Hurricanes Isaia Walker-Leawere during the Super Rugby Pacific match, Hurricanes v Blues. Photo: John Cowpland/Actionpress
Blues v Hurricanes
Kick-off: 7:05pm Saturday 5 April
Eden Park, Auckland
Live updates on RNZ Sport
The capital's Super Rugby Pacific franchise needs more capital.
Fewer fans through the gate and years without hosting a Super Rugby final means the Hurricanes franchise is searching for new ways to balance the books.
The franchise is seeking a $1 million cash boost from shareholders with sign-off expected by the end of the week.
The Hurricanes have been in discussions with their four shareholders - Wellington Rugby Union, Y11 Media & Sports Group, private owner Richard Mansell and Horowhenua Kapiti Rugby Football Union - since December as they try to find a solution to years of deficits.
In 2024, the Hurricanes lost $700,000 and a year earlier they had a $1.4 million deficit.
Hurricanes chairman Iain Potter said financial problems had not always been as desperate as they are now.
"[Since 2012 the franchise] produced a surplus for sort of six or seven years, got close to even for a couple of years, but the last two or three years have seen several deficits that have put our cash reserves under a bit of pressure so consequently we have gone to the shareholders asking them for an injection of capital to give us a comfortable cash reserve so that we can trade and plan our way forward over the next two or three years.
"Everyone's been on board with the need for it, see the benefit of it and everyone, all shareholders except for Wellington Rugby Union, have confirmed their intention to participate."
The Wellington Rugby Union are the major shareholder with 50 percent stake but Potter said the Union's own financial problems might prevent them from taking part in the capital raise.
The Hurricanes' financial situation was not unique in Super Rugby Pacific, Potter said.
"We're all suffering similarly if you are good enough and lucky enough in what is a very competitive competition nowadays to host a final you would probably generate a surplus, if you make a quarterfinal and host that at home, it would help you lessen your deficit but you'd probably still be in deficit that's the reality.
"It's very difficult for any of the Super franchises to break even through the round-robin part of the season, so you're left hoping that you're going to host a final basically, that's pretty much what your financial success, or otherwise, is dependent on in the current environment."
Low attendance during the round-robin could not be off-set by the commercial partnerships that Potter said had been growing.
"People aren't as in love with Super Rugby as they used to be and so the gate takings are significantly lower than they were five years ago.
"In the ideal world we'd be having crowds of 15 to 25,000 people come and watch our games. But the reality is we're getting crowds of more like nine to 15,000 come watch our games and that's the principal reason for the trading difficulties that we've experienced over the last few years."
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
On field results effect the balance sheet and the Hurricanes have not been in the final since 2016.
"You can't rely on being in the final because only one team is hosting a final, so we need to diversify.
"We've traditionally been reliant on two sources of revenue, commercial - which includes sponsorship and commercial partnerships - and gate revenue.
"What we need are other sources of revenue which could include things like pre-season games offshore, which some of the other franchises have experimented with, and somehow exploiting the intellectual property which we have in terms of high performance overseas."
New Zealand Rugby picked up the players' wages but Potter said the franchises were still responsible for the coaching, medical and training staff, the physios and the analysts and the facilities. As well as paying the finance, marketing and commercial staff.
As squad sizes grew over the years and the Hurricanes Poua joined Super Rugby Aupiki, the franchises expenses increased.
Potter expected if the initiatives they had identified worked they would "start bearing fruit" over the next three years.
"We should be in a more comfortable position in 2026 but in a better position looking at surpluses from 2027 onwards."
The Hurricanes sit in seventh on the Super Rugby Pacific table approaching the halfway point of the season.
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