Pro 12 New TV Deal

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So the Pro 12 is moving to Sky Sports. No surprise really.

http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/15180/8684039

Sky Sports will show even more live European club rugby union, thanks to a new four year deal to screen the RaboDirect PRO12, beginning in the 2014/15 season.

For the first time Sky Sports will show 30 live matches, plus the semi-finals and final from the tournament, strengthening its unrivalled rights portfolio across six channels.

The RaboDirect PRO12 features the top teams from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy, including Europe's current number one ranked side Leinster, defending champions Ospreys and current leaders Ulster.

Sky Sports viewers will be able to enjoy weekly coverage on TV, PC and on the move via mobile and tablet devices.

Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports, said: "We know European rugby is hugely popular with our viewers and this deal provides for even more fantastic action. From next year, the RaboDirect PRO12 will complement our Heineken and Amlin Challenge Cup coverage and provide viewers with an unrivalled diet of rugby union.

"Sky Sports remains the home of televised rugby union, offering an unprecedented schedule from the international, European and domestic game. Our coverage is innovative and our expert analysis respected. This agreement is even more good news for rugby fans with Sky Sports."

John Feehan, Chief Executive of RaboDirect PRO12, said: "We are delighted to welcome Sky Sports to the RaboDirect PRO12 family. Our competition is growing from strength to strength and we feel this partnership with Sky Sports will allow us to extend the reach of the RaboDirect PRO12 in the UK and Ireland."

Latest

This announcement follows a series of major rugby rights deals for Sky Sports, including the exclusive live rights to The British & Irish Lions tour 2013, four-year deals to show Ireland, France and Italy Autumn Internationals from 2014 and a long term European rugby deal with the ERC.

The RaboDirect PRO12 complements the existing schedule of live European rugby union on Sky Sports featuring the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup, plus the domestic offering with the RFU Championship and LV=Cup. Added to that is a strong portfolio of international rugby with the British & Irish Lions tour 2013, QBE Internationals, England women's matches, IRB Sevens World Series, Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship.

Sky Sports viewers can continue to follow the matches whether at home or on the move with Sky Go, available on a range of mobile devices.

The Sky Sports rugby union team includes some of the biggest names in the sport with over 550 caps between them. Expert analysis comes from Will Greenwood, Dewi Morris, Paul Wallace, Ieuan Evans, Scott Quinnell, Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Lynagh and Scott Hastings. Coverage throughout the season is presented by Alex Payne and James Gemmell, with commentary from Stuart Barnes, Miles Harrison, Mark Robson and Johnnie Hammond.

There is also a comprehensive range of support programming, which includes the Rugby Club, plus the latest rugby union news and results available every day on skysports.com and Sky Sports News HD.


What's people's thoughts on this? Could be good for attendances as I can't see everyone having access to Sky Sports to follow their teams.

1F'sgonnagetya! wrote:Does this mean BBCNI won't be showing games anymore?

Nothing has been announced. But others Broadcasters will still be showing the majority of the games, so there is every chance they will still show games.

With Sky increasing the TV Revenue by 50% it would be safe to assume they will have first choice on a number of the fixtures.

Dorothy_Mantooth wrote:

1F'sgonnagetya! wrote:Does this mean BBCNI won't be showing games anymore?

Nothing has been announced. But others Broadcasters will still be showing the majority of the games, so there is every chance they will still show games.

With Sky increasing the TV Revenue by 50% it would be safe to assume they will have first choice on a number of the fixtures.

I don't know about that. You might be right but 50% isn't enough to be making too many demands.

I wonder if the matches on sky will also be shown on other channels like Munster vs Leinster on RTE and Sky.

LordDowlais wrote:Sky would not be able to stop S4C airing games, or BBC2 Wales(I think), but definatley S4C. You see, because the bigwigs in the Weslh assembly see rugby union as our national sport they passed a right in parlement that everybody in Wales should have access to watching it, so S4c will deffo be still airing the games, BBC 2 Wales might just be allowed the highlights show though, I would have thought.

Is that true or just apocryphal M'Lud?

Have the WA really legislated on this?

