Why must public pay for shortfalls of rugby’s broken formats and TV deals?

The announcement on Thursday that the Investec European Champions Cup has found a new broadcaster should in theory have resulted in the sport banking significant sums, and been accompanied by a wave of enthusiasm from the armchair armies.
My colleague Alex Lowe revealed details in The Times of the deal that European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), which runs the Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup, has signed with Premier Sports for three years. It will cost subscribers £10.99 a month.
By Saturday, more than 130 of our subscribers had commented on the story. The thumbs-down came in epic proportions. It was impossible to find one person in full favour. Some wrote about the demise of rugby, the sheer confusion as competitions change broadcast hands so regularly.
And the cost. While the £10.99 a month may seem bearable, so many rugby fans are already paying two or even three subscriptions to other broadcasters for different events. Too much. Too little free-to-air rugby.
The size of the deal itself, typically for secretive old rugby, is not being revealed — so we can be forgiven for concluding that, because no sums are being made public, they must be smaller than we think. And the philosophy? “Delivering money back to the clubs was at the heart of our tough negotiations,” said Jacques Raynaud, the EPCR chief executive officer, from his organisation’s Swiss base (handy if Switzerland is ever inclined to play the sport).
Presumably — after the “tough negotiations” — the competing clubs will be rolling in it. Industry experts tell us that Premier Sports has about 480,000 subscribers; Sky has 6.4million and TNT, the previous broadcaster of European rugby, has 4.3million. And so it is very hard to imagine how the new deal could yield a windfall for the clubs.
Why was it chosen for Europe? Easy. Because it was there, and so thank God for it. There were no other serious contenders for what is meant to be the pinnacle event for the club game. TNT backed out of negotiations but will continue to broadcast the Gallagher Premiership. It will also broadcast every single one of the autumn internationals this year.
Some of us found Premier Sports extremely basic in its early years, but its coverage of existing sports is fine, not too fawning and gushing, and it employs some very good people. Welcome. But everything indicates the weakness of the once-wonderful tournament.
This year’s final at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was majestic, with Toulouse and Leinster brilliant. Yet the Champions Cup is faded. It was a magnificent addition to rugby, and for some years was even eating into the long lead of the international game. It was covered beautifully in the heyday of televised rugby in the reign of the estimable Martin Turner, the producer at Sky Sports. In that era, the channel’s Rugby Club was unmissable for fans of all kinds.
Sky revolutionised the coverage of rugby, but, partly in sheer frustration at the unfocused bungling of rugby chiefs, cut back on its coverage. It now shows games from the extremities, although, happily, will be back in harness for the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia next year.
When TNT took over the European events they were already tarnished. Prize money for such a major event has always been execrable. Saracens won the European title three times in four years and received a pittance.
And when the English clubs led an assault on the old structures of EPCR to gain more authority, they won, but scandalously failed to push on. It seemed that as soon as they had more power, they ignored the whole thing.
More recently EPCR has messed around with the format — it takes so long to warm up now — failed to finalise significant deals, missed the essentials of what made it great and, in a spectacular blunder for the ages, imported South African teams to the competition.
This was utterly ludicrous in terms of time and distance, ludicrous in terms of geographical premise and, last season, the full horror became apparent when teams visiting from South Africa, or teams travelling all that way for one game, understandably fielded second teams. Unpunished, of course.
Both the European competitions and the United Rugby Championship, which also admitted South African teams, are horribly lacking in focus. All they should have done was allow the South Africans to play in their own Currie Cup and then, to produce one winner, have some form of play-off for the Michael Mouse trophy. But they have wrecked Europe by fielding non-European teams.
Ah, rugby on TV. It’s discussed more than rugby itself. The galaxy of firms covering the sport is incredible. It is wonderful for exposure, though the real big deals are elusive. Not so in France, where vast free-to-air deals cover the monster French scene, with four major concerns involved.
Of course, the teeming landscape allows even more former players to join the party. Rugby is so fortunate in its presenters and commentators. A transfer for the BBC’s superb Hazel Irvine to the sport would be excellent, but rugby already has Jill Douglas, Sarra Elgan, Ross Harries, Phil Steele; fabulous commentators such as Andrew Cotter, and a veritable torrent of others.
The summarisers are less good, the number of ex-players people tolerate to sit there and say nothing of any note and to call their old team “us” is incredible. Dame Laura Kenny, so brilliant at the Olympics, has surely set a new summarising standard.
Already you could listen to Bernard Jackman, Alan Quinlan, Sir Clive Woodward, Benjamin Kayser, Sam Warburton, Rocky Clark, Philippa Tuttiett, Martin Johnson and Austin Healey till the cows come home, as long as they keep away from fawning, which is detestable. Sometimes you sensed that the summarisers on the Olympic swimming were at the point of jumping into the pool alongside the GB athletes. Let’s hope the Premier Sports crew leave their bias at home.
There is so much rugby to watch. But that does not necessarily mean that the sport is raking it in. How much the companies are paying is the sign of success, and at present, except in runaway France, it is not nearly enough.
The focus then turns to the paying public. They have spoken to us this week. They are not happy. It is not up to them to make good all of rugby’s shortfalls.
BBC (top right in image above)TV licence: £14.13 a monthSix Nations, Women’s Six Nations
ITV (top left)TV licence: £14.13 a month Six Nations
Sky Sports (middle right)£22 a month for a 24-month contractBritish & Irish Lions tour, the Rugby Championship and Super Rugby
TNT Sports (bottom left)£30.99 a month (or £25 a month for a 24-month contract if you already have Sky)Autumn internationals, Premiership Rugby, Premiership Rugby Cup, Premiership Women’s Rugby
Premier Sports (bottom right)£10.99 a monthEuropean Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, United Rugby Championship