Super Rugby Pacific will continue as a united front until at least 2030 after Rugby Australia and its New Zealand counterpart resolved a financial dispute that threatened to tear the competition apart.
As part of the new agreement that secures its future, Super Rugby Pacific has unveiled plans to implement a nine-person board that will explore the possibility of creating a unified women's competition similar to the men's.
RA chair Hamish McLennan previously threatened to transplant the five Australian Super Rugby teams into a breakaway men's domestic league from 2024 unless RA received a greater share of broadcast revenue.
Since non-Pacific teams exited the competition with the COVID-19 pandemic, New Zealand Rugby has banked close to $90 million a year from its broadcast deal with Sky Sport, roughly three times what RA collects and significantly more than when participating countries split revenue equally pre-pandemic.
Talks between Rugby Australia and New Zealand Rugby culminated in a joint press conference in Sydney on Friday, when the bodies announced they had buried the hatchet and put pen to paper on a partnership spanning from 2024 to 2030.
The bodies have come to an agreement regarding broadcast revenue for the final three years of the current deals but the exact distribution of monies has not been disclosed.
"Today marks the dawn of a new era of Super Rugby within our region," RA CEO Andy Marinos said.
"Securing this long-term partnership provides stability and continuity that the competition and Super Rugby clubs need to enable rugby to grow in stature and importance across the region."
The newly-announced board will include an independent chair, four independent directors, and one representative each from NZR, RA, the New Zealand Rugby Players Association (NZRPA) and Rugby Union Players' Association (RUPA).
Plans to unite Australia's Super W in Australia and Super Rugby Aupiki in New Zealand come only weeks after the women's Rugby World Cup concluded in Auckland.
The final, a win for New Zealand over England, drew the biggest crowd in the history of women's international rugby.
"We saw the quality of women's rugby throughout the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand," NZR CEO Mark Robinson said.
"While it is not a case of copy and paste with the men's structure in Super Rugby Pacific, we believe there are enormous opportunities to build a world-class cross border professional women's club competition in the Pacific region."
