Mark Alexander: 'He is the minister, he can say what he likes'

REACTION: Gayton McKenzie, the minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, is welcome to ‘flap his lips’, but reality will soon set in.

This was the succinct response of newly re-elected President of the South African Rugby Union, Mark Alexander, to a statement made by McKenzie earlier this week.

McKenzie publicly declared his intention to bring the World Cup back to South Africa for the first time since 1995.

He brazenly stated he will not rest until this is achieved.

McKenzie reasons that because South Africa is the best team, as back-to-back World Cup winners, the country should be hosting the tournament.

However, the financial reality of hosting the global showpiece is ultimately what will see the minister’s ambitious objective reduced to merely a pipe dream.

“SARU can’t go and make a commitment on behalf of the government, but I’m going to work very hard to get sponsors to come on board,” McKenzie told a media briefing.

“SARU is financially very prudent,” he said, adding: “They don’t want to commit to something they have no power over.

“I’ve already spoken to some sponsors to say: ‘Can you give ZAR200-million, can you give ZAR400-million‘?

“Then I’m going to the government, as we’ve done with Formula One. We’ll say: ‘Here’s the R3-billion‘.

“Then we’ll go to SARU and say to them: ‘Mark [Alexander], go get us that World Cup‘.”

Alexander seemed to pour cold water on the bold declaration by the minister.

“He is the minister; he can say whatever he wants to say,” was the SARU boss’s retort.

Alexander added that while SARU still has the appetite to host a World Cup, the reality of getting the cash and competing with much stronger currencies on the global stage makes it a real challenge.

Australia will host the 2027 World Cup, with the United States staging the 2031 edition.

Bidding remains open for the 2035 tournament, with Argentina, Spain, Japan and Italy having thrown their names into the hat.

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“We have decided we won’t be bidding because of the cost of upgrading our stadiums.

“We heard what he [McKenzie] said, and he has the right to say such things.

“However, we as an organisation [SARU] have not applied our minds to that [subject].”

SARU CEO Rian Oberholzer pointed out that while the minister’s enthusiasm must be applauded, he must also face the ‘reality’ of what it takes to bring a World Cup to South Africa.

“We do not own the commercial rights,” Oberholzer said, adding: “We can’t bring sponsors to the table to defer the costs of the event.

“The only income stream you get out of the World Cup is ticket sales.

“With that [ticket sales], you have to pay for the bulk of the cost of hosting the tournament.”

The other, often overlooked, reality is the poor state of the South African currency, the Rand.

“You have to look at what World Rugby can make in South Africa, against what they can make in Europe.

“Those things is not decided by us. Those calls are being made by World Rugby.

“The World Cup is the only money generator for World Rugby, and from that, they must support all 90-odd members.

“They make a decision based on how much money they can make.

“If we can get the money from the government to ensure a US$700-million profit for World Rugby, then we will talk.”

Oberholzer said the forecast for the profit of the 2027 World Cup in Australia is US$700-million and by the 2031 tournament in America, the prediction is for a profit of US$1-billion for World Rugby.

“It is simple,” the CEO said, adding: “We will have to prove that we could make a profit of at least US$1.3-billion if we want to host it in 2035.

“If we can’t guarantee that profit, we must underwrite it.

“Then we must make a decision whether it is worth our while to host the event.”

Oberholzer confirmed that “serious work” will need to be done on all of South Africa’s stadiums, to upgrade them to acceptable standards for World Rugby.

“The preventative maintenance is not up to speed in the majority of the stadiums.

“They will need to invest a huge amount of money to get the stadiums to a world-class level for us to host a World Cup.”

That does not even include the rest of the infrastructure, such as public transport, roads and accommodation.

Hosting the tournament will also impact several departments, such as security, home affairs, etc.

They also need to have budgets to get them up to an acceptable standard.

“It is not as easy as just putting up a game,” Alexander said, adding: “It is much bigger than just the game.”

Alexander and Oberholzer both said they would like to “engage” with the minister to understand his thinking.

@JanDKrugby
@rugby365com