BT buy Premiership rights from next season

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http://www.premiershiprugby.com/matchcentre/fixtures/20493.php#.UFBpfLKPV5B


Another subscription to pay by the sounds of it. If Sky are losing the rights though, it'll mean no more Barnes

Also where does all this money go?

of course they have gowles, If the Rabo were to change to a SH calander if not tied in with Eng and Fra. Also they can get the russians on board.

Right now the russian hockey league is paying as much as the American hockey league. The money is there.

Also it will be hard for a few years but as Wales have shown play a few extra internationals and that will raise enough money for the union run teams.

With NZ and Aus struck for money I'm sure they would play in a winter euro round robin competion with the Rabo countries.

Also if we move to a SH season we can get the agries on board

Brendan wrote:of course they have gowles, If the Rabo were to change to a SH calander if not tied in with Eng and Fra. Also they can get the russians on board.

Right now the russian hockey league is paying as much as the American hockey league. The money is there.

Also it will be hard for a few years but as Wales have shown play a few extra internationals and that will raise enough money for the union run teams.

With NZ and Aus struck for money I'm sure they would play in a winter euro round robin competion with the Rabo countries.

Also if we move to a SH season we can get the agries on board

Not gonna happen and Russian rugby doesn't have the crowds or the interest to generate the money (at the moment)

Sin That is not how the tv rights work - home or away is irrelevant to the contribution made by the PRL, just as it has always been for the IRFU.....

Personally as ST holder I would prefer to see home nation internationals against my beloved Bath (even though we don't have any senior England internationals at the moment) but an Anglo French competition has an appeal particularly if the second tiers are involved to create some giant killing opportunities - a Pirates v Toulouse scenario....

As you well know Bath didn't qualify for the HC this season but have some interesting sides from France, Italy and Romania, which despite R12 teams turning their nose at does make for entertaining games.

SecretFly wrote:Someone earlier said BT have made a smart preemptive strike on any future ERC negotiations to restructure European Rugby competition.

And I'm left thinking has SKY ever made a bad profit decision in it existence? It's a pretty shrewd operator. What is its move going to be now? - to offer something better to Pro12 and Top 14 and then go to the future negotiating table to represent these leagues with a stronger hand than BTs single league clout?

Probably don't know enough to be making all this speculation but on the face of it I would imagine that this would be a non-starter as the AP already has their deal with BT and so would find it impossible to sign an ERC agreement that involved SKY broadcasting the HC in England.

You are completely right though about SKY rarely making a bad decision although over the years a lot of these crazy deals have trumped SKY with companies trying to get a foothold into the market. Pretty much never works but unforunately I'd imagine an HC deal will probably be done and dusted by the time it unravels.

Quoting from the Guardian article:

"The value of the deal has been boosted by Premiership Rugby giving BT, who will next season start covering English Premiership football matches in place of ESPN, the rights to matches played by English sides in European competitions from 2014-15 for three years.

The English clubs, along with their French counterparts, have given two years' notice that they will pull out of the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup unless changes are made. The tournaments' organisers, European Rugby Cup Ltd (ERC), meets in Dublin next week to discuss the move and the BT deal will heighten the tension.

Under the current agreement in Europe, ERC negotiates all the television deals, not individual countries. Sky is the principle broadcaster and it may, given its failure to hold on to its Premiership rights, make a disproportionate bid for the Heineken Cup and Amlin contracts.

Premiership Rugby insists that the European element of its BT deal will not go straight to the English clubs. "It will be put into the pot," said a spokesman. "Our aim is to increase the share for everyone and this deal is excellent for the game in Europe."

Am a bit puzzled by this wording. How can English clubs sell the TV rights to their matches against Irish clubs, for example? I could understand if it was home matches only, but I can't see how they could negotiate TV rights to say Munster v Leicester in a Pool match.

If. (if). If the Rabo had conceived such a background move, would it be considered a 'smart deal'?

Pot, suggest you refer to Hammer's third post on this topic. If you want an example of how it would work then Englands Sky contract playing Ireland at Twickenham is an example. The AP have already stated that the European monies from the BT contract go into the ERC coffers. Their move has been the percentage of monies allocated between the league and the HC.

Pot Hale wrote:Quoting from the Guardian article:

"The value of the deal has been boosted by Premiership Rugby giving BT, who will next season start covering English Premiership football matches in place of ESPN, the rights to matches played by English sides in European competitions from 2014-15 for three years.

