FEATURE Have the All Blacks reconfirmed their status as rugby's most prized asset?

For the players, an All Blacks’ World Cup triumph would have been worth $150,000 – the pre-agreed bonus each member of the squad would have received if they had defeated South Africa.

But for New Zealand Rugby, the potential lost value of a fourth All Blacks World Cup title, is much harder to assess.

There would have been a direct and immediate financial impact in the form of bonus payments from their sponsors.

Adidas, which has been the All Blacks apparel partner since 1999, has long had a World Cup bonus clause in the contract – one that is estimated to be worth about $5 million.

It’s probable, too, that other sponsors – particular front-of-jersey naming rights holder Altrad and performance partner, Ineos – will also have signed contracts with similar World Cup bonus payments attached.

But the real value would have come from the victory deepening the mystique of the All Blacks brand.

This, after all, is what the All Blacks trade on – their story. It’s why they have sponsors lining up to back them and millions of fans, in New Zealand and further afield, who genuinely love the team and what they have achieved since the early 1900s.

The All Blacks have a uniquely compelling record, having won 78 per cent of their tests, a number which jumps to 85 per cent in the professional era.

No other international team can claim anything remotely comparable and it’s this dominance, combined with the team projecting itself as one whose values are built on humility, unity, perseverance, innovation and dedication to excellence which has attracted such volumes of commercial attention.

As former New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew said in 2011: “The more you win, the more people want to be associated with your organisation, team and brand.

“The strength of the All Blacks brand is it wins at a rate of around 80 per cent of games and in the professional era that has risen to the mid-80s. That is unparalleled by any other sporting entity at our kind of level.

The All Blacks attract plenty of commercial attention just by being the All Blacks.

“When we’re trying to get into particular sponsors’ doors, that is what gets us through the door.”

When Silver Lake valued the All Blacks at $3.5bn in 2021, the US fund manager did so based on the team’s history and winning legacy since 1905.

To value a team that highly, it has to be because there is certainty about who they are and what they represent, and that certainty only comes through longevity of excellence.

The All Blacks attract plenty of commercial attention just by being the All Blacks.

Last year they turned over a record $270m despite it being one of their worst seasons – performance-wise – of the professional era.

That’s the beauty of being so good for so long, it enables the tough years to be seen as blips, tiny aberrations that make the inevitably long-runs of success that more piquant.

But the question now is whether there amazing revival from the depths of where they were in July 2022 to the World Cup final will be enough to attract yet more commercial interest, or will defeat in the final have spoiled the redemption story?

It’s an interesting question to ponder because New Zealand Rugby has taken a huge risk in partnering with private equity partner Silver Lake, as the deal requires the national body to pay an annual distribution of almost 6 per cent of its revenue to the American fund manager.

The whole deal is predicated on this idea that the new investors can magically grow income, but this growth plan requires the All Blacks to continue to engage and mesmerise the public.

While it was an incredible journey by the All Blacks to make the final, they didn’t win and now the Springboks, as back-to-back champions and the only country to have secured four titles, have the sort of story (in the short-term at least) to compete with the All Blacks.

Interestingly, Tew made those comments the day before the 2011 World Cup final between the All Blacks and France.

AIG liked the legacy of the All Blacks, but what first caught their attention was the World Cup victory.

He was trying to explain that victory for the All Blacks would add to their story but wouldn’t radically – not in the long-run at least -improve the commercial prospects of the team.

But winning the World Cup in 2011 and then creating history by becoming the first team to retain the title in 2015, had considerably greater commercial impact for the All Blacks than anyone anticipated.

A few months after winning the 2011 tournament, Tew was invited to Dubrovnik where he effectively negotiated a front-of-jersey sponsorship with AIG worth about US$80m over five years.

AIG liked the legacy of the All Blacks, but what first caught their attention was the World Cup victory, and if Richie McCaw hadn’t lifted the Webb Ellis trophy at Eden Park, it is unlikely the Americans would ever have been inclined to initiate the deal.

This was a deal that changed everything for the All Blacks. AIG were a big, big fish and it highlighted that the All Blacks were now attracting the interest of international corporations.

And having an international partner such as AIG seemed to attract other international partners and now the All Blacks have sponsorships with German technology group SAP, Japanese pharmaceutical giant Taisho and Swiss watchmaker Tudor.

In the 12 years since the All Blacks won the 2011 World Cup, NZR’s income has almost trebled.

After winning in 2015, the All Blacks secured a deal with Amazon Prime to make All or Nothing, a behind the scenes journey with the team through the British and Irish Lions tour and Rugby Championship of 2017.

If the All Blacks had won in 2023, they would have been able to produce their own in-house documentary to show on the recently set-up NZR+ streaming platform.

What isn’t clear yet is whether, despite not winning in France, the All Blacks did enough to add to their legacy given the nature of the whole last World Cup cycle.

A victory also would have been beneficial in helping NZR win clients for its recently launched All Blacks Performance Labs programme.

This is an executive coaching programme built on selling corporate leaders the values and ideas which have made the All Blacks so successful.

But what isn’t clear yet is whether, despite not winning in France, the All Blacks did enough to add to their legacy given the nature of the whole last World Cup cycle.

The All Blacks were in turmoil in 2022 – just 16 months out from the tournament.

They had to fire two assistant coaches and came within a whisker of also axing head coach Ian Foster.

They lost the last two Tests of 2021 and then four of their first six in 2022, which included three consecutive home defeats for the first time in history.

It was chaos and as Foster said two days before the final when he was ked to talk about the adversity he and the team had faced: “I’ve just started to get my back nice and straight from last year and now you’re trying to make me hunch over again.

“It’s the life in this business. It’s a tough game when you’re trying to get your performance right. And it’s a tough game when people around you see things differently. We’ve learned a lot about ourselves.”

In August last year, no one was backing the All Blacks to win the World Cup. They looked cooked and ready to come to France and flop out in the quarter-final.

And so to be leaving a missed goal-kick away from being world champions having endured such a prolonged period of turbulence may heighten this sense that the All Blacks have a depth of resilience that no other team can match.

It could accentuate all the qualities that epitomise the last 120 years or so and serves as proof almost, that the All Blacks are rugby’s most prized asset in the way they have such institutional power to regenerate and rejuvenate.