In a massive display of universal administrative incompetence, could the HEC just carry on beyond 2014 (by default)?

When do you think is the very last date is possible before the ERC stakeholders will collectively resign and announce that they are unfit to administer, but a provisional EC will bumble along in its present format?

I presume you mean shareholders, stakeholders would include fans, players etc. A stakeholder is anyone with an interest in the operation and/or performance of the company.

The board run the company in this case the ERC the shareholders own and review the management. It would the management that would resign (unlikely given It's a famous jobs for the boys position), the shareholders may release their holdings and leave the company agreement.

formerly known as Sam wrote:I presume you mean shareholders, stakeholders would include fans, players etc. A stakeholder is anyone with an interest in the operation and/or performance of the company.

The board run the company in this case the ERC the shareholders own and review the management. It would the management that would resign (unlikely given It's a famous jobs for the boys position), the shareholders may release their holdings and leave the company agreement.

True.
Not being a child of the Blair generation, I tend not to spin a web of deceit by re-working words into a new definition.

For you, I give you my blessing to read 'stakeholders' as 'shareholders'.
Not that it makes a blind bit of difference to the OP.

Hopefully it'll continue. I think it would be madness to throw away nearly two decades building such a brilliant competition. I'm not sure what the last possible date for a deal is. I'm sure it will go down to the wire though. At this stage my preferable outcome would be for the French clubs to be forced into line by their federation, the English clubs to go off and sulk for one year like '99 and then come back; and the HC to continue to entertain me for many years to come.

The most likely outcome will be the English and French clubs getting their way. Or at least mostly get their way. And we'll at least get a similar looking competition, with less Rabo teams and more money for the Franglo's.

Feckless Rogue wrote:Hopefully it'll continue. I think it would be madness to throw away nearly two decades building such a brilliant competition. I'm not sure what the last possible date for a deal is. I'm sure it will go down to the wire though. At this stage my preferable outcome would be for the French clubs to be forced into line by their federation, the English clubs to go off and sulk for one year like '99 and then come back; and the HC to continue to entertain me for many years to come.

The most likely outcome will be the English and French clubs getting their way. Or at least mostly get their way. And we'll at least get a similar looking competition, with less fewer Rabo teams and more money for the Franglo's all round.

Agree (with modfications).

But when. This present shambles has to end at some stage. I suppose they could fail to reach a compromise up until maybe next Easter but the TV companies (whoever they may be) will need to prepare their schedules, Contract/re-contract presenters and other staff etc.

Yeah , Portnoy there is an attempt to sell it as more money all round. Which is true. But relatively the English and French will get a bigger slice than they currently do. If that means there's a fair distribution of equal money for every team (rather than union) I'm quite happy for that to happen. It's perfectly fair. What I'm suspicious of is that the English and French actually want more money per team than the rest, which will set up a permanent financial advantage. Which isn't fair.

With regard to when the moment of truth is, I have no idea.

Nah dodge. Same record which plays perfectly.

Just like Beethoven's 5th.
Some people love it.
And some don't.

But the score is always the same although it gets interpreted differently.

Not sure what the status of the future of the HC is but have read that the 2015 final location is already decided : San Siro stadium in Milan (Italy)

I'd imagine at this point it would take very little to facilitate a deal. The ERC have previously done an appalling job marketing the HEC and if they were to be replaced by an organisation that was willing to maximise the commercial revenue of the competition then the French and English might well accept.

I hope the French and English plans regarding a third tier and reorganization of a second tier continue. That would broaden the appeal of rugby across Europe and open more prospective market. Such a chance to grow the sport should not be missed.