The financial squeeze will become greater and when rugby is played again Test matches will have priority because they are the sport’s commercial driver. The south faces losing its incoming tours: if that happened, Europe’s autumn schedule would need to be revamped and revenue shared, a subject the north has consistently refused to address. As Davies said, all the unions are in it together and they have an opportunity to assert their authority together, as they should have done in 1995. This week the French Rugby Federation president, Bernard Laporte, floated the idea of a world club championship, a more exclusive version of the Heineken Champions Cup. It was not something he had suddenly dreamed up. Laporte is running on a ticket with the World Rugby chairman, Bill Beaumont, who is up for re-election next month. Laporte is bidding to become his deputy and the governing body’s plan for a nations league, which was scuppered by some of the Six Nations last year, still has legs. The planned divisions below the Rugby Championship and the Six Nations are being organised, providing a pathway for second- and third-tier nations. The European unions are in talks with the private equity company CVC about taking a 15% stake in their business in return for £300m. There will be a temptation, with all the unions predicting substantial losses this year, to snatch the £50m+ each would receive, but how far would it go after debts had been absorbed? The Premiership clubs last year received £12.5m each after selling a 27% stake to CVC, which means they will each receive around £1.5m less from central funds each year at a time when enhanced television and sponsorship deals will be tough to negotiate. The nations league promised a substantial increase in turnover for unions with all the money raised going to the game and none to speculators whose concern was the bottom line. Put together with Laporte’s proposal, it would allow all the tier one unions to contract their leading players, relieving some of the financial burden on clubs in France and England. The clubs would resist the move. Owners have put a significant amount into the domestic game with a consequent rise in playing standards and facilities, but wage inflation means the business as a whole is losing some £50m a year, a figure that will rise. The £7m salary cap will be reviewed after the start of the season, but it will need to come down rather than go up. The playing calendar in Europe is a compromised mish-mash, a product of the drive for cash, which serves neither club nor country well. It cannot survive the current crisis and unions will never have a better opportunity to force change. The game needs them to seize the moment. Lions concerns show issues with calendar South Africa are the most fortunate of the major unions in the south; they have the Lions visiting next year, a tour that will provide a financial windfall. The Lions will again be coached by Warren Gatland who this week suggested that the tour should be preceded by a one-off Test against New Zealand that would amount to a decider after the 1-1 series draw in 2017. |