and most

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Speaker 3: of them are brands talking at you. Sponsorship I think

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Speaker 3: gives you that opportunity to talk with you, and so

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Speaker 3: I think that's a great position from a Blues perspective.

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Speaker 3: You know, we've got a huge community where obviously the

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Speaker 3: biggest sporting code and the biggest city. We've got a

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Speaker 3: wonderfully loyal fan base and a history of successes and organizations.

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Speaker 3: So I think leveraging those values. But there's lots of

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Speaker 3: stuff behind it too. I look at the work that

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Speaker 3: I'm still learning about this piney after all of three days.

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Speaker 3: But the work that we do with the Blues Charitable Trust,

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Speaker 3: We've got hundreds of kids coming in doing a leadership

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Speaker 3: program every year here. That's just something that we run

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Speaker 3: always on that that's maybe not that well known about.

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Speaker 3: We generated fifty six thousand presents for kids over pressmers

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Speaker 3: with the Blues Filled the Bus campaign and going out

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Speaker 3: to our community and making sure that we've got an

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Speaker 3: interest and the prosperity right across our three regions. So

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Speaker 3: it's all of those dynamics and I think we're pretty

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Speaker 3: well placed to continue to thrive in that space.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, very cool. Sport is volatile, as we know. Sometimes

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Speaker 2: you win, sometimes you don't win. How do you make

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Speaker 2: sure that your commercial partnerships aren't absolutely reliant on the

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Speaker 2: results of the team.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think that's where the depth of your brand

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Speaker 3: really becomes important, and all of those things like I

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Speaker 3: just talked about, the stuff off the field becomes vital.

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Speaker 3: It's our partners are partnering us because they see as

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Speaker 3: shared values there that our values reflected and theirs and

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Speaker 3: vice versa. And I think that's really critical. But it's

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Speaker 3: also how we engage, how we own those moments of challenge.

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Speaker 3: We all need to be resilient when times get tough,

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Speaker 3: and business is no different, and so how we own

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Speaker 3: those moments I think are equally as important and we've

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Speaker 3: got to be pragmatic no matter what dynasty you're part of.

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Speaker 3: Those dynasties come through challenging moments and how you respond,

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Speaker 3: I think is what builds the character, and I think

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Speaker 3: people like seeing that character and brands.

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Speaker 2: How closely Budgy do you expect to work with the

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Speaker 2: other CEOs, particularly the New Zealand based ones and Jack Mesley,

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Speaker 2: the CEO of Super Rugby Pacific.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I must say point, and that's one that

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Speaker 3: I've been incredibly impressed by before coming into the role,

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Speaker 3: just the engagement before I started, and then in the

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Speaker 3: first three days we've already had a good ninety minute

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Speaker 3: session with each of the CEOs of the other clubs.

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Speaker 3: So I'm really sad that there's a strong frenemies group there.

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Speaker 3: There's a Colin Mainsbridge put it pretty well. There's eighty

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Speaker 3: percent that we get on like a house of fire

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Speaker 3: and want to collaborate and work together on. Then there's

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Speaker 3: twenty percent that we want to flog each other and

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Speaker 3: I quite like that dynamic. It's yeah, it's been great.

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Speaker 3: There's been an offer extended from each of them. Are

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Speaker 3: in any areas that you need to come up to

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Speaker 3: speed on Quaker and how they can help. But I

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Speaker 3: think us working as a group is where the success

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Speaker 3: for super rugby in this country will continue to thrive.

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Speaker 3: And been really spirited by the relationship and the desire

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Speaker 3: to collaborate between the clubs so.

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Speaker 2: High performance commercial about what about the fans? How big

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Speaker 2: a part of your role is overseeing and ensuring good

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Speaker 2: fan engagement?

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Speaker 3: Look, I think it's all of us. I think it's

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Speaker 3: everyone within the rugby ecosystem. Fans are our engine and

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Speaker 3: we've got to make sure that they are at the

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Speaker 3: center of everything we do. So, look, it's a critical part.

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Speaker 3: I've been really enthused to hear from the team know

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Speaker 3: their own desires and wishes, what they want to do

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Speaker 3: around fans. You know that's coming from the playing group,

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Speaker 3: the coaching group, and the front office staff. And so

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Speaker 3: it's great to see your horrors obviously at a wonderful

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Speaker 3: job instilling just how important fans are in our business.

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Speaker 3: And it's something that again we want to ensure we

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Speaker 3: keep driving. And wasn't that long ago that Eden Park

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Speaker 3: was sold out for watching Blues games? And I don't

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Speaker 3: see any reason why we can't get back.

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Speaker 2: There, are you? I mean you're three days into the job.

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Speaker 2: This is probably a question you can't really answer, but

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Speaker 2: do you think the Blues will ever move from Eden Park?

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Speaker 2: Or are you pretty happy with that with that as

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Speaker 2: your home venue.

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Speaker 3: I haven't remotely looked into that at the moment. Now,

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Speaker 3: you know, I know we're playing our games there, so

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Speaker 3: it's all all my focuses at the moment are going,

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Speaker 3: how do we work with Eden Park? They're great partners

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Speaker 3: of ours. We've got a great relationship with nat Ander's team,

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Speaker 3: and you know, I know they share our vision. I've

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Speaker 3: wanted to see the place fullward, so you know, we'll

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Speaker 3: do everything you can to make sure we achieve that.

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Speaker 2: Do you reckon? You can still be a Blues fan?

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Speaker 2: I know, I mean you're a Counties boy. You know

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Speaker 2: you've been, as you say, a rugby fan, a fan

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Speaker 2: of this team. You know from the start. Do you

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Speaker 2: reckon as it's CEO, you can still be a rugby fan,

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Speaker 2: a fan of the Blues.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I absolutely can, and we'll make sure I do.

