Rugby Australia, Raelene Castle spent $1m on failed broadcast negotiations

Rugby’s highly paid strategists rejected a lucrative pay TV deal in the hope of starting a bidding war. It never materialised.

Former Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle. Picture: Getty

Rugby Australia last year paid close to $1m to broadcast rights strategists, who ultimately rejected a $US25m-a-year TV deal and then failed to secure a bid for the beleaguered code.

Former chief executive Raelene Castle hired Shane Mattiske and Michael Tange, who pushed RA to walk away from a five-year deal with Fox Sports last November in the hope of starting a bidding war. It never materialised.

It was revealed last week that Optus was never seriously in the running for the broadcast rights.

Today rugby faces financial collapse as Optus and Fox Sports (owned by News Corp, publisher of The Australian) turn their back on the struggling code, leaving the game with few if any options for broadcasting beyond 2020.

The Australian on Monday revealed a document affirming RA’s dire financial situation, which has the code staring at liabilities well in excess of $20m and facing insolvency. The game has blown $500m over the last four years and currently has no assets, no firm competition start date and no broadcast deal.

The Australian can reveal Mattiske and Tange have been paid by RA for nearly two years and a source confirmed they had collected well over $1m. Tange started working full-time in the RA office from July 2018 and was on the executive committee.

Former NRL interim CEO Shane Mattiske in 2012.

Castle first engaged Mattiske at Sportel Monaco, the global sports television conference, in October 2018. She was there with SANZAAR to meet with all her current and prospective broadcast partners. She signed Mattiske up at that Monaco conference to be a leader in broadcast rights talks. Both Mattiske and Tange are still engaged by Rugby Australia today.

Back in March, Castle, Mattiske and Tange were saying they wanted to have the broadcast deal sewn up and announced before the AGM. It never eventuated and then COVID-19 hit.

The pandemic has crippled the sports industry and media companies, including Fox Sports, which has already undertaken severe cost-cutting measures.

It is understood Fox Sports’ primary focus is on securing longer deals with the NRL and AFL. It has been reported that the NRL is close to signing a $2.5bn deal with Nine and Fox Sports.

The relationship between Castle and Fox Sports was reported to have soured earlier this year. Back then Fox Sports had indicated it would not be bidding for the rugby rights after relations between its executive team, Castle and RA board members hit a record low.

Super Rugby has failed to attract good crowds in recent years. Picture: AAP

Castle resigned almost a month ago after losing the confidence of the board. On Monday, it was announced an adapted version of Super Rugby would recommence with an Australian-only competition comprising five teams, including the Western Force, being planned.

It is expected to begin in July but may not be enough to rescue the financially stricken code.

Broadcast rights expert Colin Smith — who has advised most of the professional sports in Australia through his company Global Media and Sports — pointed out the Australia-only competition restarting will be required to be signed off by all the major broadcasters.

“It’s really sad but the SANZAAR members including Australia are not in a strong position,” Smith said. “Each broadcaster will have to actually individually sign off on whatever the broadcast arrangement is with SANZAAR and that it meets with their contractual commitments.

“The question is: will this satisfy the broadcast rights issues for the broadcasters of Super Rugby? It’s not just Foxtel, it’s Super Sport, Sky New Zealand and Sky UK. That would be 80-90 per cent of the broadcast rights fees for SANZAAR that are being shared across the SANZAAR members including Australia.”