SA Rugby says it risks collapsing without equity deal

The body that oversees the reigning rugby-union world champions, the Springboks, told lawmakers it faces the risk of collapse if it doesn't boost revenue.

"We don't have a reserve fund, we're a break-even organisation," Mark Alexander, SA Rugby's president, said in defense of a proposal to loosen control of its commercial rights through a deal with Seattle-based Ackerley Sports Group LLC.

If the organisation has to endure another crisis similar to that experienced during the coronavirus pandemic then "we'll have to close our doors," he said in a presentation to parliament's sports committee in Cape Town on Wednesday.

The proposed deal with Ackerley, which will be voted on this week, has caused a storm of controversy and a string of front-page headlines. The loosening of local control over a team whose success and multiracial makeup has made the one-time icon of white supremacy under apartheid into a symbol of transformation has stoked concern.