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English rugby is planning to introduce a franchise model that will abolish relegation but include promotion to expand the Premiership - Getty Images /Patrick Khachfe
It can often feel as though administrators in rugby are throwing a bunch of revolutionary ideas at the wall before standing back to see whether they will stick or slip off into oblivion.
Franchising feels different. The universal backing behind closed doors from Premiership Rugby, RFU and all of the Premiership clubs suggests it might progress beyond the boardroom, with the RFU Council and Championship clubs the next to be convinced.
We need to talk about relegation. Comparing the Premiership with France on this point is a futile exercise because the domestic game in England is nowhere near as cash-rich for relegated clubs to cope with the losses that come with dropping out of the Premiership in terms of TV revenue and attendances.
Promotion and relegation between the Top 14 and ProD2 only works because if you go down, you are not facing financial ruin. Games in the ProD2 have a national television audience and attendances into five figures. The two second-tier leagues are miles apart.
Nobody has bought Newcastle Falcons, despite the club being very publicly on sale since last year for a nominal £1, because of those reservations. Really, any owner or investor in a Premiership club would have the same fears; worried that a bad season could suddenly lead to a drastic loss of income.
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Newcastle Falcons director of rugby Steve Diamond has said the club may require a short-term loan to participate in next season’s Premiership - PA/Richard Sellers
To flip that point, it is also why so few clubs have dared to try to come up. No team has been promoted since Saracens in 2021, after what was effectively a one-year suspension from the top flight. The last time we had a promoted club not in possession of a perpetual share – otherwise known as a P share, entitling shareholders to a percentage of the central income of the league as well as voting rights – was London Welsh in 2014. Two years later they went into voluntary liquidation.
Ealing Trailfinders have been the dominant force in the Championship for years yet seem no closer to meeting the minimum standards criteria, despite those regulations softening over time. In recent years the mood around Championship clubs being eligible to come up has initially been excitement when it has been announced that a club meets the criteria – Doncaster Knights, for example – before checking their position in the table and realising the promise of promotion is a folly.
Which is all a long way of saying that promotion to the Premiership has merely become a concept, a nice idea, but has not felt practical for some time even with tweaks to the minimum standards criteria.
As much as we would love to see another Exeter Chiefs going from the Championship to becoming Premiership and European champions, what if there is not a sleeping giant out there in the first place? And what if securing those Premiership clubs – seven of the 10 Premiership clubs could have been classed as “balance sheet insolvent” in 2022-23 – by removing the threat of relegation and encouraging investment, while leaving a route open for promotion in the future, is actually the best option?
Rugby union is not thriving in this country. Ignore the gates at Allianz Stadium. The Premiership could not be doing more to entertain with try-fests on a weekly basis, and that is before we enter the best weather season.
Clubs are working their tails off to cut through to a wider audience but trying to lure those who want to watch only England matches towards a Premiership ground each weekend is proving to be a massive problem. Potential supporters are not being enticed by what is inarguably an entertaining product (although it would not hurt to see the odd 18-15 game now and again to reduce the stress levels of defence coaches).
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England’s sell-out crowds at the Allianz Stadium are not translating to packed grounds in the Premiership - Reuters/Hannah McKay
Something has to give. Targeting a model similar to the IPL and NFL might seem naively ambitious but rugby union needs to think big or it will not go anywhere.
One plea would be not to rush this. The suggestion that it could be implemented as soon as 2026 feels a little hasty. Better to source the right investors carefully to clarify the promotion criteria and encourage Championship clubs to take their time over putting together attractive business plans, while the league haggles for the most lucrative broadcasting deal possible.
If the Premiership requires a new name, so be it. We have lost track of the number of monikers for the United Rugby Championship, which is currently thriving. The Magners League and RaboDirect Pro12 feel like a century ago.
And who knows, maybe this leads to the addition down the line of the Welsh regions. Or a British and Irish league. Or a giant European club tournament. If the right investment comes in, nothing feels off the table. But to suggest that the game is fine as it is, and that the Premiership does not need an injection of impetus, would be to ignore the truth.
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