The English clubs, along with their French counterparts, have given two years' notice that they will pull out of the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup unless changes are made. The tournaments' organisers, European Rugby Cup Ltd (ERC), meets in Dublin next week to discuss the move and the BT deal will heighten the tension.

Under the current agreement in Europe, ERC negotiates all the television deals, not individual countries. Sky is the principle broadcaster and it may, given its failure to hold on to its Premiership rights, make a disproportionate bid for the Heineken Cup and Amlin contracts.

Premiership Rugby insists that the European element of its BT deal will not go straight to the English clubs. "It will be put into the pot," said a spokesman. "Our aim is to increase the share for everyone and this deal is excellent for the game in Europe."

Am a bit puzzled by this wording. How can English clubs sell the TV rights to their matches against Irish clubs, for example? I could understand if it was home matches only, but I can't see how they could negotiate TV rights to say Munster v Leicester in a Pool match.

The announcement is a little vague on details. For instance, it says exclusive rights, but in which territories/countries? Obviously if a Jeff side goes to Toulon and plays a game down there, there won't be a situation where no french broadcaster carries the game (that would be akin to business suicide). It might just be rights for the UK or even just England.

Also does BT have a tv channel? Are they planning tv channel? It might be that BT are taking control of all IT delivery (website, apps, tv, internet, etc.) and hive off tv coverage back to ESPN or a Sky in a subdeal. That way they can control the overall broadcasting across all media and get a more integrated delivery of rugby to the masses (might be a great thing).

What has effectively happened though is the PRL? have put a legal contract in place to try and tie up tv revenues prior to any HCup deal being agreed by the Unions. They effectively have put the middle finger up to the RFU and to prove they have the negotiating power (with the view that the RFU wouldn't offer championship teams into a european competition, and would have to give Jeff teams the money off this deal if they chose to nominate jeff clubs for HCupv2).

An interesting move on a lot of levels.

Portnoy wrote:If. (if). If the Rabo had conceived such a background move, would it be considered a 'smart deal'?

No.

I suspect that the value of the European matches for the English clubs has been reduced to a minimum within the stated €152m. So that's their contribution sorted. McCafferty said that they still want to increase the overall revenue, so the contribution this time must be bigger than previous agreement - if their aim is to "increase the share for everyone". That statement may be somewhat disingenuous - reducing the number of clubs would automatically mean a greater share for the remaining 20 clubs anyway.

As far as I can see, they can only negotiate for their home matches with BT. This presumably is the biggest portion of the TV rights within the European structure.

Sky are the incumbent, and they now have to weigh up whether the remaining rights are worth fighting for. If they are, then they could go into a head-to-head with BT. However, I'm not sure how good BT's network infrastructure is in Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland and ROI or what their delivery platform might be. They have been building up their fibre optic networks, so perhaps that might be a route, or they get themselves onto the Sky platform as a channel - similar to ESPN, etc. If they build a separate route encrypted network, and force people into buying yet more boxes, their chances of gaining market share will be hit.

So do BT, having now wrapped up AP, proceed to negotiate with Pro 12 for both league and cup? Unlikely. Negotiate with ERC for remaining rights if a new ERC agreement is hammered out for 2014 onwards?

Do Sky sidle up to the Pro 12 clubs and offer them both league and cup coverage? Moving the Pro12 league games off FTA would probably be a non-no.

As this makes clear, the Franglo axis was never really about targetting the qualification route for Pro12, it's always about money in the end.

Makes you wonder if the Pro 12 clubs will stick together, or will it become a dog fight with each fighting for their own share?

Bit bored at work but love all these strategy games that go on with this type of negotiations so here’s a scenario of how things might end up going based on nothing but conjecture and imagination!

Current Deal:

I’m sure it’s more complicated than this but for this purpose let’s assume the current broadcasting deal is £100m. I think it’s fair to say that England and France feel they are being short changed in the deal so let’s say they believe they bring £40m each to the table through the power of their regions broadcasting and the Rabo countries bring in the other £20m. My understanding is that this is then split equally meaning that each gets £33.3m back. France and England therefore feel they are being short changed by £6.7m while simultaneously believing the Rabo countries are benefiting to the tune of £13.3m. The numbers are garbage but I think this is the crux of the matter.

