Ric Salizzo

Riccardo Michele Salizzo (born 22 July 1962) is a New Zealand journalist, rugby administrator, television presenter and producer. He is best known for producing and presenting long-running sports chat show SportsCafe, executive producing and occasionally presenting sports current events show The Crowd Goes Wild, and co-creating podcasts Sportscafe-ish and Rivals.

Early career Ric Salizzo began a career as a newsreader at radio station Whakatane's Radio 1XX. This was followed by a number of other news reading positions at private radio stations, before moving to London to work at a radio news agency there.

Television career

In 1986, Salizzo returned to New Zealand to fill a vacancy at television station TVNZ's One News sports reporting team. By 1988 he presented the national sports news for the first time. It was during this period that Salizzo formed production company Pasta Productions with friend and former schoolmate, All Black Sir John Kirwan. Pasta Productions produced several documentary films about the All Blacks on tour, such as best-seller The Good, The Bad and the Rugby. In the early 1990s he was also given the job of All Blacks Media Liaison Officer, which at the time was a fledgling role within the team structure. It also entailed looking after the media hype surrounding rising star Jonah Lomu. This media hype was part of the TV3 Docudrama looking back at Jonah Lomu's life and career and Salizzo was portrayed in this programme by top New Zealand actor Phil Brown.

In 1996, Salizzo launched SportsCafe through new production company Leftfield, with initial sponsorship from the TAB. It remains notable for featuring an early television appearance of comedian and actor Rhys Darby. Salizzo also produced one of the earliest TV show appearances of Flight of the Conchords.

Salizzo brought Sportscafe back in 2008 for a return season, and again in 2011 for a series of live-streamed, online-only episodes in partnership with Telecom.

In 2006, Salizzo developed a sports news show entitled The Crowd Goes Wild. It was designed to enter the tightly contested 7pm timeslot and be a flagship programme for SKY Network Television's newly acquired free-to-air channel Prime. The show has been successful and continues to run on weeknights with Salizzo as executive producer and occasional presenter.

Other work Salizzo is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Auckland Blues. He acted as Chief Engagement Officer for Rugby New York, including their Major League Rugby championship-winning season in 2023.

He is also engaged in consultancy work, advertising and public speaking from time to time. His other major contribution to the music scene came with his encouragement of, and role in the music video for, Neil Finn's anthem for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, "Can You Hear Us". The success of this show led to the creation of a second podcast alongside longtime collaborator John Kirwan and former Springbok international Victor Matfield, Rivals.

Honours and awards In the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours, Salizzo was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to sports media.

Salizzo, along with the creators of podcast Sportscafe-ish, received awards for Best Podcast and Best Sports Podcast at the 2025 NZ Radio and Podcast Awards.