This is the problem facing Australian rugby in a nutshell. The International game does fund everything. But that in itself is also it downfall. You are trying to fund everything through the Wallabies.
But in doing so you compromise the domestic level of the games ability to become more financial.
And as we have seen over the last 20 years you are putting ever greater pressure on the Wallabies to generate more income, but at the same time the games popularity has steadily declined as wallaby losses have increased, because you do not have growth domestically to make up for that.
The double whammy has then been the growth of its football competitors AFL/NRL who have dominated the available market share, that Wallaby pot of gold is forever shrinking, yet with the Women's game, 7's grassroots it has more mouths than ever to feed, the NRC is a classic example of another mouth to feed but with no more money.
And as the games popularity declines it will be harder for the Wallabies to remain competitive, what happens to that revenue if the Wallabies start losing more Tests against 2nd Tier countries, at what years consecutive losses does the Bledisloe value start to decline.
I don't know what the answer is.
But I do honestly think that sooner or later Rugby Australia will have to take domestic growth more seriously, because if they don't then that Wallaby brand will just slowly cease to exist, and all that International money will go with it.
Very astute post.
Risk is a funny thing, do nothing but maintain the existing status que with minor twigs, means a slow and painful death but not blow torch to the belly pain. Do something radical with a much higher risk could mean a rapid decline and blow torch to the belly pain levels. It also may succeed and be a thing of great joy and grow.
I have repeatedly posted recently i don't know the answer, and its what a lot of posters are saying.
Among the many issues we have is an aging fan base, which I have commented on recently, and this is real issue.
So do we go down fighting or simply hope we can hang on.
This for what its worth this is my radical idea, and at the end I will post what will be a very unpopular example of this method working.
The best run sport in Australia by light years is AFL, Boomers have NFI how to fix or solve our issues.
Lets get a millennial hot shot from the AFL and put that person in charge.
Has this ever worked anywhere in the world, yes it has. In 1996 the US started the MLS with 10 teams, three folded replaced by three new, and seven teams out of ten were owned by one person at a point in time, the MLS was on its death bed, most tho it had months if not weeks left. The MLS then appointed around 2004 an early 30's National Football league [gridiron] man, and put him in charge, 19 years later its not only alive but booming.
It may fail in months, it may work, its maybe a crazy but its an idea.