Sanzar bosses are looking to implement changes to the Super 14 format a year earlier after receiving approval from broadcasters to do so.

The Super 14 and Tri Nations have an existing broadcast contract that will expire in 2011 but Sanzar officials have been encouraged by concerned media partners to implement change in time for the 2010 season.

The bosses of the three Sanzar unions met in London this weekend where they are expected to come to an agreement on the new competition structure up and hope to have it running before the expiry of the present deal.

Slumping TV ratings and a player exodus for Europe are driving the move.

The NZRU is hopeful that a rejuvenated Super Rugby competition that starts later in the year, runs for longer and embraces new countries will do much to encourage players to stay.

The NZRU board also agreed last Thursday that it would be open to changing eligibility laws once the new competition is set up that would allow qualified New Zealanders playing for any team in Sanzar competition to be available for the All Blacks.

"Steve Tew [CEO] is sitting down with our Sanzar partners this weekend to look at the competition," NZRU professional rugby manager Neil Sorenson told the NZ Herald.

"We still think 2009 is too early but we could hopefully bring it in 2010. That is something broadcast partners have brought up and they have said they are ready to talk.

"There would be some operational stuff we would have to work through but there is no reason why we couldn't get things done before 2011."

SkyTV, the New Zealand broadcaster that bought a five-year rights package from the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corporation in 2006, says it is open to the idea of restructuring ahead of the time.

The latest viewing figures from AGB Nielsen Media Research reveal that the accumulative audience through nine rounds of Super Rugby is 1.1 million viewers less in 2008 than it was in 2006 in New Zealand.

In 2006 the accumulative audience after nine rounds was 5.2 million, which is down to 4.4 million this year a drop of 21 per cent.

After nine rounds in 2006 the average NZ TV audience for games played in New Zealand was 238 000 whereas this year there has been a drop of 25 per cent to 179, 000.

Only 171 000 people watched the opening game between the Crusaders and Brumbies, which was 47 per cent down on the number that watched the Blues play the Hurricanes first up in 2006.

"Something does need to happen to give Super 14 a shake-up," said SkyTV's head of sport, Kevin Cameron.

"We are certainly keen to see how it evolves.

"There have been discussions between all sorts of groups and there is a desire to take a good look at what model might work. Should the NZRU come to us and suggest an early start then we would certainly be happy to talk about that."

New Zealand, Australia and South Africa all have working groups in motion assessing what form the new competition structure should take.

The various working groups will have to come up with a solution as to how an extended Super Rugby season can fit around permanent June test commitments and the Tri-Nations.

They will also look at the viability of setting up teams in new venues such as the US, Canada, Pacific Islands, Asia and Argentina. One thing Sanzar and their broadcast partners have already agreed is the change is vital.

Sorenson said: "The viewing figures are showing us that quite clearly the public are not rapt with the competitions in their current format."

365