Premiership weighs up five-yearly play-offs

Plan seen as compromise to ring-fencing top flight CVC and Sky discussing a dedicated rugby channel

Rugby authorities are exploring plans to replace annual relegation and promotion to the Premiership with a playoff every five years as the sport begins a revolution under the influence of one of the world’s largest investment firms,

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. The idea has emerged as a popular compromise short of fully “ring-fencing” rugby’s top flight – which is strongly opposed by many Championship clubs in English rugby’s second tier – according to senior sources across the sport.

No decisions have been made in talks between clubs and the Rugby Football Union, but discussions are being closely watched by the private equity giant CVC, which has invested £200 million to take control of the Premiership’s commercial activities.

Advocates of ring-fencing argue it would reduce investment risk for club owners, allowing them to plough money into facilities with confidence that they would not suffer a sudden loss of income if relegated.

CVC, which is not directly involved in the discussions and has no say in their outcome, wants the Premiership to attract more fans and improve television coverage to boost returns.

The organisation, which remains nearly three-quarters owned by the clubs, is preparing for a move away from rugby’s stronghold of Twickenham into central London to be closer to CVC and commercial interests.

Today’s revelations for the first time give an insight into CVC’s future in the game. The Sunday Telegraph understands that CVC and Sky have held early discussions about creating a Sky rugby channel that would include coverage of the Premiership and international matches.

A broadcasting source said Sky could look to keep the sport’s profile up by showing some games with a free-to-air partner such as Channel 4, which last year aired the Cricket World Cup final alongside the pay-TV operator.

It is understood that CVC’s plans include improved television graphics to explain the action to newcomers to the sport, a subscription streaming app for international fans and centralised merchandising.

They are based partly on the NFL, where franchisees face no threat of relegation and have invested heavily in stadiums. Excluding television income, the Super Bowl brings in about $350million (£268million) for the NFL, compared with $3million for the Premiership final.

Rugby’s sporting authorities are considering whether they can close the gap while still offering second-tier clubs some chance of promotion.

A rugby source said: “It’s not no change versus close it off. One of the ideas that is popular is that every five years, there’s a play-off between the top of the Championship and the bottom of the Premiership.

“There would be an assessment of whether that Championship club has the stadium and the budget, the team and the capabilities to come up. But if they’re assessed as having met the criteria, and they succeed in that play-off, then the league is open and there is promotion and relegation. There are lots of versions of this.”

Any decision to make promotion more difficult would stoke controversy. Ben Ward, who is director of rugby at ambitious second-tier side Ealing

Trailfinders, said: “Something should be done to stop ring-fencing, but also something should be done about the fairness of the competition and to help develop sides in this country.

“The Premiership this year is not exciting, with relegation already decided,” he added, referring to the decision in January to demote defending champions Saracens for breaches of the salary cap.

Less movement between leagues could also harm the value of television rights by delivering fewer important matches, senior broadcasting sources said. The talks are under way as CVC’s manoeuvres in rugby come under increasing scrutiny.

The Six Nations, in which the firm plans to become a one-seventh shareholder with a £300 million investment, is selling its next round of television rights in a new format designed to extract maximum returns and could lead to the competition being entirely on Sky.

The BBC and ITV, who share the rights, have been barred from bidding together and the rights have been packaged up in lots for a Premier League-style blind auction. The autumn internationals are bundled in for the first time, too.

Julian Knight, the Conservative chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, last week warned the Six Nations that “charging rugby fans to watch the tournament on TV would go against the spirit of broadcasting rules intended to ensure that sporting events like this are freely available to all”.