England’s Rugby Football Union has rejected a proposal by clubs in the country’s top-flight league, the Guinness Premiership, to play more league games next season, in order to increase revenues.
The Times newspaper reports that the RFU doubted whether enough rugby fans would be prepared to increase their spending on attending matches. RFU director of elite rugby Rob Andrew said, “You are going back to fans to foot the bill in very tough times”, and chief executive Francis Baron said, “People are sitting on their wallets at the moment.” The Times says that there was evidence to suggest the RFU’s doubts were well-founded, as season ticket holders at one club had questioned the rationale of the plan.
The rejection of their plan comes at an awkward time for the clubs. This is the time of year that the clubs are clubs start marketing season tickets for 2009-10, but this is on hold until the season’s structure has been decided. Also on hold are plans to freeze season ticket prices.
A meeting between the union’s management board, which unanimously rejected the club’s proposals on Wednesday, and the chairmen and chief executives of the clubs will take place in the next fortnight. The Times says, the union has offered the clubs an “olive branch” in the form of extra revenue next season from an additional England international match, which will be shared among the clubs.
The Times publishes a list of estimated revenues from different rugby matches in England:
* £250,000 Estimated revenue from one Guinness Premiership game, based on an average crowd of 11,000
* £90,000 Estimated revenue from an EDF Energy Cup game, based on an average crowd of 6,600
* £125,000 Estimated revenue to each of 12 clubs from the shared profits of a home England international
In other RFU news, The Guardian newspaper reports that falls in corporate hospitality and slow ticket sales for England’s Six Nations home matches have led Francis Baron to warn of cost cuts and potential job losses.
The Guardian says that hospitality sales are running at 27 per cent below budget and tickets for the three England matches – against Italy, France and Scotland – are still on public sale eight days before the tournament, which hasn’t been the case for some years.