I know they managed to wangle some Welsh International in the 'Crown Jewels' games but I hadn't heard of terrestrial rights to view regional matches.

profitius wrote:

Dorothy_Mantooth wrote:

1F'sgonnagetya! wrote:Does this mean BBCNI won't be showing games anymore?

Nothing has been announced. But others Broadcasters will still be showing the majority of the games, so there is every chance they will still show games.

With Sky increasing the TV Revenue by 50% it would be safe to assume they will have first choice on a number of the fixtures.

I don't know about that. You might be right but 50% isn't enough to be making too many demands.

I wonder if the matches on sky will also be shown on other channels like Munster vs Leinster on RTE and Sky.

Sky is a notoriously predatory organisation owned by an notoriously predatory global organisation which in turn is owned by notoriously predatory people.

This is prob the best news for the league. Big games on Sky (ok I will have to go to pub to watch em, but I can live with that), most still free view.

The big boost for me is that SKY wil really hype the league up, people who only watched internationals will start hearing about it.

It will boost the market, it will boost revenue.

And one of the main drawbacks I've always felt about the league was that Irish papers/news only covered Irish games, you'd be hard pushes to find out anything about Welsh derbies or 1872 cup games. With this deal SKY will promote the league as a whole, not concentrating on one area. This in turn should mean People in Ireland will take an intrest in Ospreys V Scarlets games, and vice versa.

I'm all for this and think its great news.

Kingshu wrote:This is prob the best news for the league. Big games on Sky (ok I will have to go to pub to watch em, but I can live with that), most still free view.

The big boost for me is that SKY wil really hype the league up, people who only watched internationals will start hearing about it.

It will boost the market, it will boost revenue.

And one of the main drawbacks I've always felt about the league was that Irish papers/news only covered Irish games, you'd be hard pushes to find out anything about Welsh derbies or 1872 cup games. With this deal SKY will promote the league as a whole, not concentrating on one area. This in turn should mean People in Ireland will take an intrest in Ospreys V Scarlets games, and vice versa.

I'm all for this and think its great news.

Well I watched a good few games on Welsh and Scottish channels...but the problem can often be that they're on at at the same time as some home games, or home Provinces games anyway...

SecretFly wrote:

Kingshu wrote:This is prob the best news for the league. Big games on Sky (ok I will have to go to pub to watch em, but I can live with that), most still free view.

The big boost for me is that SKY wil really hype the league up, people who only watched internationals will start hearing about it.

It will boost the market, it will boost revenue.

And one of the main drawbacks I've always felt about the league was that Irish papers/news only covered Irish games, you'd be hard pushes to find out anything about Welsh derbies or 1872 cup games. With this deal SKY will promote the league as a whole, not concentrating on one area. This in turn should mean People in Ireland will take an intrest in Ospreys V Scarlets games, and vice versa.

I'm all for this and think its great news.

Well I watched a good few games on Welsh and Scottish channels...but the problem can often be that they're on at at the same time as some home games, or home Provinces games anyway...

Thats true and while most of us here watch a lot of rugby to the general fan, they may not be even aware these games are on, and least with SKY promoting them they now will. I can see Leinster V Munster/Ulster games becoming popular games to watch for fans outside the provinces.

greytiger wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:Sky would not be able to stop S4C airing games, or BBC2 Wales(I think), but definatley S4C. You see, because the bigwigs in the Weslh assembly see rugby union as our national sport they passed a right in parlement that everybody in Wales should have access to watching it, so S4c will deffo be still airing the games, BBC 2 Wales might just be allowed the highlights show though, I would have thought.

Is that true or just apocryphal M'Lud?

Have the WA really legislated on this?

I know they managed to wangle some Welsh International in the 'Crown Jewels' games but I hadn't heard of terrestrial rights to view regional matches.

Unless anything has changed as of late GT. I am almost certain, also because of this both BBC Wales and S4C advertise each others games, but the channels do not advertise anything else for each other.

It still seems messy, bitty and a bit weird to me.

30 matches over the course of a season sounds like very few. For people who have sky yes, they will be able to watch a match in another country that they wouldn't normally see, but for those of us wandering into a pub to watch a match there won't be any change. I can't see anyone in a pub having a tv showing a Scottish team playing a Welsh team in Ireland.

