Otago Rugby Football Union chief executive Richard Reid is particularly pleased at signs the Air New Zealand Cup will become more financially sustainable.
"We're yet to see what the salary cap is but it looks like it's likely to go down," Reid said yesterday.
"We're paying about $1.2 million in player wages at the moment. If that dropped by 25%, say, we'd have a $400,000 saving, and that would be great."
The national championship has been tinkered with numerous times in the professional era but Reid backed the NZRU's move to flush out the problems that had emerged with the competition in the last couple of years.
"I think they're trying to make it work. New Zealand rugby have done a good job. They've gone and got a lot of advice and called for submissions.
"You can't keep tinkering with it, obviously. This competition needs to be given some legs. But I'm OK with it.
"We were always keen to keep as many teams as possible in the top division," he said.
Reid likes the promotion-relegation concept because it creates more interest in the battle at the bottom of the table near the end of the season.
Two teams will be cut from the existing competition, with Tasman and either Northland, Manawatu or Bay of Plenty the obvious candidates for the axe.
Reid had no idea who would be cut, while Rugby Southland boss Roger Clark was surprised only two teams, not three or four, were to be axed.
He hoped Southland's future was not in doubt.
"You'd like to think not. But I always say to people that you never take anything for granted," Clark said.
"We've put our best foot forward and we believe we meet all criteria."
Clark rejected any suggestion the constant tinkering with the national championship had affected public interest.
"I think the fan base behind provincial rugby is stronger than ever. There is a feeling that there is too much Super rugby but club and provincial rugby is getting popular again.
"I think most people understand that tinkering has been done because rugby has evolved in the professional era. Maybe we're still trying to work out what is the best fit for New Zealand rugby."
Both Clark and Reid were pleased to see club rugby being recognised by the NZRU as an important feature in the calendar.
North Otago Rugby Football Union chief executive Colin Jackson did not believe the NZRU went far enough in reinstating a promotion-relegation game.
He wanted automatic promotion for the Heartland Championship winner and automatic relegation for the bottom team in the top flight.
There was now the bizarre situation where the bottom team in the Air New Zealand Cup could field six loan players in the promotion-relegation game while the Heartland champion was only allowed three, Jackson said.
The North Otago boss, whose union won the Heartland Championship last year, hopes the second tier of domestic rugby will not suffer with the changes at the top.
"There was nothing wrong with what we had. If we don't get it right this time, who knows what will happen?
"The Heartland Championship has worked well and now they might tinker with it. That's my biggest fear."
