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If rugby’s authorities are serious about changing the sport for the better, then they should be incentivising the Prem’s new franchises to be placed in some of England’s untapped counties.
Take Norfolk, for example. Ben Youngs, Freddie Steward and Jack van Poortvliet all grew up in East Anglia yet the area has no professional club representation.
Season ticket renewals for Norwich City are among the highest in England because it is a remote part of the country which has little other professional sport on offer.
The RFU and Prem Rugby should be banging down the door of Sir James Dyson, the British inventor who grew up in the area but currently pumps his millions into the jersey sponsorship of Bath.
Birmingham, Yorkshire, Liverpool and the south coast are other areas that rugby should be trying to tap into as part of the long-term plan to grow the sport.
Scrapping promotion and relegation is a tough pill to swallow, although the gulf between the first and second division has become virtually unbridgeable.
English rugby’s overhaul should be used as a springboard for expansion in untapped counties
Worcester Warriors and London Irish are primed to apply for one of the 12 top-flight franchises and return to the PREM, having been expelled over financial difficulties in 2022 and 2023
| Team | Seasons |
|---|---|
| Bath | 36 (7 titles) |
| Gloucester | 36 |
| Leicester Tigers | 36 (11 titles) |
| Harlequins | 35 (2 titles) |
| Wasps | 35 (6 titles) |
| Northampton Saints | 31 (2 titles) |
| Saracens | 31 (6 titles) |
| Sale Sharks | 30 (1 title) |
| London Irish | 28 |
| Bristol Bears | 25 |
| Newcastle Red Bulls | 24 (1 title) |
| Worcester Warriors | 16 |
| Exeter Chiefs | 13 (2 titles) |
| Orrell | 10 |
| Leeds Tykes | 8 |
| Nottingham, West Hartlepool | 5 |
| Birmingham Moseley, Rosslyn Park | 4 |
| Bedford Blues | 3 |
| Liverpool St Helens, London Scottish, London Welsh, Richmond, Rotherham Titans, Rugby Lions, Waterloo | 2 |
| Coventry | 1 |
The model is broken and ring-fencing with the option for expansion offers a happy medium. A pathway for ambitious clubs remains (at least in theory), while new investors can be confident they are not throwing money into a black hole.
After the RFU council approved the changes yesterday, Exeter Chiefs owner Tony Rowe told Daily Mail Sport that investor confidence immediately spiked.
Now 77, Rowe is speaking to new investors and negotiations can now advance with financiers in America. ‘We’re talking to a couple of investors and one of them wanted to wait to hear what happened this week,’ he said.
‘English rugby is desperate for money but it’s difficult to find investment because of the worry of relegation. Red Bull didn’t just come along and say, “we don’t mind if we get relegated”. They were banking on this decision.
‘I’m certain we’ll see more big names invest in English rugby now. Money dictates where sport goes and if somebody wants to pay handsomely to change the name of Exeter I have no doubt that might happen.
‘We’re in the market for a partner investor. It’s going to cost you somewhere between £50m and £100millon to get a Prem side together with a stadium. I’m sure there are people out there interested in doing it.
‘There are talks about rugby at the new stadium in Birmingham. Yorkshire has more rugby clubs than any other county but none of them perform at the top level so it would be nice to see another club there. Maybe someone in the North West. We want people to come into the Prem and first we want to get back to 12 clubs.’
The likes of Ollie Chessum, Freddie Steward and Fraser Dingwall have all played in the second division and the competition must not be set up to fail. It is key the chances of promotion remain genuine if teams meet the relevant criteria.
Season ticket renewals for Norwich City are among the highest in the country because it is a remote part of the country which has little other professional sport on offer
Yorkshire has not had a Premiership team since 2011, when Leeds Carnegie went down – a year later, they sold their P shares in the competition to Exeter Chiefs
The perfect scenario is more big hitters enter the market and rugby’s ecosystem grows. We could see more investment into playing squads, stronger academies and a trickle-down effect on the Champ.
We have seen London Irish, Wasps and Worcester fold under the financial pressures of professional sport but, after years of turmoil, there is an opportunity for new shoots to appear off the beaten path.