Having said that more money must be good for the league.

Just take the Sky extra money and tell them to shove off?



No????


Why not??? You have to negotiate tough these days!

main motivation for sky making this deal was surely to give the irish, welsh and scottish the funding necessary to say no to BT money and as a result, the heineken cup stays on sky probably without English involvement.

Scrumdown wrote:main motivation for sky making this deal was surely to give the irish, welsh and scottish the funding necessary to say no to BT money and as a result, the heineken cup stays on sky probably without English involvement.

Basically it gives Sky four of the six ERC members so the driving seat for HEC negotiations, and if no deal is reached the a Rabo Cup gets created being the only real eurpean cup and it will be all Skys.

Notch wrote:Concerned- we just got the best thing ever, the Pro12 youtube channel. Free, instant highlights of every game. Can see Sky shutting that down.

Also, always able to watch a game again on iPlayer or RTE player- Sky offer no such facility, even to fully paid-up subscribers. You have to buy an expensive Sky+ box to get what the BBC and RTE offer completely free of charge.

Finally, Sky Go, their official live streaming service- is just plain shoite.

We have been lucky in just how much better coverage is of the Pro12 than the Aviva. You can pretty much see any game for free and see it again, legally, for free.

You can re-watch any aviva game on there website for free (avivas not sky) so i doubt sky would shut the youtube down.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Scrumdown wrote:main motivation for sky making this deal was surely to give the irish, welsh and scottish the funding necessary to say no to BT money and as a result, the heineken cup stays on sky probably without English involvement.

Basically it gives Sky four of the six ERC members so the driving seat for HEC negotiations, and if no deal is reached the a Rabo Cup gets created being the only real eurpean cup and it will be all Skys.

Aprart of course the five or six or so usual expected ko qualifiers. Shoore it'll be foine.

Believe!

The Rabo Cup will go viral.

Firstly this is fantastic news for the league especially as it is in conjunction with the existing broadcasters, if 125 games are being covered then that is a huge increase especially when you consider that's unlikely to include Zebre vs Treviso, as well as games between the Dragons, Connacht and Edinburgh. If SKY had been hosting "judgement day" then it would have been huge, they won't want a substandard event, they'll also attract bigger sponsors to the clubs and if it is a success then the amount of games they show will increase.
I hope they start putting the final in a large, neutral ground and announce it well in Advance, perhaps in the nation of the last winner or on a four year cycle . Then there will be a bigger event and more exposure, if the SKY deal increases over time then the Celtic/ Italian players will become well known and will improve as money comes in.

123456789 wrote: if the SKY deal increases over time then the Celtic/ Italian players will become well known and will improve as money comes in.

I don't know about the Italians but it's safe to say the Celtic players (many of them) are already known in Europe. Many of them are on the Lions tour and many of them have had prime places in the most prominent European event over the last seven or eight years.

The only rugby protected on free to air tele in the UK are welsh home games in 6 nations, highlights of the rest of the 6 nations and the rugby World Cup. That's it. Any other protection has not been passerby parliament and would be based on an agreement (possibly for funding) between the assembly and the WRU.

And don't the BBC produce the S4C rugby programmes to meet their welsh language requirements?

Overall, as already mentioned, the English premiership games all currently available in full on the website, so I can't see it changing for the PRO12. A bit more money without changing too much.

I think I might have read it wrong in terms of the money involved. Rereading it again it looks like the TV money could more than double depending on the deals still to come.


The sky deal alone is 150% from what I gather and there are the other deals with BBC and RTE etc to come. These other deals could also be worth more than before so it could end up being worth between 200% or pushing 300% more money.


If so - and I'm willing to be corrected - it looks a great deal.

You also have to account for the increased shirt, pitchside sponsorship etc... Also we could see a bigger deal from the leagues sponsor aswell.

SecretFly wrote:

123456789 wrote: if the SKY deal increases over time then the Celtic/ Italian players will become well known and will improve as money comes in.

I don't know about the Italians but it's safe to say the Celtic players (many of them) are already known in Europe. Many of them are on the Lions tour and many of them have had prime places in the most prominent European event over the last seven or eight years.

