June 13, 2024 • 9 mins
New Zealand Rugby League CEO Greg Peters joined D'Arcy Waldegrave to discuss the possibility of the NRL bringing their premier product to our shores.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Waldergrave
from news Talk z'd be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I was joined it now by Greg Peter's CEO of
New Zealand at Rugby League. Welcome to the show. Greg,
I know you're well. You're a happy man.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Thank you. Darcy. I'm a happy man. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Great to have you on board. Let's talk about the
potential that this has been going on for so long,
hasn't it. Can we have a state of origin fixture
over in New Zealand. So there are proposals in motion,
but a lot of those that appeared seem to rely
around will roll around whether Eden Park can actually host
(00:43):
something like that. So I suppose we'll start off first though.
There's a want and a need for state of origin
over here. Are you sure about that?
Speaker 4 (00:50):
I think there's a huge following now, you know, not
only on the back not only on.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
The back of the Warriors, but the success of the
NRL and people following. People have been following state of
Origin in New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
For the fifty to forty fifty years that's been going
now and a lot of people got into rugby league
because of those. It's years in the eighties and of
following the Queensland and New South Wales the way through,
so massive following for it. People stay up till after
midnight on a midweek night to follow their team, so
you know, I think there's an appetite for it most definitely.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Are you confident that they can get it over the line,
because plainly the NRL are interested. But they've got a
few hurdles. The biggest one I mentioned before is the
only way to circumvent that because I wouldn't trust the
residents of the council will do anything. Quite frankly, well.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
You know, I think that's probably best directed towards Eden
Park and the council. But certainly some challenges, mainly because
of the broadcast times back into Australia. As you know,
it's hard enough for us staying up to after midnight
here when the kickoffs after ten o'clock New Zealand time,
So that will be a problem because they have to
clear concerts out of Eden Park much earlier than that,
so and all other sporting fixtures have finished well before that.
(02:00):
But I think the other bigger problem, and it's a
bigger problem for the events industry in New Zealand is
do we have money to put into this sort of stuff?
And in my view there's you know, we're competing against
the Australian markets with many millions of dollars for state
governments and central government funding over the are and there's
(02:20):
a little bit of.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
A what I'll call it a.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Paucity of vision in New Zealand around the event space
just right at the moment, and we need to be
coordinated and if we get serious about these events, we've
got to put some serious financial muscle behind it.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So where does that need to land, the finance that
you're looking at that muscle and how much are we
talking here, because I'm presuming what you're saying, as other
states are going, no, no, we'll write a check. We
really want that here, that's what you're that's what you're
looking for.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Absolutely. I mean the Magic Round and which is a
wonderful event as well that we.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Should be looking at as well, and I think.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Cameron George has been vocal about that or in a
women's women's Magic Round as well. But the the you know,
we're up against New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria particularly
who throw in some case there's tens of millions at
these these one off events, so or up to that
number any rate. So you've got to be saying in
(03:14):
New Zealand, we've got to look at this and say, right,
we're a small country five million people, not as big economically,
but which events are we going to go after? And
this should be one of them and we should be
should be looking at that from a country perspective rather
than just an auckland and saying, look, this is good,
good for us to be to be put our name
on the global map and particularly Australasian map when you
(03:36):
come to rugby league in sport and let's go after
this thing, but we might have to trade off and
not go after some other things. So we need a
proper strategy around events in New Zealand. And that that
goes to you know, whether we're going to host paink
or not, or whether we're going to Taylor Swift or whatever.
But let's let's get a coordinated strategy for events in
New Zealand and in this case particularly sporting events.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Have you climbed into this at all with any government representation.
Have you had a lot to find out what needs
to be in order to seal deals.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Like this not particularly on the state of origin, but
we have I'm part of a group a group of
people that get together. The reason we regularly to talk
about the event space and you know this is this
is a this is an a gender topic for us.
Is how do we pull this together? Because everyone's sort
of you know, you got Auckland Unlimited, You've got christ Ute,
you've got Wellington, Dunedin, anywhere with a stadium that can
(04:32):
host or an event facility that can host, and we're
all climbing over each other trying to find.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
To get events.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Whereas if we and then you've got a central fund
from MB or major events in New Zealand and what's
to find as a major event in New Zealand. It
needs some a look at too, because sometimes these one
off events are not termed as major events in New Zealand.