New Deal:

When going to the negotiating table let’s assume that both France and England have done their TV deals and have clauses in there stating that the European portion of the deal is worth only £10m. Let’s also assume the Rabo deal remains the same. Under the old rules of equal shares this would mean the total pot was £40m and when shared equally each would get £13.3m. England and France very happy, Rabo countries not so much as they would be losing out to the tune of £6.6m. Likely outcome being that rather than lose out all parties agree to keep what they have negotiated which is where I believe England want to end up.

More likely than this game though is that going to the table with a signed agreement for a substantial amount will give them the power to negotiate a deal worth no less than this.

Anyway it’s all just guess work really but as someone said above it’s going to make the negotiations for the new deal very interesting!

Pot Hale wrote:

Portnoy wrote:If. (if). If the Rabo had conceived such a background move, would it be considered a 'smart deal'?

No.

I suspect that the value of the European matches for the English clubs has been reduced to a minimum within the stated €152m. So that's their contribution sorted. McCafferty said that they still want to increase the overall revenue, so the contribution this time must be bigger than previous agreement - if their aim is to "increase the share for everyone". That statement may be somewhat disingenuous - reducing the number of clubs would automatically mean a greater share for the remaining 20 clubs anyway.

As far as I can see, they can only negotiate for their home matches with BT. This presumably is the biggest portion of the TV rights within the European structure.

Sky are the incumbent, and they now have to weigh up whether the remaining rights are worth fighting for. If they are, then they could go into a head-to-head with BT. However, I'm not sure how good BT's network infrastructure is in Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland and ROI or what their delivery platform might be. They have been building up their fibre optic networks, so perhaps that might be a route, or they get themselves onto the Sky platform as a channel - similar to ESPN, etc. If they build a separate route encrypted network, and force people into buying yet more boxes, their chances of gaining market share will be hit.

So do BT, having now wrapped up AP, proceed to negotiate with Pro 12 for both league and cup? Unlikely. Negotiate with ERC for remaining rights if a new ERC agreement is hammered out for 2014 onwards?

Do Sky sidle up to the Pro 12 clubs and offer them both league and cup coverage? Moving the Pro12 league games off FTA would probably be a non-no.

As this makes clear, the Franglo axis was never really about targetting the qualification route for Pro12, it's always about money in the end.

Makes you wonder if the Pro 12 clubs will stick together, or will it become a dog fight with each fighting for their own share?

As this makes clear, the Franglo axis was never really about targetting the qualification route for Pro12, it's always about money in the end

.

As this makes clear, the Franglo axis was never really about targetting the qualification route for Pro12, it's always about money in the end.

or

As I speculate --- it's always about money in the end.
Can't disagree with the last bit.


On another tack, I can't find any ESPN/Sky announcement.

http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12332/8074296/New-European-rugby-deal-for-Sky

you haven't looked here then. sky have a deal to show all erc rugby until 2018. Looks like the AP have made gobshytes of themselves ...... again.

So PRL have sold exclusive rights to a Euro competition which doesn't yet exist, and ERC have done exactly the same to Sky. The battlelines are drawn, but I'm now much less certain that HC as we know it will continue.

I bet that was an interesting ERC board meeting today.

have to laugh at some of the English posters on this thread.

"you see Paddy , is to stupid to have his own rugby destiny in his hands. jock is to poor/mean. taffy Will always do what he's told and Mario is just to lazy..".

thank god for good old John Bull. he has the natural god given brain to run things for everyone .

Dubbelyew L Overate wrote:So PRL have sold exclusive rights to a Euro competition which doesn't yet exist, and ERC have done exactly the same to Sky. The battlelines are drawn, but I'm now much less certain that HC as we know it will continue.

that's funny. I'm much more convinced that it Will. sky have done this type of thing before. negotiate with sporting organizations that is.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12332/8074296/New-European-rugby-deal-for-Sky

you haven't looked here then. sky have a deal to show all erc rugby until 2018. Looks like the AP have made gobshytes of themselves ...... again.

Both announced on the same day - how coincidental.

Somehow figured that Sky wouldn't throw in the towel that easily.

However, did ERC have the authority to negotiate this exclusive deal on behalf of the respective unions given the agreement only runs to 2014?

And if they did, then has the PRL negotiated something which was not in their power to gift?

Or vice versa.


Further comments by McCafferty on the BT deal:

"I want to emphasise that our objective is to remain in the Heineken Cup. The television deal we have agreed with BT will increase the size of the pot for everyone in Europe. Scotland and Italy will benefit: what we want is to increase the size of the cake rather than argue about slices.

