Rugby Finances
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Sale owner Simon Orange
Sale owner Orange reveals 'master plan' after signing Manu Tuilagi
EXCLUSIVE BY NIK SIMON: Sale Sharks owner Simon Orange's tongue is only slightly in its cheek as he outlines his side's three-point plan: 'Sign Manu, win the league, fill the stadium'.
Sale owner Simon Orange reveals his 'master plan' for the Sharks after securing England star Tuilagi
By NIK SIMON FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
PUBLISHED: 07:32 AEST, 26 July 2020 | UPDATED: 21:48 AEST, 26 July 2020
Simon Orange's tongue is only slightly in its cheek as he outlines Sale's three-point plan: 'Sign Manu, win the league, fill the stadium'.
The club's owner makes it sounds simple, but he is under no illusions about the challenges that lie ahead for the struggling sport.
Wages, welfare and revenue lie at the heart of the formula, with Orange keen for rugby to reinvent itself with Saturday night fixtures and more innovation.
'Rugby's finances aren't in a great place, are they?' he told The Mail on Sunday. 'Each owner is having to put two, three, four million pounds a year into the clubs. I just don't think that's sustainable and I don't think it can last.
'We can't keep relying on wealthy people to support the sport because that's a bit of a precarious business plan, isn't it? People might not want to keep ploughing millions of pounds into their club, no matter how much they love it.
'It's absolutely possible — if not probable — that clubs will fail eventually, because the owners can't just keep on funding them. We're doing it for a short time at Sale, but we're speculating to accumulate.
'The sooner things are sustainable, the better. That means doing two things: bringing the costs under control and increasing the income.
'CVC are experts at increasing income, so hopefully we can do that whilst keeping control of the coffers.'
Control the coffers? Does that not fly in the face of a club who have just added Manu Tuilagi to a starstudded cast including Faf de Klerk, Lood de Jager and Tom Curry?
'Let's just say we're nowhere near what Leicester were paying for Manu!' said Orange.
'It was one of the quickest deals we've done and hopefully one of the best deals we've done. We called him up on the Friday — and he was with us by the Monday.
'Like every deal for a big-name player, signing Manu was a commercial decision tied in with a playing decision.
Orange says the signing of Tuilagi can have both professional and commercial benefits.
'Everybody knows he's top quality. When crowds are allowed back, people will want to come to see him, won't they? And hopefully they'll be coming to see a Sale side who are competing at the top and trying to win it.
'There's no reason we shouldn't be competing straight away. That's the grand master plan: sign Manu, win the league, buy a new stadium and get people interested. Simple!'
Sale were second in the table before the Premiership ground to a halt because of coronavirus. Like every other club, they have spent the lockdown months agonising over their accounts.
Millions of pounds have been wiped off the balance sheets, but that has not stopped the Manchester club from taking giant leaps into the future.
They were the first club to tie down every player on cut-price long-term deals, while advancing proposals for a new 12,000 capacity stadium at Crossford Bridge.
Orange infamously claimed last year it was easy to cheat the salary cap. He stands by his claims, but insists the landscape has changed in light of the Lord Myners report.
'If your goal was to cheat the salary cap, it was easy,' he said.
'Myners has done his report — which has full support — so now it's much harder to break the cap. Plus, the consequences are more severe.
'I'm hopeful we're in a position where clubs just aren't going to want to do it now. Saracens got relegated and the consequences are even more dire now.
'It was a running joke. The credibility of the league was questionable when you had one team winning the league every year with three times the number of internationals that anyone else could afford.
'We needed to sort ourselves out. It was a hard step but it's been a step well worth taking.'
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Maybe first idea revealed for CVC to "increase value".
A
rugbyPremiership channel, on some platform.Don't have a strong opinion on this. Although seems a bit mid-2000s? But, who knows, assume homework has been done.
As seen on a reddit link.
https://www.reddit.com/r/rugbyunion/comments/i3go00/premiership_rugby_eyes_dedicated_channel_in_new/ -
FIji made a profit last FY.
FIji Rugby Makes Profit
FRU chief executive officer John O’Connor said this was a good achievement considering that they had spent huge amounts in the preparation of the Flying Fijians for the World Cup. ...
A few weeks a back, was article that FIji hosting Maori ABs cost a fee of $250k NZ. Article didn't mention if thefee was worth it (in terms of gate revenue etc)
Fiji had to pay $250,000 match fee to host Maori All Blacks
The Fijian Rugby Union had to dish out a whopping NZ$250,000 match fee to host the Maori All Blacks in 2019, it has been revealed.
I was curious about the Maori ABs tour the year before to Canada, Brazil, Chile. There were fees, but no news of amount. Can assume similar. All 3 were copmmercial successes, though.