Amongst rugby supporters they are but elsewhere are they known by the general public in the same way the English players are? Probably not outside of Wales, also I often get the feeling that the English players are over-hyped and are perceived to be better than they are because they play in a well known fashionable league, the teams are often classed as better for example when Northampton beat Glasgow it was a big shock yet on paper Glasgow are probably better. Hopefully the SKY deal will encourage the teams to put out their best team each week, imagine how good it would be if O'Driscoll and co played every week? Currently Leinster play their second team most weeks. With more money hopefully less players will leave to England (although they'll still be a long way off the deals the French can offer) and France which would be fantastic, within 10 years the PRO12 will be the biggest and best league in Europe.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:You also have to account for the increased shirt, pitchside sponsorship etc... Also we could see a bigger deal from the leagues sponsor aswell.

Yup they'll be indirect bonuses. You could be pushing over 300% more money! Good timing from a Munster point of view too as they're in discussions with sponsors.


If those figures are accurate I wonder how much it strengthens the Pro 12 hand in HEC negotiations. If they can get by on the Rabo TV money then it really strengthens their hand. Also, they may be or have been in discussions with sky on a strategy.

123456789 wrote: Hopefully the SKY deal will encourage the teams to put out their best team each week, imagine how good it would be if O'Driscoll and co played every week? Currently Leinster play their second team most weeks. With more money hopefully less players will leave to England (although they'll still be a long way off the deals the French can offer) and France which would be fantastic, within 10 years the PRO12 will be the biggest and best league in Europe.

If theres no HEC agreement then the best players will play every week. Other than that they'll play about half the games every season because of international rugby.


Well if the league continues the same growth as it has in the past 10 years it'll be some league! What is crucial though is getting fans to come along to games. The Welsh especially but this is where skys promotion of it could work well. I can see Leinsters attendances keep on going upwards.

Intotouch wrote:30 matches over the course of a season sounds like very few.

It's more than one a weekend, but crucially it's not an exclusive deal; one early report estimated that 125 of 135 games will be televised.

Personally, what has already been signed will suffice, we have 50% extra TV money, dramatically less games shown live on the box and if they carry on showing games on Saturday afternoons that will also be great. To elaborate if the TV deals with BBC, S4C, RTE and ALBA are fetching in say 4 Mill this will go up to 6 Mill, the less games shown is a real bonus, I'm absolutely sick and tired of talking to people in my valley which is aprox 25 miles from the Liberty who when asked do you go to support the Ospreys they answer NO why should I when I can watch it on the box, this also applies from what I have heard to people after true supporters go back to the Landore social club which is no more than half a mile from the Liberty and they get the same response, we might not get any extra supporters to watch, that excuse will not hold any more. I know that some clubs enjoy some of their KO times, Ulsters Friday night is a ritual, the main problem is the fact (I think) Ireland has one station showing games as does Scotland, but us in Wales have 2 stations BBC Wales and S4C DICTATING when games HAVE to be played, having rational KO times apart from the televised games can only benefit attendances IMO. If Sky can have exclusive rights it might increase the money further and could also enhance the solidarity between them and the Rabo Unions in their conflict over the HC deal.

Wayne, I see your point about games on tv, but the other side of the coin is that more games on tv means more hype about games etc. Never underestimate the glory supporter effect, if something is hyled up enough there are more than enough sheep who will flock to see it. And Sky do a good jod creating hype, which the beeb will imo do too, not wanting to be out done.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Wayne, I see your point about games on tv, but the other side of the coin is that more games on tv means more hype about games etc. Never underestimate the glory supporter effect, if something is hyled up enough there are more than enough sheep who will flock to see it. And Sky do a good jod creating hype, which the beeb will imo do too, not wanting to be out done.

Pro12 has the players as evidenced by the 24 named in the lions squad. What it needs is promotion and investment and in that regard sky is the ideal partner.

wayne wrote:Personally, what has already been signed will suffice, we have 50% extra TV money, dramatically less games shown live on the box and if they carry on showing games on Saturday afternoons that will also be great. To elaborate if the TV deals with BBC, S4C, RTE and ALBA are fetching in say 4 Mill this will go up to 6 Mill,

Another way of looking at it is... say the current deal is 4m. Sky have just signed a contract worth over 6m (greater than 50%) so theres your 50% extra.