You're looking at sort of World Cups and the wonderful
events that they've been recently with a Rugby Union World
(05:00):
Cup and feed for Women's World Cup. All of those
are fantastic events. But these are one off opportunities that
don't come around very often in terms of state of origin,
and we need to chase the hard.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
CEO of New zel On Rugby League, Greg Peters at
joining us. Let's talk our economic benefit. If you're pouring
in millions of dollars to attract the one off event
like this, can it be justified by what rolls in
money wise? And I'm presuming a lot of that from
over the ditch, from around the rest of the country.
Is it worthwhile?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Most definitely.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
I mean I don't have the number that they would
have calculated for state of origin in Auckland, but if
you look at the visitation which was a big measure,
and a number of hotel beds and the nights that
people will stay and what else I do in New
Zealand while they're here, there will.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Most definitely be a payback on that.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I can recall, you know, my time in Wellington when
we were running the sevens down there. The economic benefit
for that was something like eighteen million dollars to the
city units years ago now, So you know, you look
at triple the investment, and you look at the feel
good fact for what it does for the country, which
is often not valued as well. People get behind this
stuff and it makes us feel better about ourselves and
(06:12):
it makes us feel that we feel proud New Zealanders
and I think that's a really important factor as well.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Why would the NRL do this though, Why would they
take away the jewel in their Rugby league crown away
from Australia. They did go down like a cup of
cold sick amongst the fan base, wouldn't it. What do
they stand to gain out of this? This is their game,
this is the one they all look forward to.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Yeah, what should be a multifaceted strategy this from the NRL.
Look at what New Zealand now produces. Twenty eight to
thirty percent of the players that are playing in NROL
come from New Zealand or start their career in New Zealand,
and the fan base, the number of people watching it
on Sky and the growth of the Warriors, all of
that sort of stuff is really good for the code
(06:57):
and they need to be investing into New Zealand. And
this is one way you can invest into New Zealand.
I hasten to suggest it shouldn't be the only way,
but we can really shine the spotlight on it and
fill eating park with Rugby league people, which is a
massive statement in itself.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Well, and it's been done before. We various competitions, not
not the full mickey, but the shortened competition. So people
like that. So essentially, Greg Peter's what's stopping this is
a big investment from either government or local council to
attract this over and without that spend, it's simply not
going to come. And then of course there's the Eden
(07:34):
Park issue as well, So there are some roadblocks.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's true.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
But let's get through them and let's have some vision
on this of heat space in New Zealand and make
it happen. When you look at Eden Park, Eden Park
versus Suncourt to say, you know, broadly the same sort
of number of people you get in there, but the
difference will be the investment that the Queensland versus potentially
in New Zealand are prepared to put into it. So
we've got to come up to the plate and you know,
(08:01):
pay for these events if we're serious about having them.
Otherwise we're going to maybe fall off the event cliff
in New Zealand because we just don't don't don't have
that vision.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Talking about the group that you meet with that that's
a genuine fear around the combination that it will fall
off a Cliff. We've had a lot of international events.
It's been brilliant, but they're pretty thin on the ground currently,
aren't they Is this realistic possibility that people just give up?
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Look, I think, you know, speaking more generally, you know,
if you look at regular leg World Cups and other
events like that, the you know, when you look at
the ability of federation.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Or in any so like regular use regul lead.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
To underwrite and put on these events, that's a massive
ask because we don't. We don't have a balance sheet,
so there are very few people that have a balance
sheet that can can foot that bill. So again, if
we're serious about it, how do we find the resources
to make these events happen in New Zealand because international
federations are looking for you know, underwrite and guarantee an
(09:07):
investment from local and central government to get them off
the ground.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
And you have no doubt that it would sell out,
and you could, I suppose, charge a pretty penny for
that because I'd expect that a place like ukam there's
League fans everywhere.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
As you touched on, I.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Think it draw on more than League fans. It's a multi,
multi fan based event, just like many of the other
events that we've heard recently that are kind of unique
and one off. It's a set'scarcity factor an international sport
now that drives value into to an event, and you know,
there'd be a lot of people that maybe you have
never been to a regul league game before, that would
(09:45):
love to go to an event like that, and they
certainly turn it on the NRL where they put those
matches on.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
For more from sports Talk, listen live to news Talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Waldergrave
from news Talk z'd be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I was joined it now by Greg Peter's CEO of
New Zealand at Rugby League. Welcome to the show. Greg,
I know you're well. You're a happy man.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Thank you. Darcy. I'm a happy man. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Great to have you on board. Let's talk about the
potential that this has been going on for so long,
hasn't it. Can we have a state of origin fixture
over in New Zealand. So there are proposals in motion,
but a lot of those that appeared seem to rely
around will roll around whether Eden Park can actually host
(00:43):
something like that. So I suppose we'll start off first though.