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GB sevens captain sounds warning for entire game over RFU's swingeing cuts
The country’s leading sevens players have sounded a warning after the RFU’s decision to cut its men’s and women’s squads for financial reasons
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RFU scraps Sevens to cast a shadow over Team GB's chances at the Olympics
Exclusive: Players express their frustrations at now being out of a job, a year out from Tokyo Games
The Rugby Football Union has scrapped its professional sevens programme. The England men’s and women’s squads were informed this week that once their contracts are up at the end of this month, they will not be offered new deals. Leading players believe this could severely damage medal chances for Team GB at the Olympics....
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@Rapido said in Rugby Finances:
RFU scraps Sevens to cast a shadow over Team GB's chances at the Olympics
Exclusive: Players express their frustrations at now being out of a job, a year out from Tokyo Games
The Rugby Football Union has scrapped its professional sevens programme. The England men’s and women’s squads were informed this week that once their contracts are up at the end of this month, they will not be offered new deals. Leading players believe this could severely damage medal chances for Team GB at the Olympics....
Depends on perspective doesn't it?
The Rugby Football Union, who have furloughed 62% of their staff and are facing losses over GBP200M, are focussing only on revenue earning activities. Sadly, their Olympic programme is cancelled (although it is likely the Olympics won't proceed).
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@nzzp said in Rugby Finances:
@Rapido said in Rugby Finances:
RFU scraps Sevens to cast a shadow over Team GB's chances at the Olympics
Exclusive: Players express their frustrations at now being out of a job, a year out from Tokyo Games
The Rugby Football Union has scrapped its professional sevens programme. The England men’s and women’s squads were informed this week that once their contracts are up at the end of this month, they will not be offered new deals. Leading players believe this could severely damage medal chances for Team GB at the Olympics....
Depends on perspective doesn't it?
The Rugby Football Union, who have furloughed 62% of their staff and are facing losses over GBP200M, are focussing only on revenue earning activities. Sadly, their Olympic programme is cancelled (although it is likely the Olympics won't proceed).
No doubt the likelihood of the Olympics going ahead next year factored in to their thinking. Also the ability to secure funding outside of the RFU for the Olympics.
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https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/53722770
Downside of owning your own side hustle infrastructure. Can only imagine how much Wasps are hurting.
Not saying it isn't the right approach. But normal plans out the window for a year or more.
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Rugby feeling the financial effects of Covid-19 admits Tigers chief Kay
Tigers have seen England internationals Manu Tuilagi and Jonny May move elsewhere in search of more lucrative deals
Covid-19 has brought rugby’s finances into ‘stark reality’ admits Leicester Tigers director Ben Kay
“For a number of years most people have been concerned about where rugby is going to get its house in order in its finances,” Kay told i. “What this pandemic has done is bring that into stark reality and put a lot of clubs in jeopardy of not being able to meet their financial requirements.
“No one wanted to be giving out pay cuts or making redundancies but it has been a necessity for the majority of clubs, to actually survive.
“I was sad to see Manu go, and everyone at Leicester has a huge amount of affection for the Tuilagi family but he couldn’t accept the offer that was made, and we had to make it not an emotional decision but a decision on what is best for the club.
“What’s interesting is the correction, in a very short space of time. People said how can Leicester afford [Fiji wing] Nemani Nadolo, but with the money he is on now compared to what he was on in France, and what Jonny May was on at Leicester, there have been a few players who have very much reset their expectations. There are surprising people on a lot less money than you’d think. Jonny May has gone to Gloucester for not far off what we were offering, and that was a big drop in finances for him.
“The market has changed for the foreseeable future and unless a player has that big contract in place now, it will be even harder to find the money they were expecting.”
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another salary cap shenanagin
Premiership club in salary cap probe, source tells TRP
A season where Saracens were mired in scandal faces a new potential salary cap storm
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@Rapido said in Rugby Finances:
another salary cap shenanagin
Premiership club in salary cap probe, source tells TRP
A season where Saracens were mired in scandal faces a new potential salary cap storm
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https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12356719
It is believed cancelling the game will also cost the Blues and New Zealand Rugby up to $1 million in lost revenue, as the Herald understands the 43,236 tickets sold for Sunday's match generates gate takings between $800,000 and $1 million, with net profit thought to be around the $450,000 to $500,000 range.
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@Bones yep, for bumper crowds. 40k for provincial games will always generate big money (thankfully).
Quality over quantity gets reflected.
Hopefully the Blues don't have to send out too many refunds - I'm not taking one, they have finally brought me pleasure this year and I'm happy to fund that
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Other code. But gee, this must be bad timing for the Warriors. Forced to punt a perfectly good main sponsor in current climate.
Stuff