As well as that they have yet to sort out other deals which includes the free to air channels like BBC and possibly RTE, TG4, S4C etc. That could generate another 4m. It could be less because sky have some of the best games but it could also be more because of inflation etc.

If the free to air channels does generate another 4 million then thats 4m + 6m = 10m. Thats a 150% increase.

My view is that TV coverage is good for crowds as it engenders excitement and people know more about the games and teams. So even tho its sky its a good thing.

SS, the Beeb, were in competition with S4C for about 7 of the 10 years of the Magners or Rabo and they have NEVER promoted it, they have always denigrated it, WHY would they change now? As one of the others said Sky always does an excellent job of promoting whatever they are involved in. I don't know the attendance figures for all teams, but from what I understand the Irish teams % of their capacities is a lot higher than any countries within the Rabo even though nearly all their matches are televised. I would be very happy for that to continue with about half a dozen Welsh derbies on top, as well as the derbies of the other countries that might encourage the stay at homes to venture out, they would still have the highlights programme which could be used to further hype this League.
Wall to wall coverage as it is now (Profitious think) with extra money, with the same attendances or even less, is the worst possible scenario, their dictatorship of KO times are really hurting the attendances of mainly the Welsh teams IMO, when each team has the right to play their home games at a time that is of benefit to their own team is long overdue.

Wayne, S4C coverage is provided by the BBC (or at least in unison) so it was never competition in any way shape or form.

If these figures for tv revenue are accurate, then there is ever the option of reducing ticket prices, without lossing money compared to now, which could encourage more folk through the gates.

I dont have Sky but I think this is fantastic for the league.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Wayne, S4C coverage is provided by the BBC (or at least in unison) so it was never competition in any way shape or form.

If these figures for tv revenue are accurate, then there is ever the option of reducing ticket prices, without lossing money compared to now, which could encourage more folk through the gates.

We should be looking at increasing prices, not reducing them. Cardiff Blues gave away stink loads of free tickets while at CCS and that didn't work. Give the people what they want and they will pay.

Dave, charging £15 a ticket as opposed to £25 (like they do now) would be a far better option, as people will pay, and it wouldn't break the bank for fan or region.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Dave, charging £15 a ticket as opposed to £25 (like they do now) would be a far better option, as people will pay, and it wouldn't break the bank for fan or region.

For a terrace ticket £15 is a decent price for any game, but who is charging £25? That's way too much.

I went into Morrison's yesterday.They were selling chopped tomatoes @3 for the price of one. So I bought six tins.

I felt very sorry for the Italian producers though as the must be desperate especially as the other dogs on the supply chain will want their share.

Selling a commodity off cheap is only worthwhile if there is a positive number on the bottom line

Cardiff Dave wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Wayne, S4C coverage is provided by the BBC (or at least in unison) so it was never competition in any way shape or form.

If these figures for tv revenue are accurate, then there is ever the option of reducing ticket prices, without lossing money compared to now, which could encourage more folk through the gates.

We should be looking at increasing prices, not reducing them. Cardiff Blues gave away stink loads of free tickets while at CCS and that didn't work. Give the people what they want and they will pay.

Surely we should be increasing prices when, and only when, we are selling out regularly? Supply and demand, and all that. At present there is greater supply of seats at matches than there is demand for them at the current price. Reduce prices to get more people in and you can achieve the same revenue, if priced and marketed correctly. Then you have the additional revenue from programmes, refreshments etc. Result - extra income with little extra expense incurred - the majority of costs will surely be fixed overheads.

Of course, I'm not sure how well Cardiff load the CCS but from what I've seen up in this neck of the woods, the club game could be better marketed to get people in. Only once you've got them in and hooked do you raise the prices (if need be, but do not alienate your core fans!).

Cardiff Dave wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Dave, charging £15 a ticket as opposed to £25 (like they do now) would be a far better option, as people will pay, and it wouldn't break the bank for fan or region.

For a terrace ticket £15 is a decent price for any game, but who is charging £25? That's way too much.

Dave, I was talking the expensive stand tickets.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Wayne, S4C coverage is provided by the BBC (or at least in unison) so it was never competition in any way shape or form.

