The South African Rugby Union (Saru) on Tuesday announced a “minor deficit” despite record revenues of helse R1.54bn in 2022.
Saru raked in the geld on the back of joining northern-hemisphere competitions, the United Rugby Championship plus the European Champions and Challenge Cups.
According to Saru, group revenues increased significantly to R1.54bn (2021 – R1.28bn) thanks principally to increases in broadcasting (R828m from R654m) and sponsorship (R396m from R222m) income.
Despite record broadcasting and sponsorship revenues, SA Rugby still reported a minor deficit for 2022 - more here: https://t.co/zeqY0MtZuV 🏉 pic.twitter.com/ksTTnYXs0T
— Springboks (@Springboks) May 2, 2023
Saru, however, revealed a pre-tax deficit of R2.62m included expenditure of R330m in mostly travelling costs to and from Europe.
At Tuesday’s Saru AGM, SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer also claimed that a more-representative Springbok team has drive commercial interest in the Boks to levels never seen before.
He says: “It is testimony to the success of a winning, transformed Springbok team that the appeal of the team has probably never been higher.
“To prove the point, nine new companies joined the SA Rugby family in 2022… the appeal of the team and sport is in good health.”