Our television contract will allow that and there could be a similar deal in France. Everyone benefits and far from looking to shrink the game in Europe, we propose to introduce a third competition to include teams from countries like Russia, Spain, Georgia and Portugal.

We are ambitious for rugby in Europe. We do not want to go down the Anglo‑French Cup route, but if nothing changes it is something we would have to do. We have come up with a financial solution and now we have to get a rugby one."

Jen, I'm glad you can laugh about it, but I'm not.

I see this as bad news, a serious schism ahead of next week's meeting, much more than just public posturing.

Dubbelyew L Overate wrote:So PRL have sold exclusive rights to a Euro competition which doesn't yet exist, and ERC have done exactly the same to Sky. The battlelines are drawn, but I'm now much less certain that HC as we know it will continue.

I bet that was an interesting ERC board meeting today.

Am just around the corner from them.

The blinds are drawn and there's smoke coming out from beneath the door....... maybe they've elected a new pope.

Where's Brent?

Dubbelyew L Overate wrote:So PRL have sold exclusive rights to a Euro competition which doesn't yet exist, and ERC have done exactly the same to Sky. The battlelines are drawn, but I'm now much less certain that HC as we know it will continue.

I bet that was an interesting ERC board meeting today.

In that scenario as it's pointed out, minus the business detail of other posts....................

hmmm, ERC have Sky... and two distinct leagues... and five rugby nations... with a population of some 137 million (no they'll never get that watching rugby but that's the climate they're working in)... and the current European Champions.

BT have one league, one nation and a population of 51 million.

Which has the deal to offer a European competition if nobody wants to negotiate on what they've already got?

What colour is the smoke?

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:have to laugh at some of the English posters on this thread.

"you see Paddy , is to stupid to have his own rugby destiny in his hands. jock is to poor/mean. taffy Will always do what he's told and Mario is just to lazy..".

thank god for good old John Bull. he has the natural god given brain to run things for everyone .

How do you mean laugh at some of the English posters? Where have people made comments that imply what you've written?

Dubbelyew L Overate wrote:What colour is the smoke?

a kind of bluey, greeny, reddish off-white colour.........

SecretFly,

The English and French clubs have already given notice to withdraw from ERC, so what Sky have been sold is an Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Italian competition, perhaps with second tier English and French teams if RFU and FFR want to enter them. They've also got the Amlin, of course, with Spanish, Romanian and Italain teams.

The likelihood of English teams withdrawing their withdrawal seems to have diminished - we'll wait and see what happens with the French.

what a balls up

English rugby will go down the pan, border line fans used to watch it because they had sky sports for the footie anyway, the move to ESPN already showed smaller viewing figures,

IF and it is a big IF you had to go to BT vision box that would be devastating for viewing figures,
but the more likely event of a BT channel on SKY with an extra subscription fee would put off all but the loyal real fans.

Looks like the Clive Woodward effect has worn off with SKY, the last thing people from down south want to see and hear is Lancaster's dumb Northern accent and Farrell's ugly mug

Dubbelyew L Overate wrote:SecretFly,

The English and French clubs have already given notice to withdraw from ERC, so what Sky have been sold is an Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Italian competition, perhaps with second tier English and French teams if RFU and FFR want to enter them. They've also got the Amlin, of course, with Spanish, Romanian and Italain teams.

The likelihood of English teams withdrawing their withdrawal seems to have diminished - we'll wait and see what happens with the French.

You think that SKY executives are that green? That BT have hoodwinked them? Hmmm, it'll be rare egg on the face for that bunch if they've been caught sleeping on the job. Or maybe their secret midnight exertions just haven't been finalised for a juicy public report yet. We'll see. A first tier European Competition without the Irish and Welsh in it will be a contradiction in terms... Like the American World Series. If all the first tier contenders ain't in it, it isn't European or first tier.

Also look out for stupid kick off times like the Rabo with new boys in-charge,
i always liked it when sky had super Saturdays with one game on Sunday afternoon to snooze to, usually Tigers up the jumper crap.

Sky executives ain't green, nor, I expect, are those from BT. Nonetheless, post 2014, as it stands, PRL and LNR clubs won't be competing in the ERC competitions.

The initial meeting to discuss a new ERC agreement which might involve PRL and LNR clubs is scheduled for next week. These two apparently conflicting TV deals seem to me to make an agreement less likely.