If these figures for tv revenue are accurate, then there is ever the option of reducing ticket prices, without lossing money compared to now, which could encourage more folk through the gates.

SS, from what I understand the BBC have only been doing that for the last 3 or 4 years and previous to that they filmed and controlled their own games, in a way that is not what I'm getting at the other countries only have one broadcaster whereas we have 2 and as far as I'm concerned neither do a good job of promoting our league, as others have said, you start by dropping prices get them in and then you start innovatively upping the prices as we have done in some instances following the BOGOF offer. I brought my brother in law under that umbrella last year, this year we have to pay an increased price, even though we could have brought in another 2 people under the BOGOF scheme. They are still fantastic offers yet the amount each ST holder pays is still increasing, also it is a bit rich when you are still giving out handfuls of tickets to a club in the Ospreys region where one of your players used to play junior rugby for all home games.

We have 3 broadcasters in Ireland for the Pro 12.

There will be more coverage next season not less. only 10 games out of 130 will not be broadcast.

Unless you mean that the top 30 games (which will be on sky) will not be available fta, and that will force people into the grounds....

Not convinced on that either.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:We have 3 broadcasters in Ireland for the Pro 12.

There will be more coverage next season not less. only 10 games out of 130 will not be broadcast.

Unless you mean that the top 30 games (which will be on sky) will not be available fta, and that will force people into the grounds....

Not convinced on that either.

OK thanks for that, what is fta?

Free to air tv. ie. not sky. channels available without subscription.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Free to air tv. ie. not sky. channels available without subscription.

Thanks again JM, your point about it not forcing people into grounds, could well be right, which I have already conceded, at least these people who are wearing Ospreys merchandise and when asked do you go to watch them, answer NO why would I when I can watch them on the box, this is answered when I was driving on my own to watch the Os and would offer them a lift. If they are not prepared to pay under £100 to watch the Os in 11 Rabo matches 3HC matches, LV games and a pre season friendly, they do not deserve to watch practically every game the Os play on the box IMO, hopefully the Os will be shown live about 3 or 4 times a season from 2014 onwards.

I'm guessing Sky will show the games between the top 4 or 6 teams during the years, with the current broadcasters picking up the rest.

Amazed that people would not go and see live rugby. Completely different to watching it on the telly. It's not really one or the other for me anyway. I want both.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:I'm guessing Sky will show the games between the top 4 or 6 teams during the years, with the current broadcasters picking up the rest.

Amazed that people would not go and see live rugby. Completely different to watching it on the telly. It's not really one or the other for me anyway. I want both.

,
JM, I do not know what is happening on your side of the water, over here the Beeb and S4C are still in negotiations with the league over TV rights, personally I hope they get either none or very few live games and a highlights show, I always tape our games and watch later, but it would not concern me if I happened to see only 3 or 4 games this way.

Sky's hype and promotion will be 2 huge factors too, they do a great job on that stuff with adverts and all making big events and promoting them hugely. I mean most Ulster matches you get a quick advert on Newsline that it's on later and thats it. The bigger money off course and more opportunities will be better too. It will probably even increase crowds because not everyone will be able to see Sky so people who think will I go tonight because I want to see the game and then are like nah it's on TV will go now. I think it's great and can really help the league.
BTW if the Heineken goes there is a call that the Pro 12 could accept some Americans in would open huge potential revenue streams, improve world rugby too and would not be a problem because there would be less games which apparently according to an interview I seen is one of the stumbling blocks now. (That's just a thought though)

neilthom7 wrote:Sky's hype and promotion will be 2 huge factors too, they do a great job on that stuff with adverts and all making big events and promoting them hugely. I mean most Ulster matches you get a quick advert on Newsline that it's on later and thats it. The bigger money off course and more opportunities will be better too. It will probably even increase crowds because not everyone will be able to see Sky so people who think will I go tonight because I want to see the game and then are like nah it's on TV will go now. I think it's great and can really help the league.
BTW if the Heineken goes there is a call that the Pro 12 could accept some Americans in would open huge potential revenue streams, improve world rugby too and would not be a problem because there would be less games which apparently according to an interview I seen is one of the stumbling blocks now. (That's just a thought though)

