adminLONDON. – Richie McCaw and his All Black rugby stars clear up the locker room after each game in a gesture that might horrify multi-millionaire footballers. It is part of the team-comes-first ethos that has made New Zealand – who won an unprecedented third World Cup title on Saturday – the most respected rugby force of the past half century. “Everyone tidies up,” Joe Locke, All Blacks team spokesman, said.
Rugby traditions die hard in New Zealand. And resistance to change also partly explains why the All Black brand was valued this year at just $132 million while Manchester United’s name weighs in at more than $1 billion, analysts said.
“When you compare it to other sporting brands, Manchester United and some of the American codes, it is absolutely tiny in comparison,” Bryn Anderson, chief operating officer for the Brand Finance consultancy, which carried out the study said. United’s annual revenues are about $700 million a year while New Zealand revealed about $80 million in commercial revenues for 2014.
New Zealand have major sponsor deals with insurance giant AIG and German kit maker Adidas. New Zealand media said AIG are paying about $10 million a year to put its name on the All Black jersey next to the famous silver fern badge. The Adidas deal is reportedly worth slightly more.
Adidas this year signed a 10-year deal with Manchester United worth $1,1 billion however. And US car manufacturer Chevrolet has a seven year deal with United worth about $80 million a year to put its name on the team shirt. Comparing rugby with the English Premier League and the US NBA is an “unfair fight”, according to Paul Smith, chief executive of the Repucom sports data company.
The All Blacks also suffer because New Zealand has a population of just over four million, he added. – AFP.
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