Sanzaar chief executive Andy Marinos said the likelihood of a round-robin structure for Super Rugby is not realistic at the moment.
Marinos told sarugbymag.co.za work was continuing on the future of the tournament, and there was an acknowledgement that a cross-border competition needed to be in place in the future.
"We have seen that the ability to play against different countries on a domestic level strengthens you on an international level.
"We are busy working on it," he said.
"You can do a whole lot of planning and think you can deliver Product A, but 24 hours later it becomes Product B.
"Realistically, it may be a bit of a challenge to get the cross-border effect we have had. Purely because of border controls, quarantine periods and accessibility to fly as frequently as we have," he said.
At the same time, each of the Sanzaar unions had a responsibility to ensure rugby was sustainable in each of their markets.
Marinos said all the speculation about where South Africa's future couldn't hide the fact that Sanzaar believed it was important that South Africa was part of the joint venture.
"South Africa have always, and continue to be, the biggest contributor in terms of eyeballs and viewership and attendances to the Super Rugby and Rugby Championship games.
Their value and competitiveness made them a powerful partner.
"If you speak to anybody from Australia or New Zealand who has any knowledge of rugby, having the Springboks coming over to play is critically important to the development of their players.
"There's nothing saying that South Africa couldn't have a foot in both hemispheres and get the best of both worlds," he said.
Marinos believed it was still possible there could be a global season. He was involved in several working parties, and proposals continued to be put forward.
"I am working closely with my counterpart at the Six Nations and some of the northern hemisphere unions. The big drivers behind it are to make sure we can manage the player welfare a lot better and get a much better narrative around the international programme, so we have games that have meaning.
"At the moment, we have a series of games in July and November that are just a set of friendlies. You are not playing for anything, and there is no meaning behind them," he said.
Work included achieving global alignment in the season, having player-release windows defined to minimise club interference.
"There is a will around the table to go down that path.
"I remain optimistic that in the not-too-distant future, we will be moving into a more globally-aligned season, where there are clearly defined windows for international and domestic rugby," he said.