Steve Lancaster: NZ Rugby's new chief executive on how he plans to turn the organisation around

New Zealand Rugby has appointed Steve Lancaster as the organisation’s new chief executive, after he spent six months as the interim CEO.

In a statement, NZR chairman David Kirk congratulated Lancaster on the appointment - and said he brings 'strong experience at all levels of the game'.

Lancaster says he's intent on turning up and doing the best job he can and he's focused on making the business sustainable. 

"I guess the board decided they're happy with the job I'm doing - so here I am." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It are has finally chosen its CEO, and it is
Steve Lancaster, who's been the interim boss for six months already.
His appointment was confirmed at the annual meeting today, so
let's talk to him. Hi Steve, Hi, Heather, congratulations on
the job. How long have you known.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Since yesterday? So it's all happened very quickly once the
board offered me the role with the AG and today
they were keen to announce it, And to be honest,
I didn't have to think about it very long.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Oh I bet this must feel like the longest ninety
day trial ever.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, well, I guess I didn't treat it as a trial.
I approached it as an interim role, but was very
intent on just turning up every week and doing the
best job I could. And I guess the board have
decided that they're happy with the job I'm doing, so
here I am. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Now, I mean, you've got a big task ahead of you, right,
because yet again reported a loss. How are you going
to do that? How are you going to stop ins
it out losing money every year?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well, we've got to put our results into context, and
I won't bore you with the mechanic, so that lost
versus a small operating profit. But we look at the
business over a multi year cycle rather than year on year,
and so we know that we have troughs and peaks
over the cycle, and so we are very focused on
getting the business sustainable over the cycle, as opposed to

(01:17):
in any given year when we do have such dramatic
troughs and peaks.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah, I mean, are you are you aiming for a
net profit?

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well, look, that would be nice, wouldn't it. And we
certainly well, we achieved as I say, a small operating
profit last year, but in some years, like if you
look at this year as a World Cup year, we
always lose money in a World Cup year because we
have less home fractures, we have more costs. So, as
I say, every year is different.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
No, I mean because the argument that you guys are
making is that you're not. Actually this is the net
loss is not as bad as it looks because a
lot of it is cash investment, which you know is
going to help you out in years to come. But
you can't keep going like this because you will burn
through all of the money that you've got. So at
some point you have to stop this don't you.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, that would be true if the revenue doesn't show up, right,
And so really what we're investing in is long term
revenue growth and value creation, and so you're right. Over
the last four years we've invested a significant amount of
money in establishing the foundations for long term value generation
and so what we now need to see is that
start turning into returns.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Steve, given how successful the super Round was, do you
think it's a wise idea to pull it and replace
it with an ANZAC test.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Well, we wouldn't necessarily do that. We'd certainly agree that
the super Round was a huge success and we would
love to see that hosted in New Zealand again next year.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Okay, so what you do both of them at the
same time, but both on ANZAC weekend.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well, there are a couple of things in that right, So
we haven't made any decisions about an ANZAC test. But
there's also no law that says that the super Round
needs to be played on ANZAC weekend. Ah.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Okay, but you are doing an ANZAC test, don't you.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
No, that's certainly underactive consideration and we're not denying that
Rugby Australia have for some Time wanted us to agree
to that, and we are amenable to the idea, but
there's quite a bit to work through before we were
in a position to agree to or announce that.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Okay, now, now, a really good money spiner for you
guys in the last financial year was the All Blacks
match in Chicago. So should we expect to see more
of the stuff being done offshore?

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah? I think so, but we're really mindful of balancing
our domestic footprint and our responsibility to New Zealander is right,
So you're not going to see wholesale movement of major tests. Generally,
what we look to do is create additional test match
content or opportunities and take those offshore because with bigger
markets and bigger venues, we can generate significantly more return

(03:37):
which we're then able to invest into the game in
New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Now, we have discussed on the show quite a lot,
and we did it yesterday as well, because Patrick mckendry's
written a piece about why the Warriors in Rugby League
is kicking the butt of Super Rugby at the moment.
Are you worried about that?

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Oh? Well, I haven't seen Patrick's article, so I can't
say whether I'm worried about what he's written, but we
are very focused on what we doing, what we know.
We've got a great product with super Ubium. As you
just said, the super Round was a huge success. Crusaders
have sold out again this Friday night to play the Blues,
So we really believe we've got a great product. But
we acknowledge that we've got a little bit more to
do on getting the marketing mixed right at the venue

(04:15):
mix so that people are turning up in big numbers.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah, Steve listen, thank you very much. Congratulations against Steve
Lancaster and New Zealand Rugby Chief executive executive. If you
want to read the Patrick mckenrrey piece, it is on
Dylan Cleaver's blog The Bounce and it's very good.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
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