Rugby’s IPL-style breakaway league

Rugby’s leading players ‘committed’ to IPL-style breakaway league

Plans for a breakaway global rugby league featuring the top 200 players in the world playing for eight franchise clubs at ‘Formula One style’ festivals across major cities are said to be in advanced stages, Telegraph Sport can reveal. Sources claim that a “significant majority” of leading players have already committed to the new project that could see them forced to choose between club and country if World Rugby and the unions within each nation block the move. It is understood the breakaway league is being funded by a small group of UK and US investors who want to reset the club game in a vein similar to the IPL’s impact on cricket amid mounting concerns about the long-term financial viability of the sport. They are targeting a start date of 2026 for the new tournament.

The move represents an immediate challenge for World Rugby’s new chairman Brett Robinson, who warned that the sustainability of the game is “at crisis point” after winning Thursday’s election in Dublin, replacing outgoing chair Sir Bill Beaumont. The proposed league is thought to represent the most serious challenge to the world order since Kerry Packer, the Australian media tycoon, sought to recruit leading players in 1995 when the game turned professional, only for the national unions to retain control.

It is understood the plans include:

- Eight franchises to go out to auction, with a number of countries represented
   - Signing up the leading 200 players in the world
   - Each franchise to play each other twice across 14 rounds
   - Matches would be played across various major cities as a ‘travelling festival’ similar to Formula One
   - Organisers would ensure the rugby festival is the ‘biggest event’ in that city each weekend and in new territories for the sport
   - A new women’s full-time professional league
   - To promote players as sporting personalities

The London-based global advisory firm Milltown Partners are understood to be spearheading efforts to cast the net over professional rugby players across the globe. One inside source told Telegraph Sport: “These guys are big players.”

Backers of the new league insist that players would still be available to play Test rugby for their countries and that domestic leagues would remain in place, but the new tournament would revolutionise the profile of the sport.

“We want more fan engagement, a better product on the field, fewer games for players and a commercial model to allow more money to flow into the game at every level by appealing to new audiences,” said another source.

“We want to remove barriers of entry to the sport by taking it to all corners of the world. There will be a full release for international games because that is the pinnacle for every player, but we want to enhance and amplify the sport to protect its future.”

Finn Russell and Antoine Dupont feature on a global franchise league wish list under ambitious plans to target the world’s best players on double-your-money deals and kick-start a new era of rugby.

A source informed Telegraph Sport that Scotland fly-half Russell has been approached to be the headline attraction from the Gallagher Premiership to join the project. It is also thought Dupont, the France scrum-half, will be a major target for the USA-backed competition, with the 28-year-old said to personify “the best of the best”. Bringing in Dupont, a source indicated, would underline the ambition of the competition.

Several leading England players are known to be on the league’s wish list, as well as internationals from France, South Africa, New Zealand and emerging nations. It is understood that Ireland’s leading players have not yet been approached, but figure prominently on the shortlist.

Around 320 players will need to be mobilised to service eight men’s franchises. Insiders hope that assembling 280 top internationals from a shortlist of over 300 would represent a tipping point that could persuade World Rugby to sanction the league.

“The idea is to take the festivals where the money is, such as Las Vegas, Chicago, Dubai and Singapore,” said one source.

There is also a desire for the franchises, which would be linked to cities or regions, to be spread evenly across the main rugby countries.

While any negotiations are at an early stage, and above the players’ heads in many cases, most stakeholders are thought to be united in the view the league would only be viable if involvement in it does not jeopardise players’ Test prospects. Clearly, that would require the league to take place around the current Test windows in July, November and between February and March.

Test lock Nick Frost said he hoped playing for the Wallabies would remain the pinnacle for young Australians as news of a proposed LIV-style revolution in rugby began to filter out to players, albeit slowly.

Reports in several English newspapers on Friday revealed the prospect of a breakaway franchise competition in rugby, in a similar format to the Indian Premier League...

...Rugby Australia officials are aware of the proposed competition but mostly through the media coverage, and were seeking more information.

Reports indicated leading Test players may be approached while touring the UK and Europe this month, and stars such as Fraser McReight, Rob Valetini, Angus Bell, Len Ikitau, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Tom Wright would undoubtedly be prime targets.

However, Wallabies players and coach Joe Schmidt were unaware of the proposed breakaway competition until quizzed about it by this masthead on Friday in Wales

doctor_grey wrote:From today's Times:
Organisers are targeting 280 of the world’s best male players. It is understood that a majority of those approached in the early stages of recruitment have agreed, in principle, to join the venture.
https://www.thetimes.com/sport/rugby-union/article/rugby-stars-sign-up-for-breakaway-league-xkhw3hg05

And the pushback also begins,  From today's Guardian:  
England warn rebels that joining rugby breakaway would end Test careers. Steve Borthwick’s ailing national side could be decimated by England players signing up to a breakaway global league, with the Rugby Football Union adopting a view that they would be sacrificing their Test careers if they did so.  According to senior figures at the RFU, however, any England players who join the league would not be available for Borthwick’s side, with the union viewing any rebels in the same light as those who play abroad, in effect forcing them to choose between franchise and country.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/nov/15/stars-joining-rugby-breakaway-league-would-be-barred-from-england-team

Unclear wrote:At last some innovative thinking about trying to increase the money and interest in rugby.  It seems like complete b*ll*cks to me, but then what do I know.  I don't know how the IPL is setup, but it is across one country, and a country already deeply invested in cricket.  Spread the teams over a number of different countries, and play games in other countries with little interest in the sport?  Surely all the money will have to come from broadcast/webcast media, and how can a "loyal following" be developed to provide some atmosphere at the games?
In a sport where we can't even agree to all play at he same time of year, I would guess that the chances of this working are very slim.  But least it is a new idea rather than just increasing the number of games already established teams (be they club or country) have to play, and truly new ideas are rarer than a straight put in to a scrum.