CASH BOOST FOR THE SIX NATIONS
Six Nations investment will offset huge losses
AS European rugby chiefs suspended the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup yesterday, it emerged that the Six Nations is set for a much-needed cash injection. The sale of 14.5 per cent of the commercial rights of rugby’s flagship annual competition to CVC Capital Partners for £365million will be completed later this month. Sportsmail has learned that all the major details of a five-year deal between the six unions and the private equity firm have been agreed and an announcement is expected before
the start of this year’s tournament, which is still pencilled in for February.
The size and strength of each market determines who will receive what from the substantial investment. The IRFU are likely to get a similar-sized slice of the pie as Scotland and Wales. England will get the largest share, around £70m split over five years, followed by France, Italy will receive the smallest pay-out.
Even though negotiations continued during the pandemic, the value of the deal has remained the same through two years of talks, although CVC insisted on a so-called Covid-clause, enabling them to defer payments if fixtures are cancelled because of coronavirus.
CVC are understood to have insisted this year’s Six Nations stay in its usual spring position despite the disruption to the fixture list caused by the suspension of the two European competitions. The 2021 championship will begin as planned with England’s Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland on February 6. Ireland’s opening game is against Wales at Millennium Stadium the following afternoon.
The investment will give CVC considerable influence over the Six Nations’ commercial activity relating to both the championship and the autumn internationals, particularly the next broadcast rights deals. That is likely to see more games going behind a paywall after next year. With the absence of spectators for the 2021 tournament, the IRFU and the other five unions were looking at projected losses of over €100 million, so the completion of the CVC deal is timely.
Meanwhile, Leinster and Munster may go into the last 16 of the Champions Cup, while Ulster and Connacht may be placed in the Challenge Cup, when the European competitions resume after European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) bowed to French pressure and suspended the tournaments yesterday.
EPCR hoped to avoid a break by drawing up new coronavirus protocols, including the introduction of testing three days before matches, amid concern over the new Covid-19 variant.
However, yesterday they called a halt with two rounds of groupstage fixtures still to play after the French government ordered its clubs to postpone their January fixtures.
An EPCR statement said: ‘Following a directive from the French authorities that the participation of Top 14 clubs in the Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup at the current time constitutes too great a public health risk, EPCR has no choice but to announce that the 2020/21 tourn a ments are temporaril y suspended.
ECPR said they remain committed to finding a solution to resuming and completing the tournament as soon as they can. As there are no free dates in an already-congested calendar, the most likely solution would be to cancel the third and f ourth rounds and scrap the proposed two-legged quarter-finals.
The last four sides in each pool would be redirected into a Challenge Cup round of 16, which would see both Connacht and Ulster sent there. In this way, ECPR would use the four weekends in April and May which has been set aside for European competition.
With their European involvement suspended, it is likely the Pro14 will use Saturday week to re-schedule Munster’s showdown with Leinster at Thomond Park, which had been postponed on St Stephen’s Day because of positive Covid-19 tests.