Mark Robinson: NZ Rugby CEO on the All Blacks v Fiji match in San Diego

Saturday saw the All Blacks record a record win in San Diego. 

They were stateside over the weekend, facing off against Fiji and taking the win 47-5. 

Over 33 thousand people attended the match, NZ Rugby CEO Mark Robinson saying it was a “fantastic event”. 

He told Mike Hosking that Americans are very different in the way they approach sporting events, and they had stalls with long queues, a lot more music, a lot more people moving around their seats, and a lot more buzz and hum in the stadium. 

Robinson said that there’s definitely more work to do, and the plan isn’t fully fledged yet, but they packed a heap of stuff into the week and had a great event on the Friday night as well, so they’re pretty pleased. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So let's have a look at the weekends all Black
Test and whether it achieved what it was supposed to,
i e. Sell the game to the Americans. Ented Chief
executive Mark Robinson with US Mark Morning Morning, Mike Razor
smoke very well about it, tailgate parties, plenty of noise
in the injury breaks and all that sort of stuff.
Do you see it as a success and how so?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, absolutely, it was a it was a fantastic event.
It was a it was a great week leading up
to it at a lot of levels, Mike. But if
you if you want to focus on the game, you
know it was I think it was a couple of
hundred tickets off sold out, so just over thirty three
thousand people went to the ground early as well as
tailgate stuff going on or set up a number of

(00:40):
merchandise stalls, and the Americans are very different in terms
of the way they approached that. So we had stalls
with you know, long long cues in them, a lot
more music, a lot more people moving in and around
their seats, and a lot more buzz and hum in
the stadium. So look, when we look at the nature
the competition of the crowd, we had about seventy percent
of the crowd come from outside of San Diego, and

(01:02):
there were fans from every state in the United States.
But that's as well, though, wasn't it. Well, we haven't
got that the little detail yets. But certainly there were
people I've bumped the people on the street that had
come from from Dallas and other areas in the South
that we were Americans wanting to understand the game more,
had seen seeing aspects of the World Cup and just

(01:24):
wanted to learn more. So there were, you know, I
think a composition of lots of different nationalities and people
from different states as well.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
So have you got enough there to actually look on
a piece of paper and go, this specifically is what
we did, what we aim for, and therefore we achieved
it or not? Or is it just all vibes?

Speaker 2 (01:43):
I think it's early days with it. I mean, we
met with USA Rugby and World Rugby through the week
and talked about where World Rugby are thinking about the
markets and host cities for the tournament twenty thirty one.
We'll certainly take a gauge off them as to what
future involvement in the States looks like and where we

(02:03):
might go. So We've got a bit to learn around
the market and certainly the USA Right've got some strong
views on possible markets as well and how we look
to work into the fajor markets on the East and
the West coast. So there's definitely more work to do, Mike,
I don't think the plan is fully fledged, but what
we're seeing through content the influences there. You'd have probably

(02:25):
seen images of NFL franchise and athletes all around the place,
and certainly the engagements through all of that off field
stuff was really impressive. We've also did a lot of
work length and foundations with you know, White and New
Zealand anchor. Was great to see people like Tim Brown
up there. Anthony Moss is doing a great job as
a general counsel to the console sorry to the West

(02:48):
coast of the States, and talked about different ideas around
how we connect the game in there and think about
you know, the broader interests in New Zealand as well.
So you know, I'm self spent days up at Stanford
and around Silicon Valley talking to some people about what
the future could look like down down the West Coast
with regards to rugby and other opportunities. So all in all,

(03:09):
we can. We packed a heap of stuff into the week,
and we we had a great event on Friday night
as well, so we're pretty pleased.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Good stuff all right, go well, appreciate it very much,
Mike Robinson, Chief Executives.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
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Speaker 1 (03:22):
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