South Africa and New Zealand bet on rugby series — Daily Maverick
In South Africa, the rugby unions of South Africa and New Zealand are considering the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series between the Springboks and the All Blacks as a regular source of revenue. After South Africa’s national team won the 2026 series 3:1, matches during a similar period are planned to be held in New Zealand in 2030. The sides have also agreed in principle on a tour to South Africa in 2034, although no contracts have yet been signed for it.
As Daily Maverick reports, neither union expects to host the Rugby World Cup in the foreseeable future. South Africa last hosted the tournament in 1995, while New Zealand did so in 2011. Australia will host the 2027 World Cup, and the United States will host the 2031 tournament. Neither the South African Rugby Union nor New Zealand Rugby is competing for the right to host the 2035 World Cup.
New Zealand Rugby finances
According to the publication, a confidential internal New Zealand Rugby document forecasts a net loss of NZ$27 million and cumulative losses of NZ$66 million in 2027–2031. The document also projects a reduction in cash reserves from NZ$144.7 million to about NZ$72 million and describes the union’s financial model as unsustainable.
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In 2025, NZR received record revenue of NZ$304.2 million but ended the year with a loss of NZ$7.5 million. Under the forecast for 2026, the men’s All Blacks team is expected to be the only profitable one among the organization’s teams and competitions, at about NZ$38 million. NZR’s new agreement with broadcaster Sky for domestic rights for 2026–2030 is reportedly valued at NZ$75–80 million, compared with about NZ$111 million under the previous deal.
Revenue from international matches
NZR excluded overseas test matches from the rights package for Sky and plans to sell the rights to them separately. According to The Herald, the All Blacks match against the Springboks in Baltimore brought the New Zealand union about NZ$9 million, which was described as the All Blacks’ record earnings from a single match.
According to Daily Maverick, the South African union received about 90 million rand more from the Baltimore match than from a home game. Expected box-office revenue from the entire eight-match series against the All Blacks was estimated at 170–200 million rand. At the same time, the South African Rugby Union group’s revenue in 2025 rose by 29%, to about 2.02 billion rand, but the organization recorded a pre-tax loss of 40 million rand.