There's a want and a need for state of origin
over here. Are you sure about that?
Speaker 4 (00:50):
I think there's a huge following now, you know, not
only on the back not only on.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
The back of the Warriors, but the success of the
NRL and people following. People have been following state of
Origin in New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
For the fifty to forty fifty years that's been going
now and a lot of people got into rugby league
because of those. It's years in the eighties and of
following the Queensland and New South Wales the way through,
so massive following for it. People stay up till after
midnight on a midweek night to follow their team, so
you know, I think there's an appetite for it most definitely.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Are you confident that they can get it over the line,
because plainly the NRL are interested. But they've got a
few hurdles. The biggest one I mentioned before is the
only way to circumvent that because I wouldn't trust the
residents of the council will do anything. Quite frankly, well.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
You know, I think that's probably best directed towards Eden
Park and the council. But certainly some challenges, mainly because
of the broadcast times back into Australia. As you know,
it's hard enough for us staying up to after midnight
here when the kickoffs after ten o'clock New Zealand time,
So that will be a problem because they have to
clear concerts out of Eden Park much earlier than that,
so and all other sporting fixtures have finished well before that.
(02:00):
But I think the other bigger problem, and it's a
bigger problem for the events industry in New Zealand is
do we have money to put into this sort of stuff?
And in my view there's you know, we're competing against
the Australian markets with many millions of dollars for state
governments and central government funding over the are and there's
(02:20):
a little bit of.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
A what I'll call it a.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Paucity of vision in New Zealand around the event space
just right at the moment, and we need to be
coordinated and if we get serious about these events, we've
got to put some serious financial muscle behind it.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So where does that need to land, the finance that
you're looking at that muscle and how much are we
talking here, because I'm presuming what you're saying, as other
states are going, no, no, we'll write a check. We
really want that here, that's what you're that's what you're
looking for.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Absolutely. I mean the Magic Round and which is a
wonderful event as well that we.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Should be looking at as well, and I think.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Cameron George has been vocal about that or in a
women's women's Magic Round as well. But the the you know,
we're up against New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria particularly
who throw in some case there's tens of millions at
these these one off events, so or up to that
number any rate. So you've got to be saying in
(03:14):
New Zealand, we've got to look at this and say, right,
we're a small country five million people, not as big economically,
but which events are we going to go after? And
this should be one of them and we should be
should be looking at that from a country perspective rather
than just an auckland and saying, look, this is good,
good for us to be to be put our name
on the global map and particularly Australasian map when you
(03:36):
come to rugby league in sport and let's go after
this thing, but we might have to trade off and
not go after some other things. So we need a
proper strategy around events in New Zealand. And that that
goes to you know, whether we're going to host paink
or not, or whether we're going to Taylor Swift or whatever.
But let's let's get a coordinated strategy for events in
New Zealand and in this case particularly sporting events.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Have you climbed into this at all with any government representation.
Have you had a lot to find out what needs
to be in order to seal deals.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Like this not particularly on the state of origin, but
we have I'm part of a group a group of
people that get together. The reason we regularly to talk
about the event space and you know this is this
is a this is an a gender topic for us.
Is how do we pull this together? Because everyone's sort
of you know, you got Auckland Unlimited, You've got christ Ute,
you've got Wellington, Dunedin, anywhere with a stadium that can
(04:32):
host or an event facility that can host, and we're
all climbing over each other trying to find.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
To get events.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Whereas if we and then you've got a central fund
from MB or major events in New Zealand and what's
to find as a major event in New Zealand. It
needs some a look at too, because sometimes these one
off events are not termed as major events in New Zealand.
