Premiership re-signs with TNT

[Puja]

No figures being trumpeted, so presumably not a big increase or anything, but there's now a deal in place till 2031, which should offer a bit of financial security: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union ... 2eyj9y0pgo

Good news, following on from the story that Red Bull are looking to buy Falcons. Torygraph reckons that could even lead to funds being available to improve the squad from next season.

Puja

[Danno]

RE Falcons, are they still going after the loan from the clubs and CVC? If they load up more debt they won't be as attractive

[FKAS]

RE Falcons, are they still going after the loan from the clubs and CVC? If they load up more debt they won't be as attractive

Depends on the debt structure. If it's at a fair interest rate and there's no harsh repayment clauses then buying a business with an immediately stable cashflow is beneficial. Don't want to be rushing due diligence because the business is floundering and you need to prop it up.

Red Bull would be a high profile addition to the league. They've put Austrian football on the map with RB Salzburg so should be able to do wonders for rugby union and the Prem.

[Banquo]

No figures being trumpeted, so presumably not a big increase or anything, but there's now a deal in place till 2031, which should offer a bit of financial security: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union ... 2eyj9y0pgo

Good news, following on from the story that Red Bull are looking to buy Falcons. Torygraph reckons that could even lead to funds being available to improve the squad from next season.

Puja

looks like the Prem running their own cup then.

[Puja]

No figures being trumpeted, so presumably not a big increase or anything, but there's now a deal in place till 2031, which should offer a bit of financial security: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union ... 2eyj9y0pgo

Good news, following on from the story that Red Bull are looking to buy Falcons. Torygraph reckons that could even lead to funds being available to improve the squad from next season.

Puja

looks like the Prem running their own cup then.

I hadn't spotted that! Presuming that's how the Championship clubs are finding out about it too?

Puja

[Banquo]

No figures being trumpeted, so presumably not a big increase or anything, but there's now a deal in place till 2031, which should offer a bit of financial security: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union ... 2eyj9y0pgo

Good news, following on from the story that Red Bull are looking to buy Falcons. Torygraph reckons that could even lead to funds being available to improve the squad from next season.

Puja

looks like the Prem running their own cup then.

I hadn't spotted that! Presuming that's how the Championship clubs are finding out about it too?

Puja

No, mutually assured destruction had already happened . We knew a couple of months ago we weren't in it- ultimately PRL didn't really want it.

[Adam_P]

Was kind of hoping it'd switch to Premier Sport so all the rugby would be in one place

[FKAS]

Was kind of hoping it'd switch to Premier Sport so all the rugby would be in one place

Thankfully not. The little I've watched on Premier Sport the coverage isn't great and TNT currently have the cycling which I do enjoy over the summer months. Now if TNT would ditch the European Football shite, bring back European Rugby and use the saving to drop the price that would be great.

[Puja]

Was kind of hoping it'd switch to Premier Sport so all the rugby would be in one place

Same as FKAS - given what I've heard of the broadcast quality of Premier, I'm happy with TNT.

Was thinking the other day about how much they've brought the broadcasting of the sport on since they took it on (as ESPN). We used to get 1 or 2 games a week, with two camera angles, the presentation being Barnes and Morris commentating, with occasional "analysis" which was Craig Quinnell showing us a replay, of the same angle and speed as what we'd just seen, while telling us it was "Brulliant".

I recall when they took over and said they had negotiated a deal to talk to the coaches mid-match and we all thought that was barking. "That's not going to last! What're the coaches gonna say? They're not going to talk about the game and give away secrets; they're just gonna dead-bat it. It's be boring!" Now it'd feel weird if they didn't.

Frankly, I think the Prem should always make a song and dance about seeking other options so they don't get a low-ball bid, but ESPN/BT/TNT should always be the preferred bidders unless there's a genuinely silly money offer elsewhere.

Puja

[Danno]

Was kind of hoping it'd switch to Premier Sport so all the rugby would be in one place

Was thinking the other day about how much they've brought the broadcasting of the sport on since they took it on (as ESPN). We used to get 1 or 2 games a week, with two camera angles, the presentation being Barnes and Morris commentating, with occasional "analysis" which was Craig Quinnell showing us a replay, of the same angle and speed as what we'd just seen, while telling us it was "Brulliant".

Puja

Great point, thank the rugby gods they're relegated to opinion columns at best. I've been watching a few older games lately and Barnes in particular was ignorant, insular and insufferable. Good riddance.

[Puja]

To make this a general "Good news about the Prem" thread - general admission tickets for the final have completely sold out already, before the semi-finalists are even known, let alone the actual competing teams. Only tickets left are those reserved for the two finalists to sell to their season ticket holders/fans.

Combining that with Brizzle getting 50k to the Principality at the weekend and there's some signs of recovery in the English game. I think if we can get the season a bit better sorted so that there's tighter blocks of fixtures rather than skipping from one comp to another, the future could start to look a little bit brighter.

Puja

[Oakboy]

To make this a general "Good news about the Prem" thread - general admission tickets for the final have completely sold out already, before the semi-finalists are even known, let alone the actual competing teams. Only tickets left are those reserved for the two finalists to sell to their season ticket holders/fans.

Combining that with Brizzle getting 50k to the Principality at the weekend and there's some signs of recovery in the English game. I think if we can get the season a bit better sorted so that there's tighter blocks of fixtures rather than skipping from one comp to another, the future could start to look a little bit brighter.

Puja

Agree on blocks of fixtures. Why is doing that not obvious to the various administrators? Any expansion of the premiership will make it even more desirable.

[Which Tyler]

Agree on blocks of fixtures. Why is doing that not obvious to the various administrators? Any expansion of the premiership will make it even more desirable.

Presumably, because nothing's simple when you're talking about 7(?) stakeholders, with differing preferences.

[Puja]

To make this a general "Good news about the Prem" thread - general admission tickets for the final have completely sold out already, before the semi-finalists are even known, let alone the actual competing teams. Only tickets left are those reserved for the two finalists to sell to their season ticket holders/fans.

Combining that with Brizzle getting 50k to the Principality at the weekend and there's some signs of recovery in the English game. I think if we can get the season a bit better sorted so that there's tighter blocks of fixtures rather than skipping from one comp to another, the future could start to look a little bit brighter.

Puja

Agree on blocks of fixtures. Why is doing that not obvious to the various administrators? Any expansion of the premiership will make it even more desirable.

IIRC, the original issue was that back in the early days (1997? 1998?), the Heineken Cup was played in 2-3 solid blocks, that only ran from Nov-Jan, and it played merry hob with the finances of the clubs that weren't involved, as they had long periods without home crowds. As such, the decision was made to interleave the HEC and domestic leagues and have them both run till May.

Is there the will to undo that, across 7 different nations with competing interests? It would seem to make more sense to change to sequential competitions (you could have the domestic comps first and have the qualification be for the Euro comp that directly follows, rather than have clubs qualify and get seeded based on last year's team!), but I can't pretend that I understand what the wants and needs are of the Italian or Irish or French clubs.

Puja



ETA. And Which sneaks in, phrasing my point much better and more succinctly.

[Oakboy]

Will more prem teams mean more European places? If not, where does a domestic cup come into the fixture equation? What I'm getting at is stadium use for non-European clubs. Not linking that to the championship seems a missed opportunity.

[Which Tyler]

ETA. And Which sneaks in, phrasing my point much better and more succinctly.

[Mellsblue]

Good old CVC.