A radical merger for Super Rugby to revive itself

The revamped Super Rugby Pacific competition, now in its third year, is still trying to capture imagination and relevance post-South Africa split.

Round six of Super Rugby Pacific featured just four games as many teams hit their routinely scheduled bye weeks.

Of the four scheduled clashes, none were marketable as blockbusters. Two ended up as lopsided thrashings, which aren’t always a bad thing, but crowds weren’t out in force to see them happen.

With player resting protocols, rotation policies and extended squad sizes, the need for bye weeks is questionable in itself. Particularly when the competition can’t afford to concede air time to the NRL.

Sundays are now exclusively owned by rugby league in Australasia. There aren’t enough fixtures without the bye weeks let alone with them to compete. So the NRL has unbridled territory on a key broadcast day every weekend.

Without change, Super Rugby Pacific is unlikely to recapture the standing it used to have or challenge this new status quo.

The issue is not the talent. There are so many young, dynamic players that should be building hype and excitement for Super Rugby Pacific. There are many of the world’s best players in this competition.

The sad reality is the stage is too small for them, the marketing and media presence is not big enough. Players are undersold and wrapped up in obscurity. They play in half-empty stadiums without any atmosphere.

Super Rugby as a competition has not figured it out. There is no media hype cycle for it. The overall extent of coverage is magnitudes smaller than it needs to be.

It’s a hard egg to crack now because of the catch-22 between the two. Independent media won’t cover it deeply if it has no public interest, yet it can’t build more interest without more media.

So what is the answer? What strategic move can be made to save the competition from malaise, boost its commercial viability, and start to grow?

One answer, while acknowledging that it may not be feasible and is completely radical, is a total merger with Japan Rugby League One to create a Super League in the Pacific region.

The 12 Super Rugby Pacific teams combined with 12 League One teams in a 24-team league is a titanic amalgamation that would lean on the strength of the Japanese market.

The Japan Rugby League One made USD$21.7m in revenues in its first season and broke a profit.

It’s unknown what the teams backed by industry titans spent and whether they even cared to be in black with their rugby operation. It’s probably great for rugby that they don’t care.

Could TV rights from a newly formed Super League from the combined home markets of Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific be worth in excess of what the two competitions make separately? Arguably yes. And if that is the case, then a merger could be explored.

The true value of Super Rugby Pacific rights is unknown due to the bundled nature of the current deals. If they were sold as a standalone product outside of the