New Zealand Rugby stakeholders will attend a "rugby summit" next week with the sport at a crossroads after a leaked report labelled the current model "clearly unsustainable", with the governing body at risk of burning through the cash injection it received from the Silver Lake private equity deal within five years.
The leaked New Zealand Rugby [NZR] report, which found its way to multiple media outlets including stuff.co.nz and the New Zealand Herald, makes for ugly reading, with revelations about the significant losses suffered by the country's five Super Rugby Pacific teams and other cost blowouts across the game.
While the All Blacks continue to drive revenue as the strongest sporting brand in the game, the country's high-performance investment into Super Rugby, the Black Ferns and its sevens programs have resulted in hefty financial losses.
The report, entitled "Rugby System Programme - Rugby Summit Pre-read" also addresses the growing threat of rugby league at a time when the Warriors are about to play a semifinal at a sold-out Eden Park, and the NRL is weighing up awarding the competition's 20th license to one of a number of New Zealand-based consortiums.
According to stuff.co.nz, the report forecasts a $[NZ]26 million loss for NZR in 2026, and lists a $95m player wage bill across its entire professional cohort. Meanwhile cumulative losses of $108 million are forecast between 2024 and 2028, including a $10m hit for next year's Rugby World Cup when the number of inbound Test matches is cut from seven to as few as three.
While revenue is growing (a conservative 3% Compound Annual Growth Rate), cost growth is outpacing it, and there's a need to continue to invest in commercial strategy to drive improved growth,'' the NZ Rugby report states.
"Driven by loss-making competitions, growing investment in the women's game, the rising cost of the high-performance environments, and intensifying global competition and cost for players," the report explains.
"The shape of the game is shifting. Revenue streams, fan engagement and international competitions have changed, but our financial and operating models are largely 30+ years old.
"Our model is now clearly unsustainable: with no change, reserves reduce to $72m by the end of 2031, similar to before the 2022 capital raise [from Silver Lake].''
While the once-in-12-year tour of the British and Irish Lions series will provide some respite in 2029, New Zealand does not boast the stadium capacity that helped inject $70.8m into Rugby Australia's depleted coffers in 2025.
According to stuff.co.nz, the report states that "current five-year projections have NZR continuing to lose a combined $66m across 2027-31".
Underscoring the scale of NZR's challenges was the fact it generated record revenue in 2025 of $285m but still made a loss of $19.5m.
The report has also added fuel to the fire on the debate around Super Rugby Pacific, which this year lost its second franchise in three seasons following the demise of Moana Pasifika.
The competition this week unveiled its new 17-week, 10-team competition, which includes the Anzac Test weekend in Brisbane.
That Test, the brainchild of Rugby Australia, was originally knocked back by NZR, but a change in leadership at board level and the arrival of Dave Rennie as All Blacks coach brought about a change in thinking. The Bledisloe clash is set to provide a handy cash injection for both unions amid a clearly challenging financial environment.
NZR will also eagerly await the financials from the recent Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour between the Springboks and All Blacks, where the two international heavyweights played four Tests across South Africa and Baltimore.
The fourth and final Test alone was set to provide a $9m boost for each union simply by playing on American soil.
While Super Rugby Pacific has made a point of being a fan-first competition and chief executive Jack Mesley has been praised for some new-look initiatives, which included bringing back Super Round and taking it to Christchurch, the NZR report noted that there were only two occasions between 2019 and 2025 when a New Zealand franchise would have turned a profit without a cash injection from the governing body.
Hurricanes co-owner Malcom Gillies, who bailed out the franchise in 2025 after consecutive $2m-plus losses, earlier this year said Super Rugby could cease to exist within five years unless significant changes were made.
The NZR summit will be held on Sept. 24 with stakeholders told the "need to change course is clear."
The threat posed by rugby league meanwhile cannot simply be cast aside as it had been previously. While rugby still boasts more than three times the number of registered players of its 13-man counterpart in New Zealand, the recent success of the Warriors and broader reach of the NRL has NZR executives looking over their shoulder.
NRL clubs are continuously looking to New Zealand's schoolboy rugby players for talent, while the introduction of two further teams [Perth Bears, 2027 and PNG Chiefs 2028] means there are further mouths at the recruitment table.