PRL - the Insistence on Suicide

[Which Tyler]

Prem Rugby to seek investors if RFU backs relegation-free franchise league

Prem Rugby is planning to launch a tender process to secure external investment in the competition
...
The New York-based Raine is understood to have attracted ­several inquiries from American investors looking to buy into English sport ­
...
The Prem’s move to become a franchise competition with no rele­gation
...
The Prem is also planning to centralise the clubs’ commercial operations, which would bring ­immediate cost savings and the potential for longer‑term growth. There is also a desire to expand the top flight to 12 clubs in future, although this would be done via a licensing system rather than the ­traditional model of ­granting automatic promotion from the ­second-tier Champ.

[Puja]

I don't know that I'm necessarily against it. Club rugby does not turn a profit as things stand and relying just on rich old British men to play sugar-daddy out of the goodness of their hearts to make up the difference is not sustainable. There appears to be two options here (well, three if you count, "Just continue forwards without change and work solely on hope and good wishes"): Either properly invest in T2 and create a functional second division so that relegation is not an existential event, or accept as true the premise that there are only 10 functional entities that can operate as top-level rugby teams in England and ringfence them to provide certainty for investors.

Ideally, we'd have option 1, but ideally we wouldn't be starting from here - would take a lot of time and a lot of money invested in the unproven theory that enough people could be got interested in second division rugby in England to make it close enough in money/quality/commercial opportunities that being relegated there and not immediately being promoted would not be functionally equivalent to writing off any investment in that club.

If we're not committing hard to option 1, then there's kinda no choice but to select option 2.

Puja

[Stom]

I don't know that I'm necessarily against it. Club rugby does not turn a profit as things stand and relying just on rich old British men to play sugar-daddy out of the goodness of their hearts to make up the difference is not sustainable. There appears to be two options here (well, three if you count, "Just continue forwards without change and work solely on hope and good wishes"): Either properly invest in T2 and create a functional second division so that relegation is not an existential event, or accept as true the premise that there are only 10 functional entities that can operate as top-level rugby teams in England and ringfence them to provide certainty for investors.

Ideally, we'd have option 1, but ideally we wouldn't be starting from here - would take a lot of time and a lot of money invested in the unproven theory that enough people could be got interested in second division rugby in England to make it close enough in money/quality/commercial opportunities that being relegated there and not immediately being promoted would not be functionally equivalent to writing off any investment in that club.

If we're not committing hard to option 1, then there's kinda no choice but to select option 2.

Puja

How about option 3: make watching the game more accessible, and open it up to a new audience? Just look at the popularity of Joe Marler, especially after Celebrity Traitor, and the amount of likes and views of his social media posts, and other such posts by other organizations.

I keep coming back to F1. It's absolutely massive now, far bigger than it was in the 2000s, and it's not because it's a better spectacle, it's actually far worse. It's because the owners made a conscious decision to do everything to attract a new audience, and they succeeded. They made it accessible. Highlights and talking points are available on social media literally DURING the race.

Stats and info is everywhere.

And for rugby? Where do you get your statistics from now? Because they're sure as hell not easy to find, not like it was in the heyday of scrum.com.

Push digital media first, push stats, push points of interest, big hits, crazy tries...

TikTok should be full of people salivating over insane tries, and there are incredible tries most weeks.

So yeah, that's what I would do.

PS: The team England social media have done a good job recently. The bits with the nutritionists and chef, and the bits with the rehab team (especially with Freeman after his injury) are brilliant, and open up rugby to two pretty major audiences who wouldn't otherwise find it.

[Puja]

I don't know that I'm necessarily against it. Club rugby does not turn a profit as things stand and relying just on rich old British men to play sugar-daddy out of the goodness of their hearts to make up the difference is not sustainable. There appears to be two options here (well, three if you count, "Just continue forwards without change and work solely on hope and good wishes"): Either properly invest in T2 and create a functional second division so that relegation is not an existential event, or accept as true the premise that there are only 10 functional entities that can operate as top-level rugby teams in England and ringfence them to provide certainty for investors.

Ideally, we'd have option 1, but ideally we wouldn't be starting from here - would take a lot of time and a lot of money invested in the unproven theory that enough people could be got interested in second division rugby in England to make it close enough in money/quality/commercial opportunities that being relegated there and not immediately being promoted would not be functionally equivalent to writing off any investment in that club.

If we're not committing hard to option 1, then there's kinda no choice but to select option 2.

Puja

How about option 3: make watching the game more accessible, and open it up to a new audience? Just look at the popularity of Joe Marler, especially after Celebrity Traitor, and the amount of likes and views of his social media posts, and other such posts by other organizations.

I keep coming back to F1. It's absolutely massive now, far bigger than it was in the 2000s, and it's not because it's a better spectacle, it's actually far worse. It's because the owners made a conscious decision to do everything to attract a new audience, and they succeeded. They made it accessible. Highlights and talking points are available on social media literally DURING the race.

Stats and info is everywhere.

And for rugby? Where do you get your statistics from now? Because they're sure as hell not easy to find, not like it was in the heyday of scrum.com.

Push digital media first, push stats, push points of interest, big hits, crazy tries...

TikTok should be full of people salivating over insane tries, and there are incredible tries most weeks.

So yeah, that's what I would do.

PS: The team England social media have done a good job recently. The bits with the nutritionists and chef, and the bits with the rehab team (especially with Freeman after his injury) are brilliant, and open up rugby to two pretty major audiences who wouldn't otherwise find it.

Are rugby teams not doing that already? Highlights are up within a couple of hours of the game, and my TikTok and Instagram feeds (yes, I am indeed "down with the kids", no cap) are always full of recent tries. Stats I will give you though.

Plus, while I love your option 3 and agree that there's massive room to improve, it's not giving an answer to the question on the table, at least not an immediate one. Do you restart automatic 1-up-1-down-relegation with the Champ being as weak as it is (both commercially and on the pitch), which runs the risk of driving a club out of business without really having a good replacement ready? Or do you ringfence to encourage investment, at least temporarily, but reduce the incentive to invest in the Champ even further? I think we can all agree that the current beggar's muddle of "maybe relegation, but probably not, but we'll let you know" is the worst of every world.

Puja