B12 O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2020
U
SA Rugby has filed for
bankruptcy. The Austra-
lians are facing a black hole
of more than US$70-million. En-
glish rugby leaders have drawn
up worst-case scenarios of an
even bigger financial hit.
The coronavirus pandemic has
left rugby on its knees over the
past two weeks, with the prospect
of more pain to come because of
the uncertainty over whether
leagues, lucrative tours and inter-
national competitions can re-
sume or go ahead.
The chief executive of En-
gland’s Rugby Football Union
(RFU), the world’s richest union,
said on Thursday there has been
an “unprecedented amount of
dialogue” between the sport’s
leading countries during the out-
break that has shut down rugby.
“The relationship between the
north and the south has probably
never been better,” Bill Sweeney
said.
Sweeney acknowledged that
Australia might be in the weakest
position of all the major unions.
After returning a net loss of
more than US$5.4-million for last
year, the Australian Rugby Union
(ARU) could take a hit of more
than 10 times that figure this year
if Super Rugby does not start up
again and there are no domestic
test matches for the Wallabies, ac-
cording to CEO Raelene Castle.
The ARU doesn’t even have a
TV deal at present after refusing
to take up an offer with Foxtel, its
existing broadcaster. Foxtel had
been bidding for rights with Op-
tus, but negotiations have now
been suspended.
“It’s in no one’s interest,” Swee-
ney said, “for Australia to get into
even more serious difficulties.”
Sweeney suggested USA Rug-
by’s decision this week to file for
bankruptcy was no surprise be-
cause the body was “struggling
somewhat before the crisis,”
through sponsorship pullback
and losses from sevens competi-
tions and test matches in the
country in 2018.
World Rugby, the sport’s gov-
erning body, is in conversations
with the Americans to see how
they can sustain the game in what
it sees as a key future market.
Sweeney last week said the
RFU was bracing for lost revenue
of up to £50-million pounds
($87.6-million) over the next 18
months.
There will be a further blow to
global revenues in July if test
matches set to be hosted by New
Zealand, South Africa, Australia
and Japan are called off because
of the pandemic.
A decision is set to be taken on
those tours by the Northern
hemisphere sides at the end of
April, but there is little optimism
around given most countries are
under lockdown and could be for
months.
More realistic, at least amongNorthern hemisphere countries,
is ensuring the new season sched-
uled to start in September can
proceed as planned.
Wales and Scotland have al-
ready voided their domestic cam-
paigns, as has England below the
top-tier Premiership.
“There is a final phase in our
reaction to this crisis and it’s a re-
boot phase,” Sweeney said, “how
we resurrect ourselves from this
and emerge stronger.”
A decision was made by the
RFU on Thursday that final stand-
ings in English leagues should be
determined by a “best playing re-
cord formula,” meaning that
Newcastle Falcons will be pro-
moted to the Premiership be-
cause they have a 100-per-cent re-
cord so far this season. The Fal-cons are set to replace Saracens,
whose demotion because of
breaches of salary cap regulations
was confirmed in January.
The French Rugby Federation,
headed by president Bernard La-
porte, has put together a support
package of €35-million ($53.7-
million) for 1,900 rugby clubs
playing at all levels.
Laporte also said clubs will not
be direct debited during the 2020-
21 campaign to help them
“breathe financially” and rebuild.
“These unprecedented mea-
sures are made possible by the ve-
ry strong financial health of our
federation,” Laporte said. “These
measures will not weaken the
federation.”THE ASSOCIATED PRESSRugbyunionsaroundtheworldfacingafinancialcrisis
The statue of Ray Gravell
is seen outside Parc y
Scarlets stadium in
Llanelli, Wales on
Monday. Wales, along
with Scotland, cancelled
its domestic rugby
seasons, while England
has done the same with
all leagues below the
Premiership.
GEOFF CADDICK/
AFP VIA GETTY IMAGESSTEVE DOUGLAS
CORNERED BLISS SPEED BUMP BIZARROMassachusetts Governor Charlie
Baker found himself in need of
an assist to help his state fight
the coronavirus pandemic.
He called on the New England
Patriots.
The club’s private plane re-
turned to Boston from China late
Thursday afternoon, carrying
more than one million masks
critical to health-care providers
fighting to control the spread of
the virus.
The Governor secured the N95
masks from Chinese manufac-
turers but had no way of getting
them to the U.S. He called Patri-
ots team owner Robert Kraft,
who loaned the Boeing 767
painted in the team’s colours
and logo that is usually used to
carry the team to and from NFL
games.
Baker confirmed the joint
venture in a news conference
Thursday.
“The Krafts were terrific,” Bak-
er said. “They were a phone call
away and immediately went to
work on the logistics associated
with this and did not stop until
they could make it happen. This
was a total team effort on every
level.”
Kraft Sports and Entertain-
ment chief operating officer Jim
Nolan said in an interview on Pa-
triots.com radio that the Chinese
government didn’t officially sign
off on the trip until March 27. No-
lan said the hurdles included le-
gal logistics that were only clear-
ed thanks to co-operation in-
volving multiple state, U.S. and
international entities.
Chinese technology company
Tencent was a huge help in the
process, Nolan said. It agreed to
gather the masks, got them
through the inspection process,
stayed with them to ensure theirsecurity and eventually their
movement on to the Patriots’
plane.
“This isn’t in their wheel-
house, but they thought it was
the right thing to do,” Nolan said.
There was little margin for er-
ror once the airplane arrived in
China, which granted the Patri-
ots three hours to fill the plane
with the masks. They were on
the ground for 2 hours 57 min-
utes according to flight tracker
data Nolan monitored.Tencent looked after approxi-
mately 1.7 million masks. The Pa-
triots’ plane took on 1.2 million,
Nolan said. They are working
with Tencent to bring additional
equipment back from China on
board a cargo plane
The masks will be going into
Massachusetts’s stockpile for dis-
tribution to medical staff.
Nolan said 300,000 of the
masks will also be going to New
York to help medical staff there.
Baker said Rhode Island will alsoreceive some of the masks.
Patriots running back James
White said in a conference call
Thursday that he wasn’t sur-
prised Kraft stepped up to help.
“As soon as you step into the
building, you see how much the
Kraft family does helping out not
only the Boston community but
the community across the world
and it makes you want to help
others,” White said.THE ASSOCIATED PRESSPatriots’jetbringsin1.2millionmasksfromChina
MassachusettsGovernor
callsonclubownerto
helptransportsupplies
neededamidpandemic
KYLE HIGHTOWERNEWYORK
Unloading of medical supplies begins immediately after the New England Patriots’ team jet landed at Logan
International Airport in Boston on Thursday after a flight from Shenzhen, China.MADDIE MEYER/GETTY IMAGESTheQuarterback is taking resi-
dence at The Captain’s former
30,000-square foot estate.
Tom Brady moved his family
into the Tampa-area mansion
owned by Derek Jeter, a water-
front home on Davis Island, a
posh neighbourhood that pre-
sents a reasonable commute to
the Buccaneers’ facility. Jeter,
who like Brady is a Michigan
man, is running the Miami Mar-
lins as team president but had
the home built during his time
with the New York Yankees.
The pad has seven bedrooms,
nine bathrooms, entertainment
room and pool with two boat
lifts. According to the Tampa Bay
Times, Brady will rent the man-
sion for an estimated
US$100,000 a month.He signed
a two-year, US$50-million deal
with US$9-million in incentives in
March.REUTERSBRADY MOVES TO JETER’S
FLORIDA MANSION| REPORTONBUSINESS