This is better than any soap opera, the next few weeks are going to be pretty interesting. All I can surmise from this is that the new sky deal must have conditions attached regarding the participation of the French and English sides? As people have said Sky are pretty good at this but it's a fact that currently there is no guarantee of English and French participation. Can't even begin to predict how this will land now!

For what it's worth I'd have loved all the AP to stay with sky and ESPN as I love their coverage and just can't see BT doing it justice. BT are also scum in my humble opinion!

Pot Hale wrote:

Further comments by McCafferty on the BT deal:

"
Our television contract will allow that and there could be a similar deal in France. Everyone benefits and far from looking to shrink the game in Europe, we propose to introduce a third competition to include teams from countries like Russia, Spain, Georgia and Portugal.

We are ambitious for rugby in Europe. We do not want to go down the Anglo‑French Cup route, but if nothing changes it is something we would have to do. We have come up with a financial solution and now we have to get a rugby one."

I think the key points here are that the French are likely (my interpretation) to sign a similar deal with a French company, and that the English and French are prepared to go it alone. There is clearly a power struggle going on, but if the French side with the English then there is only one outcome.

Very odd the ERC deal with Sky, but given the HEC and Amblin may well not exist for much longer I'm sure Sky have made sure they can walk away or at least renegotiate if English and French sides are involved.

BT's sports channel will be available on the satellite and cable channels I'm sure, just like ESPN's and Setanta's before them.

So now AP side's have TV income which covers most of the wage cap. Expect an upward move with that over the next couple of years.

From the ERC:

ERC questions proposed Premiership Rugby TV deal

Following a media announcement today (12 September), ERC has raised questions over a purported deal by Premiership Rugby to sell the UK broadcast rights to European club rugby tournaments.

While awaiting further information regarding Premiership Rugby's proposed agreement with BT, the ERC Board, which met in Dublin today, believes that any such agreement would be in breach both of IRB regulations and of a mandate from the ERC Board itself.

European club rugby's six participant Unions have granted the authority to sell broadcast rights to its tournaments solely to ERC.

It was unanimously agreed at an ERC Board meeting on 6 June, 2012 that ERC would conclude a new four-year agreement with Sky Sports for the UK and Ireland exclusive live broadcast rights to the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup until 2018. Premiership Rugby was party to that decision.

ERC remains determined to honour its own commercial commitments and to continue its work to further develop the European club game.

All ERC stakeholders are scheduled to convene in Dublin on Tuesday, 18 September to begin the formulation of a new Shareholder Agreement for the 2014/15 season and beyond.

Now this is where it gets seriously embarrassing - if agreement is reached to continue with the ERC in some modified format (as I think most of us would like), then where does that leave BT/PRL?

Not sure what IRB regulations they reckon PRL are in breach of?

Dubbelyew L Overate wrote:Not sure what IRB regulations they reckon PRL are in breach of?

Not sure, Dub. I wish they would just keep it all behind closed doors until they've sorted it all out

DaveM wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:

Further comments by McCafferty on the BT deal:

"
Our television contract will allow that and there could be a similar deal in France. Everyone benefits and far from looking to shrink the game in Europe, we propose to introduce a third competition to include teams from countries like Russia, Spain, Georgia and Portugal.

We are ambitious for rugby in Europe. We do not want to go down the Anglo‑French Cup route, but if nothing changes it is something we would have to do. We have come up with a financial solution and now we have to get a rugby one."

I think the key points here are that the French are likely (my interpretation) to sign a similar deal with a French company, and that the English and French are prepared to go it alone. There is clearly a power struggle going on, but if the French side with the English then there is only one outcome.

Very odd the ERC deal with Sky, but given the HEC and Amblin may well not exist for much longer I'm sure Sky have made sure they can walk away or at least renegotiate if English and French sides are involved.

BT's sports channel will be available on the satellite and cable channels I'm sure, just like ESPN's and Setanta's before them.

So now AP side's have TV income which covers most of the wage cap. Expect an upward move with that over the next couple of years.

Nonsense Money don't buy success if it did England would be top dog all the time in the International field

It's better than Ol' JR telling his shifty eyed son to 'Never miss an opportunity to shut up'

There'll be war at that there ERC Cattle Baron's Ball, y'all hear?

Think this could be the end of the ERC. They talk of six unions, the PRL want to include more

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

Dubbelyew L Overate wrote:Not sure what IRB regulations they reckon PRL are in breach of?

Not sure, Dub. I wish they would just keep it all behind closed doors until they've sorted it all out

I dunno about that - I'd be quite enjoying it if it wasn't so serious.

