Mike's Minute: Despite record revenue, NZR is still losing money

In the NZR press release yesterday, Chairman David Kirk and CEO Mark Robinson did their best to infer that life financially for the sport is sensational. 

Despite the fact it isn't. 

They lost money, almost $20 million. And they lost money the year before that as well. 

Kirk ran the line that it was not a cash loss and that they had $170-ish million in reserves. 

They also spruiked the fact that they were pulling in record revenue. 

Now, I am a conservative when it comes to money. The fact they pulled in record revenue and still lost money is your real news, because if you can't make dough when you're raking it in, your model is broken. 

Mark Robinson admitted as much by saying "there was further work needed to achieve a sustainable financial model". 

This is no different to your household budget. 

You had a pay rise, brought some good coin into the house, but you are still not getting ahead. Then you reassure yourself that although you got a pay rise, but spent it all and then some, don't worry – we still have the savings account. 

The trouble for people like Kirk and Robinson is everyone is an expert. We all run rugby and, in a way, that is a good thing. We are not short of interested parties. 

But what you can't argue with is the market rugby plays in. The global sports market is booming. The money out there for elite sport is eye-watering and NZR's revenue uptick indicates they might be seeing a bit of that. 

But the simple truth is if you can't bank the buck in the golden years, you will be killed in the lean ones. 

The experts who text me will tell you Robinson is a fool, women's rugby is a drain, and the provincial unions are run by people called Bruce who still drink handles of beer every Friday night with their shirt fronts hanging out. 

But what all of that florid verbiage from the well-intentioned doesn’t address is the really big important question. 

If you can't make money from your national game, either no sport can make money (which we know not to be true), or something is wrong with the way the national game is run. 

If you're still in the red when it's raining money and your press releases have a desperation about them, someone needs to be held to account. 

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