Is this the big SANZAR 'con'?

What is really on the table at News Corp

It was with much hullabaloo that the SANZAR triumvirate of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia revealed on Monday the 'dazzling new' package that they will be presenting to the world's leading broadcasters.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, as the current contract holders, will have the first bite at the cherry. If they turn down the deal put in front of them, SANZAR can take their product to the open market.

The current SANZAR deal with News Corp expires at the end of 2005, which leaves rugby administrators less than 18 months to secure a new broadcasting deal.

But is the package they revealed to the world's media on Monday really the type of deal that News Corp - or any other broadcaster - would buy?

In Monday's media releases the SANZAR body revealed that the Super 12 series will be expanded to 14 teams in 2006 - which will increase the games from the present 69 to 95.

Furthermore, a third round will be added to the Tri-Nations series - which means that every side will now play six Tests instead of four, taking the total Tests in the tournament from six to nine.

So far, so good. It all looks rosy on the international front. More could be better!

But SANZAR has also offered the Currie Cup (South Africa's premier domestic competition) and the NPC (New Zealand's provincial championship) as part of the package.

It was revealed that South Africa would receive 38 percent of the broadcast revenue, with New Zealand receiving one third and Australia slightly less. This is because South Africa's domestic competition, the Currie Cup, is regarded as by far the most successful of the competitions in the three countries.

Both the Currie Cup and NPC are being offered (to the broadcasters) in their current state - the Currie Cup an eight-team tournament of relative strength-versus-strength, which features members of the Springbok team in at least half of the games. The NPC is a 10-team tournament that also features current All Blacks in most of the games.

In both competitions, the Bok and AB Test players are filtered back into the club scene after completion of the Tri-Nations - a move that greatly adds value to the respective domestic tournaments.

That will change drastically after 2006, when an extra month of Super 12 and Tri-Nations rugby will take the Boks and All Blacks out of the domestic competition for even longer.

In fact there is already a suggestion that the Springboks could be removed from the Currie Cup altogether and it is a fact that the tournament (the Currie Cup) will be further diluted when it reverts back to a 14-team competition from next year.

Meanwhile, SA Rugby Football Union (SARFU) president Brian van Rooyen is determined to keep his promise to those smaller unions who voted him into power - vowing to return them to the main stream next year, despite the fact that no more than six of the unions are viable outfits in the professional era.

It is clearly a political decision, aimed at appeasing Van Rooyen's supporters, but it will dilute the product SARFU is offering News Corp and other broadcasters.

Last year, Murdoch said that the product he first bought from former SARFU boss Louis Luyt in 1996 was not the same one currently on the table. He bluntly told the SANZAR bosses that he is not prepared to fork out the same money (US$550m over 10 years) for a diluted product.

They had to come up with something new and better, he said - and on Monday SANZAR told the world that they have a new, and very good, deal on the table.

But is SANZAR really revealing all, or will News Corp (or the new buyer) find out a few years down the line he has again bought into a diluted product, and that all the top players are no longer playing in all the competitions as he has been told they would?

* Meanwhile the Eastern Cape has emerged as a rival to the Central Unions in the bid to become South Africa's fifth Super 12 franchise.

So far it was generally expected that the central region (Cheetahs, Griquas and Griffons), who played against the Boks in a pre-season warm-up, would be the natural choice as the fifth team.

But reports on Tuesday said the Eastern Cape region has emerged as a contender for a new franchise.

"We considered combining Eastern Province, the Eagles and Border a few years ago, but we were turned down by SANZAR," Eastern Province Rugby Union chief executive Philip Josephs told the Cape Times on Tuesday.

"But combining now would be fantastic for our region. We'd be able to put a very strong coastal franchise into the field and would no longer have to bow to the Sharks. We're prepared to work with anyone, even Free State."

The central unions, with Bloemfontein as home base, remain strong contenders for a fifth region as it would dissolve the uneasy marriage between Free State and the Lions at the Cats.

* In Australia Perth and Melbourne have emerged as the leading contenders for the fourth Australian franchise.

By Jan de Koning