Not heard the rumour about US teams. Would be very interesting, huge new market to tap but the logistics may be a bit tricky for the Italians. It is a long enough flight from the UK without adding on a couple of hours fromItaly
Both you and Kingshu are spot on with the promotion that Sky gives their games. I imagine a few new English viewers may watch Rabo games on Sky rather than have to search out Alba, S4C, BBCNI etc

Well I am not saying that its a rumour etc just that t's a thought if it did come to that and I heard an interview recently with one of the big whigs from the Pro 12 who said they couldn't possibly consider it yet because we already have too many fixtures could appeal to Americans too though if you think about it with their Huge Irish and Italian communities but alot of working out on how it could be done would be needed.

neilthom7 wrote:Sky's hype and promotion will be 2 huge factors too, they do a great job on that stuff with adverts and all making big events and promoting them hugely. I mean most Ulster matches you get a quick advert on Newsline that it's on later and thats it. The bigger money off course and more opportunities will be better too. It will probably even increase crowds because not everyone will be able to see Sky so people who think will I go tonight because I want to see the game and then are like nah it's on TV will go now. I think it's great and can really help the league.
BTW if the Heineken goes there is a call that the Pro 12 could accept some Americans in would open huge potential revenue streams, improve world rugby too and would not be a problem because there would be less games which apparently according to an interview I seen is one of the stumbling blocks now. (That's just a thought though)

Funnily enough I came across an article in a US rugby site where a journalist asked the pro 12 representative person if an American team or teams could join and the answer was an emphatic no. If new teams were going to join they would be from the countries already involved. Plus the travel costs, already high, would be too much for most clubs to pay.

However, if there were a way to compensate the pro 12 teams and make a profit by including a US/ Canadian team that could be done. The problem is that rugby is not a big sport in these countries so where would the extra money come from? There is definite interest in it though.

an extract from the interview with Pro12 Director David Jordan


In terms of further expansion, Celtic Rugby is somewhat constrained by the structure of the season in the Northern Hemisphere. Unlike our Southern counterparts the professional and international season in Europe is intertwined with club tournaments, international tournaments and tours.

Our season is 40 weeks long, starting in September and ending in May. The PRO12 operates over 24 weekends, European-wide competition 9 weekends, the RBS Six Nations has 5 weekends, and there are 3 weekends for the November Tests. That is 44 weekends. To enable this all to happen, the PRO12 plays a few rounds on international weekends. The Welsh teams also play in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, which is played during SIx Nations.

' As such, we do not have the capacity to add more teams as there aren't the weekends to cope with that. As you are probably aware our clubs service four international teams, as well as "A" Sides and U20 sides. Our teams don’t have the player base to play anymore matches during internationals without reducing those teams to development sides for part of the season, and that is not commercially attractive.'

Intotouch wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:Sky's hype and promotion will be 2 huge factors too, they do a great job on that stuff with adverts and all making big events and promoting them hugely. I mean most Ulster matches you get a quick advert on Newsline that it's on later and thats it. The bigger money off course and more opportunities will be better too. It will probably even increase crowds because not everyone will be able to see Sky so people who think will I go tonight because I want to see the game and then are like nah it's on TV will go now. I think it's great and can really help the league.
BTW if the Heineken goes there is a call that the Pro 12 could accept some Americans in would open huge potential revenue streams, improve world rugby too and would not be a problem because there would be less games which apparently according to an interview I seen is one of the stumbling blocks now. (That's just a thought though)

Funnily enough I came across an article in a US rugby site where a journalist asked the pro 12 representative person if an American team or teams could join and the answer was an emphatic no. If new teams were going to join they would be from the countries already involved. Plus the travel costs, already high, would be too much for most clubs to pay.

However, if there were a way to compensate the pro 12 teams and make a profit by including a US/ Canadian team that could be done. The problem is that rugby is not a big sport in these countries so where would the extra money come from? There is definite interest in it though.

May be the same interview I seen it on bleacherreport an American sports website, i write for another American sports website on European rugby so tend to see these interviews and what not when people send me the links on Twitter and what not, saw that one and it got me thinking I may even do an article on pros, cons and whether it could happen in the future for the website i write for