Rugby Finances
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@Rapido It's a solid deal with a decent FTA component and gets us off the Murdoch teat mid recession.
Tick from me. McLellan seems to be going alright. Wrangling NZRU ego's and somehow negotiating a decent deal at the absolute nadir of Rugby popularity here.
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A multi-million-pound financial lifeline for rugby could be announced by the UK Government later this month.
With no crowds at club, regional and international level, the Welsh Rugby Union, the RFU (English union) and the SRU (Scottish Union) are collectively in discussions with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport over a financial support package, mostly likely in the form of a grant, that could run into tens of millions of pounds.Any funding allocation is expected to take into account their relative size and financial outgoings, so the RFU, with a bigger club membership, is expected to receive a larger slice of any funding provided.
The WRU has already confirmed that if its home games at the Principality Stadium in next year’s Six Nations have to played behind closed doors, it faces a loss of £35m in revenues in its current financial year.
Its rescheduled Six Nations game from March was played behind closed doors at Parc y Scarlets last week, with Wales also to play with no crowds for games in the forthcoming Autumn Cup Series.
The Irish rugby union ( IRFU), which also covers clubs in Northern Ireland, has received £16.2m funding from the Dublin-based government.
The WRU, which is not disclosing its ask, is understood to be seeking at least that provided to the IRFU.
The union is also in discussions with the Welsh Government, which could see it also receiving support from the Cardiff Bay government alongside any UK Government backing.
What wouldn’t work from a WRU and SRU perspective, is if they received funding from their respective governments form a Barnett Formula consequential from the UK Government say providing a £100m funding package for the game in England.
WRU chief executive Steve Phillips said that, on funding discussions with the UK government, an announcement cold be made in the “next two to three weeks.”
It comes as the split of £20m in Coronavirus Large Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) funding, secured by the WRU from NatWest for the four regions, has been agreed with the input of the Professional Rugby Board (PRB).
Cardiff Blues are set to receive £5m, the Dragons £4.5m, the Ospreys £5m and the Scarlets £5.5m.
The regions will be liable for the interest and capital. However, if they default or cannot meet the payments, the WRU will still be liable for repayment to NatWest.
The interest rate negotiated with the NatWest on the CLBILS funding, has not been disclosed, but is understood to be just less than 4%.
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Rugby union will receive the biggest single amount – £135m. Of that, £44m will go to the Rugby Football Union, £59m to Premiership Rugby clubs, £9m to clubs in the Championship and £23m to clubs below the Championship.
Lol. Both the RFU and ThePremiership have each been given about the same or more than the entire NZRU's prudent reserves they've built up over 25 years.
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For the premiership clubs.
£59m is 27% of their entire annual revenue for the 13 clubs*. It is also larger than their most recent BAU annual collective loss (£44.4m for 2017/18 year )
Although no doubt some of the £44m going to the RFU will also find it's way to the premiership clubs via the unaffordable The Professional Game agreement that the RFU can kick the can down the road on for a bit longer.
*This is based on most recent reported financials ( https://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/featured-post/32558/a-record-44-4m-in-losses-premiership-club-figures-revealed/ ).
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Allegedly loans though.
The government said the Sports Winter Survival Package, which will be largely composed of low-interest loans
https://www.bbc.com/sport/54998979Unsure if they really expect an organisation making annual 50m losses in normal to pay back 50m though at any stage? Bit of nudge, nudge, wink, wink at the expense of the taxpayer I suspect.
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English Premiership get £110 million TV deal, still with BT Sports. Looks to be for 3 years.
The Times describes it as cut-price in the their header. Turned down 4 years at £40m, signed for 3 years at $37m.
A new four-year TV deal for the Gallagher Premiership was finally agreed yesterday when Premiership Rugby accepted an offer from BT Sport — almost a year after it had turned down an initial bid from the broadcaster that was worth £12 million more.
At the start of the year, BT Sport offered to match its previous valuation of the Premiership by bidding £40 million a year. The offer the Premiership accepted yesterday is believed to be about £37 million a year and allows BT Sport, which televised its first Premiership match in 2013, to remain the host broadcaster until 2024.
From Rugby Pass:
The Times report on Wednesday read: “BT Sport’s star rugby pundits have been warned by the broadcaster that it may lose the rights to the Gallagher Premiership next season after having a ‘final offer’ rejected. Premiership Rugby Ltd (PRL) has turned down an offer from BT Sport of a four-year extension to its existing deal for about the same £40m-a-year fee.
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https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/55160520
WRU chief executive Steve Phillips hopes for £30-£40m package by end of January
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New Zealand Rugby has received a $465 million offer from US technology investment giants Silver Lake for a 15 per cent share of commercial rights valued at $3.1 billion, the Herald can reveal. The deal, should it be signed off by New Zealand Rugby's provincial unions in the coming months, would be the biggest seachange since the game turned professional 25 years ago, and the largest transaction of this nature in NZ sports history. New Zealand Rugby and Silver Lake have been in talks for over nine months, with the Herald first revealing their shared interests last May. While Silver Lake's minority stake remains under negotiation and could be anywhere from 10 to 15 per cent, with terms yet to be finalised, the Herald understands they have tabled a $465 million offer for 15 per cent of a new, separate NZ Rugby entity.
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https://www.bbc.com/sport/wales/55768668
Welsh government unveils £17.7m rescue package for sport in Wales
The Welsh government has provided a £17.7m funding package to help spectator sports in Wales impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The funding of grants is allocated to the sports' national governing bodies.
Most of the money will go to Welsh rugby with a £13.5m grant, with Welsh football receiving £1.5m.
The rest is divided between horseracing (£1.2m), cricket (£1m), ice hockey (£200,000), rugby league (£200,000) and netball (£100,000).
With no immediate signs of crowds returning, the grants are to provide immediate financial support for spectator sports to help them through until September, with the figures proportionate to the losses suffered by each sport in Wales.
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@Rapido I didn't realise Wales had a government so checked to see if the had seceded from the United Kingdom. They haven't so I have learned something new today
Their Cabinet consists of 14 (all gender non specific but from photos it appears eight sit down to pee), twelve of whom represent Labour with the other two being Lib-Democrat and Independent. Netball obviously does not rate well with that mob.
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@Higgins said in Rugby Finances:
@Rapido I didn't realise Wales had a government so checked to see if the had seceded from the United Kingdom. They haven't so I have learned something new today
Their Cabinet consists of 14 (all gender non specific but from photos it appears eight sit down to pee), twelve of whom represent Labour with the other two being Lib-Democrat and Independent. Netball obviously does not rate well with that mob.
Yes, it's weird.
The UK government bailout covered English sports (RFU and the Premiership making out like bandits).
But sport for non-England comes under the devolution parliament for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
I wonder if it will all wash out even in the end, at the moment it is a bit too confusing, too devolved, for me to keep tabs.