The Highlanders are the first Super Rugby side forced into cutting staff's pay, as global sport continues to reel from the effects of coronavirus.
With the five New Zealand Super Rugby sides largely reliant on money from television rights, the competition's suspension last month has seen the five Kiwi teams handed a $250,000 emergency grant from New Zealand Rugby.
However, that won't be enough to keep the New Zealand teams running at normal capacity for long, Highlanders' staff accepting a 30 per cent pay cut to ease financial pressure.
No staff members have lost their jobs though.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times, Highlanders CEO Roger Clark detailed the side's current financial woes.
"We are like every other business," Clark says.
"When the revenue dries up because you have not got a product, then you can go through money pretty quickly."
The Highlanders have also applied for the Government's wage subsidy scheme, with no end to the Super Rugby suspension in sight.
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