Premiership Rugby, English rugby union’s top domestic competition, and the United Rugby Championship (URC), the Europe-based club competition, have played down recent reports of a merger between the two organizations to create a British and Irish league.
It was initially reported by the Daily Telegraph publication on Thursday that English clubs are in favor of pursuing a British and Irish joint competition from 2026, in order to broaden their revenue base and increase the value of future television deals.
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Exploratory talks were reportedly held at a Premiership Rugby board meeting last week, firstly around an Anglo-Welsh league, before the clubs involved opted to investigate the possibility of bringing Irish and Scottish teams into the fold.
However, both Premiership Rugby and the URC have now denied that a potential merger is in the works.
A Premiership Rugby source has stated: “All the clubs are 100% committed to the Premiership. The bar is very, very high if anything were to ever change.
“These types of exercises take place periodically as is good practice. We just had our fastest ever sell-out to the final and attendances and TV viewership are up – fans love Premiership Rugby and so do our partners.”
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By GlobalDataThe URC also released its own statement on Friday to rule out the possibility of South African and Italian teams being cut adrift in any future league.
The league said: “Contrary to media reports, the United Rugby Championship is not engaged in discussions regarding a British & Irish league.
“Since the introduction of the four South African teams in 2021, the league has enjoyed a sustained period of outstanding success achieving record audiences, attendances, social media growth and new levels of competitiveness.
“This is due in great part to the efforts of all 16 teams across Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales which has elevated the league to new heights. The URC is committed to continuing this pace of growth ahead of the new season and far into the future.”
It was previously confirmed by the IRFU, Irish rugby union’s governing body, that exploratory discussions around a new tournament took place with the English RFU during the 2023 World Cup.
Speaking last November, IRFU chief executive Kevin Potts said a potential British and Irish league was something the organisation was “open to looking at” and added that the game “needs to generate more money.”
The URC shareholders are the IRFU, its Scottish, Welsh and Italian equivalents and private equity firm CVC Capital Partners. They are in the fourth and final year of their current agreement. The South African Rugby Union becomes a full partner from next season.
CVC is also a shareholder in the Premiership and the Six Nations national teams competition – the investment firm is now a major player in the finances of rugby union, with ambitions to now grow the sport's revenue share.
The fourth season of the URC and the 2024-25 Premiership Rugby both begin on Friday, September 20.
Both competitions delivered record attendance and television viewership last season and go into their respective new campaigns seeking growth commercially and in revenue.
Despite the TV and in-stadium attendance records, both URC and Premiership Rugby have generally struggled to generate significant media rights fees in the way that France’s Top 14 has, with that competition receiving around €136 million ($114.6 million) annually from its television deal.
In contrast, the URC receives €63 million and the Premiership gets €39 million, with the latter signing a two-year extension with pay-TV broadcaster TNT Sports in March – for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons – on reduced terms.
Premiership Rugby is looking at other ways to increase revenue and recently announced a new long-term partnership with the RFU and the Rugby Players Association aimed at creating financial stability for the professional game.
The trio will collaborate on several joint initiatives to grow revenues and manage costs in the overall system.
Notably, this will include a joint marketing agreement to grow the domestic game commercially by increasing attendance and TV viewership.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that all 10 Premiership teams could wear kits supplied by the same manufacturer in future seasons, as teams try to grow their revenues with a joint sponsorship deal.
According to The Times, the idea has been floated around the league as a move that would mirror US sports, where one company is contracted as the official kit supplier for a competition.
The hope is that if the league’s clubs all joined forces in a centralised agreement, the package they could sell to a manufacturer would be more lucrative than their individual kit deals.
UK sportswear company Castore has been mooted as one potential partner for the entire league as it already supplies kits for Bath, Harlequins and Saracens.
