Proposed Nations Championship

[WorkingClassRugger]

Sounds too good to be true.

It's a crazy amount of money. Over on reddit there's posts suggesting it will be distributed evenly across all participants 1-38. Which would be insane. A women's league would follow a couple of years after and that SANZAAR, France and Wales are all keen. Which puts them close. I can see both Fiji and Samoa siding with them and Pichot having enough clout to pull Rugby America's in step. This could be on it's way in.

 

[kiap]

WR (World Rugby) promising Unions more dosh than CVC:

Also worth noting:

"… does not include any sale of equity in the competition and therefore full control of the competition and its revenue redistribution model would be retained by the unions, the current major competitions and World Rugby"​

Although they would still exert a lot of control. Rugby needs to believe in the guarantee for all that ca$h

According to the article they've ditched having SF so it's a straight shoot-out, 6N winner v RC winner, thereby shortening thevcomp by a week

Could see that coming.

Plus

… Of the Six Nations unions, France announced its support for the Nations Championship … Wales are also believed to be on board but Ireland and Scotland, it has been suggested, both oppose the essential promotion relegation component.​

 

[Bandar]

What that amount of money would do is impact on the European & Japanese clubs ability to out bid national unions for the best talent - sure the clubs would continue but would have to enter into joint contracts with the FFR & RFU much like the other big players do now.

It really would maintain international rugby as the big player and prevent the soccer situation where the clubs have all the power.

 

[Derpus]

What that amount of money wound do is impact on the European & Japanese clubs ability to out bid national unions for the best talent - sure the clubs would continue but would have to enter into joint contracts with the FFR & RFU much like the other big players do now.

It really would maintain international rugby as the big player and prevent the soccer situation where the clubs have all the power.

How good does that sound.

 

[Rebels3]

I don’t see how the Premiership and Top 14 can have any complaints, as far as I understand the world league would be played during the already agreed on 11 Reg 9 game days, where clubs have to release players. It’s just them wanting to scare the unions.

If the rumored extra cash comes in it’d be a massive game changer for the game here. Even a very conservative/low balled amount of $10mil extra, as a very simple example you’d be able to do something like invest $5mil into grassroots and $5mil onto player wages. This would mean we’d be able to retain/attract talent, compete against NRL/AFL for talent and improve the quality of Super Rugby (which could also lead to improved revenue).

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

How good does that sound.

It'll certainly balance things out.

 

[Bandar]

Also if the funds are distributed down to the 3rd division like you said WCR, those unions would be swimming in it.

We've seen recently what the Brazilian scrum can do, the smaller unions being able to be fully professional would really increase their ability to compete with Tier 1.

I'm getting excited about the prospect of Brazil v Spain in a RWC 1/4 final in 20 years (I love getting ahead of myself)

 

[RugbyReg]

Also if the funds are distributed down to the 3rd division like you said WCR, those unions would be swimming in it.

We've seen recently what the Brazilian scrum can do, the smaller unions being able to be fully professional would really increase their ability to compete with Tier 1.

I'm getting excited about the prospect of Brazil v Spain in a RWC 1/4 final in 20 years (I love getting ahead of myself)

there's a lot of would be professional coaches around the trap getting excited I reckon.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Also if the funds are distributed down to the 3rd division like you said WCR, those unions would be swimming in it.

We've seen recently what the Brazilian scrum can do, the smaller unions being able to be fully professional would really increase their ability to compete with Tier 1.

I'm getting excited about the prospect of Brazil v Spain in a RWC 1/4 final in 20 years (I love getting ahead of myself)

Even if it is tiered the influx would be transformative. If D1 get £10m, D2 get $7.5m and D3 get £5m a season that's still going to have a huge impact.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

IMG have come in with a £1.25b offer for the 6Ns. This is nuts.

 

[Derpus]

IMG have come in with a £1.25b offer for the 6Ns. This is nuts.

The quote i saw was 1.75 billion.

Who are IMG? some more hedge fund cnuts?

 

[Jets]

The quote i saw was 1.75 billion.

Who are IMG? some more hedge fund cnuts?

Read about them here.

 

[Derpus]

Their little timeline thing is pretty underwhelming. Except for the acquisition of UFC i suppose.

 

[Rebels3]

Aren’t IMG already a partner of World Rugby? I think they have a lot to do with the World Cups, licensing, marketing, etc.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Ringinland appear to be strongly against:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby...nd-cast-doom-on-rugbys-proposed-global-league

Deadline for Unions to officially declare whether they're for or against extended until 5 April (was 29 March, I believe) but from what Melville's said their position seems pretty clear.

 

[kiap]

from what Melville's said their position seems pretty clear.

If they remain against, it's dead. Simple as that.

Basing the proposal on 6N relegation is a fool's errand. Promo to the Six Nations - it's dreamin' …

 

[Derpus]

Yeah predicted as much at the start of the thread. The English are by nature stale, regressive and risk averse.

Generally speaking, without the authority to unilaterally set up the competition as it sees fit, like FIFA, WR (World Rugby) will probably never be able to set something like this up.

Look at the utter clusterfuck that is the Super Rugby and Rugby Championship and that's only a competition between 3 or 4 vested interests. The whole world? pfft, forget about it.

 

[Omar Comin']

Do SANZAAR have any cards to play here? Could they threaten to just play an extended Rugby Championship instead of the July and November tours?

I guess not - they could probably just about replace the income from the July tours with an extended RC, but I don't think they could afford to risk the Lions tours.

I wonder if they'll still be willing to move to the 6 team RC with promotion and relegation if the rest of the nation championship falls over.

 

[RebelYell]

SANZAAR has no obligation to include Fiji in TRC and I extremely doubt that they will. Not enough $ in it for them, watch for USA to come back into the fold.

 

[Omar Comin']

This is how I see the problem. For Wallabies, All Blacks and Springboks home matches to get big crowds (and domestic ratings) they need to be playing against teams who people see as a competitive opponent. However, new opponents won't get to that level without regular competition against top teams over a long period of time. Just look at Argentina - they've been in TRC for a while now and they're a decent side that get close a lot and win the occasional match, but they still struggle to attract crowds and viewers. I don't think that will change until they have a few years of regularly winning games and perhaps winning a title or two.

It'll be the same with adding any of Japan, USA or Fiji to TRC. Long term I think it would be the right move, but in the shorter term the home matches against these sides are not going to be big draw cards. But for SANZAAR the long term growth in revenues is a necessity in order to have any chance of competing with Europe.