Little progress has been made on a commercial model for the Highlanders and franchise general manager Roger Clark says it is not a top priority at the moment.
Clark said with the new season not far away, getting ready for that season was the top priority focus for the organisation. He also added last year's financial result for the franchise was due to be released next month.
The New Zealand Rugby Union announced earlier this month it was looking at bringing commercial partners for licences for its Super 15 sides.
But the Highlanders would not be part of this business model initially, having already started investigations into third party investment.
Clark said yesterday there was nothing more to say about the Highlanders partnership and no progress could be reported.
"We are not in a big hurry, as such. There is other stuff we want to get on with and that is our priority, as such. We've only been going like this for the past 15 months, so we are not as far down the road as the other franchises," he said.
The Highlanders split from the Otago Rugby Football Union in September last year and since then had carried out an almost complete spring-clean with a new coaching team, new management and new offices.
Players and staff were moving to new offices yesterday, and will be located in the same building as High Performance Sport athletes.
The franchise was also looking forward to playing its first games at Forsyth Barr Stadium next year.
The Highlanders have been working for three months on third party investment and the franchise was allowed by the national union to stand aside from the other four which are involved in the licensing process.
"It will come, but there are other things which we want to focus on. We want to get as many season ticket memberships as possible and getting commercial partners on board," Clark said.
There was speculation any partnership with the Highlanders would involve the stadium and the Dunedin City Council but Clark had no comment.
Clark said season membership tickets were already ahead of last year and commercial support and sponsorship for the franchise had also improved.
All five New Zealand franchises made losses last year, which led to the decision to seek third-party involvement.
The Crusaders revealed a loss of more than $600,000 last season, handicapped with no home ground in Christchurch.
It was forced to play outside Christchurch at smaller grounds and was hit with extra travel costs.
Clark said the Highlanders' financial result would be released in due course but it had not been finalised yet.
He said with the season being extended into June, the financial year was extended by two months. That meant all five New Zealand franchises were going to record a loss.
The Highlanders had budgeted for a loss but hoped to turn a profit this season, Clark said.
