New Zealand Prime Minister John Key says the government is seriously looking at allowing all bars to stay open late and show All Blacks games during the Rugby World Cup.
The time zone difference with England means most games will screen in New Zealand in the early morning - outside the normal hours bars are legally allowed to open.
A bid by ACT Party MP David Seymour to get parliament support for extending their opening hours was derailed by the Greens on Tuesday.
Key has earlier said the government could take up the bill on its own if it failed.
On Wednesday morning he went further, telling TV3's Paul Henry show he had spoken with Justice Minister Amy Adams about putting it on the order paper, which would mean only majority rather than unanimous support would be needed.
It was not a simple fix as different bars have different opening hours.
"In principle one option would be to say ... for every All Blacks game for the quarters, semis, the finals, maybe the playoffs for third and fourth - all of those we have blanket coverage."
However, the case was not as strong for covering games not involving the All Blacks, Mr Key said.
He believed where there was strong support for other teams, such as a number of South Africans living on the North Shore, bars would have already applied for a special licence to open outside normal hours.
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