Rugby should be very wary of CVC

THAT people were practically dancing up and down the pit-lane when they finally decided to sell up their interest in Formula 1 should probably tell you all you need to know about CVC Capital Partners. For ten years the venture capitalists / private equity fund held a controlling interest in the sport and in that time they weren’t seen as progressive or innovative or even particularly effective commercial rights holders outside of a relentless focus on their bottom line.

Of course, that’s their fiduciary responsibility and imperative. It’s the fable of the scorpion and the frog – why did they do things the way they did them? Because it’s in their nature. They know no other way and that’s what should worry rugby people as we head into the first 6 Nations Championship with CVC holding a stake in the competition’s commercial rights.

Nobody should be under any illusions that CVC are interested in rugby for anything other than their own naked self interest and as long as their naked self interest aligns with the naked self interest of the unions then all well and good, but that, much like F1 teams and stakeholders came to understand, won’t necessarily always be the case. The guardians of a sport like rugby have to think more broadly about what’s good for the game. The experience of F1 would seem to be that CVC want as great a return on investment as they can in as short a space of time as possible. They’re not necessarily in for the long haul, private equity rarely is.

CVC’s burgeoning rugby portfolio – they also have investments in the Pro14 and the English Premiership – is for sure an interesting development and will almost certainly lead to ever more games going to a subscription TV model, which should bring a big increase in revenues to unions and clubs. Sounds great right? Well yes, but that carries a risk too. Without eyeballs the battle for the future could be lost. Or maybe not, football has done alright since the move to Sky.

Rugby, though, as much as it might like to be, isn’t football and likely never will be. Maybe it will all work out splendidly, but we’d urge caution. When the F1 paddock – the denizens of which are known as the piranha club for their cut-throat nature – felt burned in the end by CVC, why should rugby be any different?