{"id":12664,"date":"2025-02-12T05:56:56","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T16:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=12664"},"modified":"2025-02-12T05:56:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T16:56:56","slug":"nz-rugby-launches-legal-action-against-ineos-alleging-sponsorship-agreement-breach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=12664","title":{"rendered":"NZ Rugby launches legal action against INEOS alleging sponsorship agreement breach"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand Rugby says it is “left with no option” but to launch legal action against global petrochemical company INEOS over what it says is a breach of sponsorship agreement.<\/p>\n

In a statement to RNZ, NZ Rugby alleged the company owned by British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe had ended its six-year sponsorship deal, estimated to be valued at 22 million pounds ($NZ48.2m), which began in 2022.<\/p>\n

“New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is disappointed that INEOS has breached its sponsorship agreement. Most recently, it failed to pay the first instalment of the 2025 sponsorship fee, confirming its decision to exit our six-year agreement,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

“Having learned of INEOS’ decision to walk away three years early, we have moved to protect the interests of New Zealand Rugby and the wider game. We have been left with no option but to launch legal proceedings to protect our commercial position.<\/p>\n

\"Cam<\/p>\n

Cam Roigard of New Zealand warms up.\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0PHOTOSPORT<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“NZR is actively pursuing new commercial opportunities and global interest in the All Blacks and other Teams in Black remains high. We are committed to being world-class on and off the field and deliver unique value to sponsors through our iconic brands.”<\/p>\n

The apparent collapse of the sponsorship deal comes at a challenging financial time for NZ Rugby and the global game.<\/p>\n

At last year’s annual meeting, the national body announced a loss of almost $9 million for the financial year.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks’ premier jersey sponsor – industrial service provider The Altrad Group – has a six-year sponsorship deal which also began in 2022 and is reportedly valued at $120 million.<\/p>\n

rnz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Zealand Rugby says it is “left with no option” but to launch legal action against global petrochemical company INEOS over what it says is a breach of sponsorship agreement. In a statement to RNZ, NZ Rugby alleged the company owned by British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe had ended its six-year sponsorship deal, estimated to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12666,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12664\/revisions\/12666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}