What happens to English pro clubs if there's no Euro cup at all?

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As things now stand the h cup won't go ahead with French and English teams, but will include French provincial teams (according to a statement by the FFR). The new c cup won't go ahead as it will be blocked by the FFR. This may change after some legal battles but for a couple of years there probably won't be any competition besides the premiership to help fund the English clubs. From what I read eight out of twelve of the premiership teams are up to their eyeballs in debt. A major motivation for finding a new tv deal and new competition was to make more money, for many of them to survive. The RFU can of course try to fill the gap in funding for the premiership teams but could it do that for all eight of those in debt? If this new BT deal included some European competition broadcasts and they don't get it, they could very well sue the PRL for breach of contract, while the PRL is funding a legal battle to get this c cup underway in European courts. The French will do very well with an expanded top 14 alone but I don't see how expanding the premiership to 16 is going to bring in millions extra for the English clubs. How will clubs deeply in debt manage for a couple of years with less money than they have now, while funding international lawyers?

It looks to me like pro rugby in England is going to be in crisis very soon, with clubs going bust, the best players being picked off by the French, and no one in any rush after a couple of years of this to enter competitions with them. I read comments in French papers online already complaining that the best English team is only ranked ninth in Europe and wouldn't be good enough competition. How interested will the French clubs be in a couple of years time in playing even weaker English sides?

Refusing to negotiate a new h cup with the ERC may be done by the PRL to avoid breaking their BT contract or out of optimism that the FFR will back down, or that the LNR will get lawyers to turn over this ruling in no time. Maybe they know more than they're letting on and South African sides are queuing up to play with them. Or they think that the pro 12 sides will back down because they'll go bankrupt first. (The thing is that pro 12 countries have a small number of pro sides to help finance and could do this with extra internationals in a year.) From my perspective though the PRL are making a very expensive gamble that will cripple many of the clubs that they're trying to help. I don't see that their decisions at this point are wise, their statements to the press seem dreamed up by a stoned pr rep and it makes me think that they're out of grip with reality. The pro 12 sides are willing to negotiate a new h cup. They could at least listen and see what their other options are if the c cup doesn't work. Having a back up plan might actually be a good idea. As things stand there could be a very tough couple of years at least for English clubs on the horizon and some of them may not survive.

As an outsider looking in you The English and French clubs both have signed Tv agreements
but not the same ones.The Tv fan who only follows Rugby that way now has to sign up for
several packages instead of one.The Fans and the consumers,plus the Test sides will be the losers.The winners will be the lawyers.

emack2 wrote:As an outsider looking in you The English and French clubs both have signed Tv agreements
but not the same ones.The Tv fan who only follows Rugby that way now has to sign up for
several packages instead of one.The Fans and the consumers,plus the Test sides will be the losers.The winners will be the lawyers.

I dont think the french clubs will get much out of the french market signing up to BT and visa versa. What they sign for their own home games is different

I imagine BT and whoever the French deal with will do reciprocal deals so each can show the others footage.

HammerofThunor wrote:I imagine BT and whoever the French deal with will do reciprocal deals so each can show the others footage.

But, the IRB won't sanction the competition, so there won't be any deal over tv.

From what I've seen anyway, the PRL don't need another competition. The BT deal is worth 110m to them for their own competition which they won't have to share. The European part is worth about 50M and that would have to be divided between the 3 leagues which would hardly be worth the bother and expense to put the tournament on, particularly if they have to look after Russia, Georgia & Portugal, Spain who are going to have an awful lot of travelling to do