Bullish words from BT in this article:

http://www.sportspromedia.com/notes_and_insights/we_will_set_up_a_dazzling_new_european_rugby_tournament_says_bt_vision_ceo/

""We have the English Premiership; we think there’s lots of great potential there. And we are looking to set up, or at least help set up, a dazzling new European tournament, with a fantastic new format, with, we hope, all the best clubs. And we’ve secured, from the English Premiership, the rights to that for the UK. That tournament will be the successor to the Heineken Cup, which is a very successful tournament.

"The Heineken Cup runs until the end of next season. Our English Premiership rights kick in at the same time as our Premier League football rights next August. The Heineken Cup under its current contract has another season to run and that will be the end of it, and we’re looking to set up a brand new tournament from then. And we’ve already secured the rights to that."

How are BT going to show the Rugby? They really don't have a sports network other than their on-demand servoce, right? I don't have them so I am not sure. I could see them sub-contracting rights to a sports channel.

Prem Rugby tweeted:

"BT will look to distribute on variety of platforms; could include freeview/youview, satellite,their broadband, pubs/clubs etc"

BT have talked about creating a sports channel on the back of their newly acquired football rights and apparently have been in discussion with ITV to produce that coverage.

broadlandboy wrote:Think this could be the end of the ERC. They talk of six unions, the PRL want to include more

The problem always here is that it's Six Unions (same as the Six Nations countries) that own the ERC, who control the HEC.

The PRL is only a partner/subordinate to the RFU (one of the six owners of the ERC)

The IRB deals with the world's Unions, the IRB seems to have regulations that state that the clubs (privately owned) can't dictate terms to Unions who by right control any European club competition.

They IRB control the regulations because they control the players playing for the clubs

...they control the players playing for clubs in the sense that they can command release of players to National Unions for International games AND they can make life almost impossible for players to have International careers at all if the clubs they are part of try to strong arm themselves into a superior position (more potent influence) than the Unions of a particular Nation.

IRB protects National Unions and in so doing gives rights to Unions over privately owned clubs in controlling pan-national competition.

Now what the letter above seems to be saying to me is that the IRB is the last arbiter of European competition amongst clubs connected to National Unions, that TV companies and private clubs aren't and.............that they're pished about it

DaveM wrote:

viewtothegym wrote:
So now AP side's have TV income which covers most of the wage cap. Expect an upward move with that over the next couple of years.

Nonsense Money don't buy success if it did England would be top dog all the time in the International field

I mean the wage cap will go up.

Secretfly
" And we are looking to set up, or at least help set up, a dazzling new European tournament, with a fantastic new format, with, we hope, all the best clubs. And we’ve secured, from the English Premiership, the rights to that for the UK. That tournament will be the successor to the Heineken Cup, which is a very successful tournament."

I thought PRL are shareholders? They certainly have a director.

Looks like all out war, with BT and PRL basically saying the HEC is over as we know it.

As I've been saying for a while, nobody can force English or French clubs to participate in the HEC if they don't want to. That includes the IRB and the RFU (not that we know where they stand).

DaveM wrote:

DaveM wrote:

viewtothegym wrote:
So now AP side's have TV income which covers most of the wage cap. Expect an upward move with that over the next couple of years.

Nonsense Money don't buy success if it did England would be top dog all the time in the International field

I mean the wage cap will go up.

Sorry mate i thought you meant standard

viewtothegym wrote:

DaveM wrote:
I mean the wage cap will go up.

Sorry mate i thought you meant standard

No probs.

I have to say, this is all quite exciting. I wonder what will happen next.

However, worst case this could spiral into a major schism in the world game. That would be less exciting.

Hmmm

BT are sounding pretty cocky for a company that hasn't shown a single rugby match yet and has only talked to one of the 6 participating countries.

Telling the Welsh and Scottish unions that " we are looking to set up, or at least help set up, a dazzling new European tournament....And we’ve secured, from the English Premiership, the rights to that for the UK.

And telling the ERC publicly "That tournament will be the successor to the Heineken Cup, which is a very successful tournament."

is a step too far.

Those two statements cross the line, and put the PRL offside. Saying on the one hand that you want the H Cup to continue whilst your newly acquired TV partner, giddy as a schoolboy, says they're planning on creating a whole new world and dumping the Heineken Cup is not the best way to go about your business.

Everyone will be suing each other this time next year,the writing is on the wall.

All because England couldn't hold it in! Frankie says relax