You're looking at sort of World Cups and the wonderful
events that they've been recently with a Rugby Union World
(05:00):
Cup and feed for Women's World Cup. All of those
are fantastic events. But these are one off opportunities that
don't come around very often in terms of state of origin,
and we need to chase the hard.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
CEO of New zel On Rugby League, Greg Peters at
joining us. Let's talk our economic benefit. If you're pouring
in millions of dollars to attract the one off event
like this, can it be justified by what rolls in
money wise? And I'm presuming a lot of that from
over the ditch, from around the rest of the country.
Is it worthwhile?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Most definitely.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
I mean I don't have the number that they would
have calculated for state of origin in Auckland, but if
you look at the visitation which was a big measure,
and a number of hotel beds and the nights that
people will stay and what else I do in New
Zealand while they're here, there will.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Most definitely be a payback on that.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I can recall, you know, my time in Wellington when
we were running the sevens down there. The economic benefit
for that was something like eighteen million dollars to the
city units years ago now, So you know, you look
at triple the investment, and you look at the feel
good fact for what it does for the country, which
is often not valued as well. People get behind this
stuff and it makes us feel better about ourselves and
(06:12):
it makes us feel that we feel proud New Zealanders
and I think that's a really important factor as well.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Why would the NRL do this though, Why would they
take away the jewel in their Rugby league crown away
from Australia. They did go down like a cup of
cold sick amongst the fan base, wouldn't it. What do
they stand to gain out of this? This is their game,
this is the one they all look forward to.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Yeah, what should be a multifaceted strategy this from the NRL.
Look at what New Zealand now produces. Twenty eight to
thirty percent of the players that are playing in NROL
come from New Zealand or start their career in New Zealand,
and the fan base, the number of people watching it
on Sky and the growth of the Warriors, all of
that sort of stuff is really good for the code
(06:57):
and they need to be investing into New Zealand. And
this is one way you can invest into New Zealand.
I hasten to suggest it shouldn't be the only way,
but we can really shine the spotlight on it and
fill eating park with Rugby league people, which is a
massive statement in itself.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Well, and it's been done before. We various competitions, not
not the full mickey, but the shortened competition. So people
like that. So essentially, Greg Peter's what's stopping this is
a big investment from either government or local council to
attract this over and without that spend, it's simply not
going to come. And then of course there's the Eden
(07:34):
Park issue as well, So there are some roadblocks.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's true.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
But let's get through them and let's have some vision
on this of heat space in New Zealand and make
it happen. When you look at Eden Park, Eden Park
versus Suncourt to say, you know, broadly the same sort
of number of people you get in there, but the
difference will be the investment that the Queensland versus potentially
in New Zealand are prepared to put into it. So
we've got to come up to the plate and you know,
(08:01):
pay for these events if we're serious about having them.
Otherwise we're going to maybe fall off the event cliff
in New Zealand because we just don't don't don't have
that vision.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Talking about the group that you meet with that that's
a genuine fear around the combination that it will fall
off a Cliff. We've had a lot of international events.
It's been brilliant, but they're pretty thin on the ground currently,
aren't they Is this realistic possibility that people just give up?
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Look, I think, you know, speaking more generally, you know,
if you look at regular leg World Cups and other
events like that, the you know, when you look at
the ability of federation.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Or in any so like regular use regul lead.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
To underwrite and put on these events, that's a massive
ask because we don't. We don't have a balance sheet,
so there are very few people that have a balance
sheet that can can foot that bill. So again, if
we're serious about it, how do we find the resources
to make these events happen in New Zealand because international
federations are looking for you know, underwrite and guarantee an
(09:07):
investment from local and central government to get them off
the ground.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
And you have no doubt that it would sell out,
and you could, I suppose, charge a pretty penny for
that because I'd expect that a place like ukam there's
League fans everywhere.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
As you touched on, I.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Think it draw on more than League fans. It's a multi,
multi fan based event, just like many of the other
events that we've heard recently that are kind of unique
and one off. It's a set'scarcity factor an international sport
now that drives value into to an event, and you know,
there'd be a lot of people that maybe you have
never been to a regul league game before, that would
(09:45):
love to go to an event like that, and they
certainly turn it on the NRL where they put those
matches on.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
For more from sports Talk, listen live to news Talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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