Hamish McLennan sees World Cup in 2027 as the jewel in the crown

Hamish McLennan says he is “hopeful” of joining the Rugby Australia board as chairman in the coming days.

Prospective Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan. Picture: John Feder

Hamish McLennan says he is “hopeful” of joining the Rugby Australia board as chairman in the coming days on what will need to be a united board making one of its core goals a successful bid to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

The Australian reported this week that the experienced media executive, REA chairman and Magellan director was a preferred candidate of interim chair Paul McLean, revelations that triggered the resignation of RA board member Peter Wiggs and the withdrawal of Australian Olympic Committee chief executive Matt Carroll from the race to be the new rugby CEO.

In his first comments on the prospect of taking the RA permanent chairmanship, McLennan said he was close to finalising a deal with McLean and interim CEO Rob Clarke.

“I’m hopeful we’ll get there, I’m discussing the finer details with Paul McLean who is extremely honourable and Rob Clarke who is a great operator.

“We might have something soon,” McLennan said.

The current REA and HT&E chairman signalled an intention to make an Australian bid for the 2027 World Cup the focus for Rugby Australia should he take the role.

“I think the 2027 World Cup bid is an incredible opportunity for the country,” he said.

The former 10 Network CEO and senior executive at News Corp (publisher of The Australian) said the potential for the event was enormous, foreseeing matches that could showcase Australian landmarks.

“Could you imagine if we played a game of rugby near Uluru or the Opera House as part of that event?” McLennan said.

The NRL is reportedly on the verge of a new $2.3 billion broadcast deal with Fox Sports and the Nine Network, likely to be signed this week and saving it from a parlous financial position.

But McLennan said only rugby and its showcase event could truly rival the Olympics and bring hundreds of millions to the Australian economy.

“We are the only winter code to be able to pull off something like this which would then bring a billion into the Australian economy. It would be up there with the Olympics.”

The RA board has been riddled with division and infighting that broke out publicly in November last year after the failure of the Wallabies at the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

Former chief executive Raelene Castle and former chair Cameron Clyne were blamed for the poor performance of the game in Australia, exacerbated by Castle’s decision to walk away from an offer by Fox Sports to roll over a $57m a year broadcasting deal.

Castle attempted to sign a deal with Optus but the telco has since pulled out of negotiations since the onset of COVID-19, which has left Rugby Australia with no broadcast deal for 2021 onwards.

McLennan stressed that rugby in Australia needed to “align” and put infighting behind it if it was going to take advantage of its passionate but increasingly jaded fan base.

“There’s no shortage of brains and passion with rugby but we all need to get aligned,” he said.

Only last week Peter Wiggs resigned from the RA board after The Australian revealed an email trail between Wiggs and McLean in which in the interim chair suggests McLennan would be a better option for the permanent role.

Despite being mentioned in the email exchanges, McLennan had not been in any advanced talks with McLean about taking the chairman role.

It’s understood RA has made its financials available to McLennan so he can better conduct due diligence on the financial position of the code before accepting any role.

The future of any broadcast deal for Rugby Australia is still unclear even if and when McLennan were to accept a role.

Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany has been steadfast that Fox Sports has walked away from the sport.

Despite a report in Nine papers suggesting a new deal could be done between Delany and interim CEO Rob Clark because of social connections, Foxtel sources have rubbished any suggestion that the pair’s friendship — or McLennan’s association with News Corp — would help RA’s cause in Foxtel coming back to rugby.

News Corp CEO Robert Thomson last week told analysts on a third quarter results call there needed to be a “fundamental reset” of the price paid for sports rights amid the COVID-19 crisis.