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Speaker 3: I think that's yeah. We are all fans in our

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Speaker 3: own right, and that's important as well. If we didn't

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Speaker 3: feel like there was something more riding on it and

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Speaker 3: it was just eighty minutes of work, you know, we're

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Speaker 3: probably in the wrong job. So yeah, I think that

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Speaker 3: fandom for me is what's pushed me to go further.

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Speaker 3: You know, that's what pushes you to spend that extra

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Speaker 3: ten minutes or that extra hour, whatever it might be,

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Speaker 3: to think further and what else are they doing? How

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Speaker 3: do I use that fandom to make sure I'm spending

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Speaker 3: ten minutes longer than what colin mate s Breadge is

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Speaker 3: doing and christ shirts you don't go. It's a great

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Speaker 3: part of our job, Piney. We're privileged. We get to

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Speaker 3: come and work in an environment that for most people

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Speaker 3: it's their hobby. So yeah, if I ever ever lose

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Speaker 3: that fandom, I probably it's time for a career change.

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Speaker 2: Speaking of your career, it's been you know, you've done

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Speaker 2: some amazing things. Nine years as tournament director of course

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Speaker 2: of the ASB Classic, and what you did with that

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Speaker 2: tournament to make it New Zealand's premier summer event was

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Speaker 2: you know, it's the legacy is absolutely secure. Do you

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Speaker 2: still do you still take an interest in the tennis?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I do. I shared plenty of messages with Nico.

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Speaker 3: We're a great ma it's before he became tournament director.

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Speaker 3: We spent a lot of time overseas together and so yeah,

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Speaker 3: look always really proud to see what Nico's doing with

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Speaker 3: the tournament. We're actually hitting along whatever the team and

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Speaker 3: I are going along tomorrow and have a look at

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Speaker 3: what their sponsors are doing and how they how they

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Speaker 3: are engaging with fans and seeing what we can learn

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Speaker 3: from from him because they are doing a great job.

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Speaker 3: It's it's awesome to see. And you know, I look

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Speaker 3: at all of those events as going This is great

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Speaker 3: for Auckland and I want to see the ASPI Classics

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Speaker 3: sold out, but also want to see Aukland. They have

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Speaker 3: se sold out and the Warriors sold out. I think

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Speaker 3: that's good for us. Also. We want a culture of

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Speaker 3: people getting out and attending live experiences and if we

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Speaker 3: do that, we'll a as an organization. The Blues will

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Speaker 3: be well placed to benefit.

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Speaker 2: And talked about relationships before with the other Super rugby clubs.

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Speaker 2: With Super Rugby Pacific and Jack Mesley, what about the

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Speaker 2: relationship with New Zealand rugby. That's obviously key as well.

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Speaker 2: But what do you see as the as the main

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Speaker 2: planks of a good relationship with New Zealand rugby.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's something that thankfully I've got a bit of

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Speaker 3: experience and you mentioned the government's roles and the intro

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Speaker 3: and I've spent a fair bit of time around those

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Speaker 3: halls over the last decade or so. So there's some

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Speaker 3: great relationships in there already. But I think we all

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Speaker 3: share the same goal. Yeah, super rugby as critical in

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Speaker 3: every sense to the rugby ecosystem in New Zealand. It

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Speaker 3: provides that engagement with the fans, know where that opportunity

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Speaker 3: for half the year that people get to engage rugby,

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Speaker 3: and you know, that's a critical role. It plays a

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Speaker 3: critical role in developing our all blacks. It's where all

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Speaker 3: blacks spend their time. And so I think right throughout

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Speaker 3: where you know, I get always quite encouraged Pinty by

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Speaker 3: the word commonalities, and I look across each of our

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Speaker 3: franchises and our relational ends that are and yeah, everything

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Speaker 3: we're after as a common goal and so it's a

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Speaker 3: great benchmark to drive things forward.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think we all agree the Blues are in

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Speaker 2: very good hands. Budget. Congratulations on the apployment. All the

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Speaker 2: best the Hurricanes fan and me wishes you all the

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Speaker 2: best except when you play us.

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Speaker 3: It's been nice to hear that on a few notes.

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Speaker 3: There's been a few people have shared that sentiment, so

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Speaker 3: must mean there's plenty of enthusiasm for Super Rugby out there,

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Speaker 3: which is amazing.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, there is good on you mate, Thanks and Dave

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Speaker 2: Carle Budge, CEO of the Blues, started the role last

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Speaker 2: three days. As you heard, look, huge credibility, massive respect

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Speaker 2: in sporting circles as an administrator. Andrew hoarded a great

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Speaker 2: job there as well, didn't he. Carl Budge will pick

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Speaker 2: up the torch into twenty twenty six with the Blue.

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Speaker 2: Seems odd to be talking about Super Rugby, but does

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Speaker 2: it really? I mean, we now know how early in

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Speaker 2: the year Super Rugby starts. We're thirty three days away

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Speaker 2: from the first games. Highlanders Crusaders will open Super Rugby

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Speaker 2: Pacific in Dunedin on the night of Friday, February thirteen,

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Speaker 2: followed by the Warratars against the Reds Across in Sydney.

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Speaker 2: The following day a triple aheader Fiji and Drewer Mowana

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Speaker 2: Pacifica in Laotoka. That'll be followed by the Blues against

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Speaker 2: the Chiefs at Eden Park and the final game of

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Speaker 2: the first weekend Force the Brumbies across Perth. Of course,

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Speaker 2: it's an eleven team competition again, so the Hurricanes have

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Speaker 2: the buye in the first week.

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Speaker 1: For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talk set B weekends from midday or follow

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Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio