Northern Hemisphere/6N Rugby

[Italophile]

Ownership now includes South Africa no?

I think they're called stakeholders whatever that means. There was talk of Italy coming on board but I don't think it happened. Boks are likely to have a big say because their domestic TV deal is huge and largely responsible for URC profits.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

Where does that leave South Africa and Italy?

Italy x2 fits in that comp. I don’t think they care about SA if the current comp is a pathway to bankruptcy.
4 x ireland
2x Scotland, wales and Italy and probably 8 realistically from England as based off the above - it ain’t sustainable.

 

[Wilson]

URC is an entirely separate comp. Owned by the Irish, Scottish and Welsh Feds plus CVC. Can't see them bailing out the Prem.

that's the question though, what will the Welsh do as their system falls apart? An Anglo-Welsh league makes a lot of sense for both parties, particularly once the Welsh have culled a team.

If/when they make that jump it'll become very tempting for at least the Scots to follow them.

 

[Dan54]

that's the question though, what will the Welsh do as their system falls apart? An Anglo-Welsh league makes a lot of sense for both parties, particularly once the Welsh have culled a team.

If/when they make that jump it'll become very tempting for at least the Scots to follow them.

That makes a lot of sense Wilson. Wales and Scotland joining England must be appealing as hell. How easy for travel etc, can do it all on bus etc if wanted.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Wales and Scotland (and Ireland) are now equal stakes equity partners with South Africa in URC though. Which is bringing in a lot more money than it used to (because of SA), but will also be very difficult to extract themselves from given contractual relationships with each other, and all of the various broadcast partners

 

[Italophile]

Wales and Scotland (and Ireland) are now equal stakes equity partners with South Africa in URC though. Which is bringing in a lot more money than it used to (because of SA), but will also be very difficult to extract themselves from given contractual relationships with each other, and all of the various broadcast partners

Exactly. And quite why URC would want to dismantle a profit-making organisation to bail out a fatally flawed Prem is beyond me.

 

[Wilson]

Exactly. And quite why URC would want to dismantle a profit-making organisation to bail out a fatally flawed Prem is beyond me.

The 'URC' as a whole wouldn't, but the Welsh might. They are drowning and the URC hasn't worked for them - financially or in an on field performance sense.

The competition agreements likely make things tricky, but the Welsh have plenty of motivation. The other aspect is the PE in both the URC and Prem is CVC. With them holding a share in both competitions they may be sorely tempted to see the deck reshuffled to maximize revenue from the British market, while using the URC as a vehicle for growth into Europe, opening up markets in Spain/Portugal/Germany/etc.

 

[Italophile]

The 'URC' as a whole wouldn't, but the Welsh might. They are drowning and the URC hasn't worked for them - financially or in an on field performance sense.

The competition agreements likely make things tricky, but the Welsh have plenty of motivation. The other aspect is the PE in both the URC and Prem is CVC. With them holding a share in both competitions they may be sorely tempted to see the deck reshuffled to maximize revenue from the British market, while using the URC as a vehicle for growth into Europe, opening up markets in Spain/Portugal/Germany/etc.

The Welsh have one vote out of four (or more, depending on how much say CVC has). They will be down to two teams, it's only a matter of which ones, so their limited resources become less stretched. Even allowing for their idiocy I can't see them bailing out of a profitable competition for a great unknown. CVC's interests are eyeballs and profit. URC supplies both, the alternative an unknown. If I were CVC I would kick the Prem up the arse. They are in cloud cuckoo land. A financial black hole and they want to increase the salary cap. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

 

[Dan54]

I see Louis Lee-Zammit is returning to rugby, some good news for Welsh .

Stuff

www.stuff.co.nz

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

The Welsh have one vote out of four (or more, depending on how much say CVC has). They will be down to two teams, it's only a matter of which ones, so their limited resources become less stretched. Even allowing for their idiocy I can't see them bailing out of a profitable competition for a great unknown. CVC's interests are eyeballs and profit. URC supplies both, the alternative an unknown. If I were CVC I would kick the Prem up the arse. They are in cloud cuckoo land. A financial black hole and they want to increase the salary cap. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

The push to increase the salary cap is just insane given the current financial circumstances of the clubs. They need to consolidate and invest in continuing to grow engagement with a broader cross section of the community. The Prem is a really fun product to watch at present. They are seeing solid viewership growth season on season albeit from a relatively low base. They need look to maintain this with an eye toward a decebt increase in the next TV deal. They also need to focus on things like the Big Day Out and Big Game events.

 

[WoodysRFC]

The push to increase the salary cap is just insane given the current financial circumstances of the clubs. They need to consolidate and invest in continuing to grow engagement with a broader cross section of the community. The Prem is a really fun product to watch at present. They are seeing solid viewership growth season on season albeit from a relatively low base. They need look to maintain this with an eye toward a decebt increase in the next TV deal. They also need to focus on things like the Big Day Out and Big Game events.

Seem in a hurry to get it back up to a 12+ team comp, perhaps more fixtures / more TV money?

Should consolidate what they have, make sure it's sustainable, and then grow again.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Seem in a hurry to get it back up to a 12+ team comp, perhaps more fixtures / more TV money?

Should consolidate what they have, make sure it's sustainable, and then grow again.

I think that rises from the belief that the loss of the two extra home games each has led to the gap in revenue and expenses. And that may be true. But I also think that the product on display has never been better. I've never been a big Prem viewer but I have begun to enjoy it far more over the ladt couple of seasons. So they have to balance the level of competition with growth and not rush it for sake of vested interests much like the SL in England is currently doing with a push to 14 teams despite the competition being severely lopsided.