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The Super 14 will have an extra team in 2011, last 10 weeks longer and feature more games between local rivals in a revamp of southern hemisphere’s provincial rugby competition ahead of talks over a new broadcast contract.

The agreement, announced by South African, New Zealand and Australian rugby unions late yesterday, ended doubt over the future of the so-called SANZAR alliance caused by divisions over the format. The current $323 million television agreement, which bankrolls the game, expires in 2010 and negotiations for a new deal will begin next month.

“It has been an intense negotiation but we believe the outcome is a very good one for rugby, for the SANZAR alliance, for our players and fans and for broadcasters,” SANZAR Chief Executive Officer Andy Marinos said in a statement.

Under the proposal, which needs broadcasters’ approval, the three countries will each have a five-team conference, with all franchises in a group playing each other home and away to increase the number of local derbies.

They will also play eight of the 10 teams from the two other conferences, making up a 16-game regular season. The three winners will advance to the finals alongside the three teams with the next-best records in the tournament.

The location of the 15th team will be decided by tender and is open to any country, with the new club joining the Australian Conference. New Zealand and South Africa currently have five teams each to Australia’s four.

15th Team

Australian newspapers have reported that the new team will probably be based in Melbourne, the Gold Coast or western Sydney, while South Africa is pushing for a franchise in the country’s Eastern Cape.

Finding players to fill an Australia-based team won’t be a problem because of the country’s overseas playing stocks and potential recruits from rugby league, said Matt Carroll, deputy chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union.

“Part of this expansion and opportunity is also for the Pacific Islanders,” Carroll told reporters in Sydney. “We haven’t forgotten our rugby friends in the islands and this may be an opportunity for their players to come home from playing in Europe and play in the Pacific.”

The season will be extended by 10 weeks, starting in late February and ending in August. The tournament will break off for three weeks in June for Test matches involving the All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies national teams. The Super 15 will be brought forward in a World Cup year.

‘Necessary Evolution’

“This is an important and necessary evolution for Super rugby,” ARU CEO John O’Neill said in the statement. “From an Australian perspective, having a presence in the marketplace from February to August delivers us the capacity to compete with the other codes from a stronger and more compelling position.”

The annual Tri-Nations championship between the three national teams will start a month later in August and will follow a set pattern each year.

South Africa will host the first leg of the series, while New Zealand and Australia will meet in the last two matches so Springbok players will be available for the domestic Currie Cup -- one of the points of contention in negotiations.

The three partners, who had until June 30 to detail options to broadcasters including News Corp. and South Africa’s Supersport, brokered an agreement in Dublin last week and were given a week to present the plan to their respective boards before releasing details.

“Our preference was to maintain the three-country alliance and to build on it,” Steve Tew, chief executive of the New Zealand Rugby Union, said in the statement.

(Source: Bloomberg)