All Blacks score Adidas super deal

By Nick Smith

Friday 20th December 2002

Rugby administrators will today trumpet a new nine-year deal with sponsor Adidas the longest term the sportswear giant has ever signed with any rugby team.

The NZRFU board is refusing to place a value on the multimillion-dollar agreement but it is believed to be the biggest rugby sponsorship deal in the world, dwarfing anything the English and Australian rugby unions might boast.

If so, it cements the All Blacks' position as the premier team in world rugby in terms of prestige and dollar value.

The old adidas five-year deal attracted media estimates of its worth between $20 million and $60 million.

The new sponsorship agreement that expires in 2011 is understood to be on similar terms and is great news for the union, which started early negotiations with adidas a year ago.

It allows certainty of income, with the sponsorship providing the union with its second-largest revenue stream, dwarfed only by the broadcasting agreement with News Ltd.

That deal comes up for renewal in 2005 but will be negotiated through Sanzar, the Tri-Nations body which administers the Super 12 and international competition involving the All Blacks, Australia and South Africa.

If the union had not moved quickly with adidas, it would have faced negotiating, within 18 months, sponsorship and broadcasting deals that provide the bulk of its income.

Meanwhile, former Fonterra Co-operative Group No 2 Chris Moller replaces acting chief executive Steve Tew, who becomes Mr Moller's deputy, while independent directors John Lindsay and Gavin Walker have been appointed to the board.

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