CVC continues its rugby takeover

[Akkerman]

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/bernard- ... x-nations/

World Rugby vice-chairman Bernard Laporte has revealed that CVC will acquire a 14.5 per cent stake in the Guinness Six Nations. The former head coach of France revealed the news publicly at the AGM of the FFR that was held over the weekend. The estimated £400 million-plus buy-in has been delayed by the global coronavirus pandemic.

The exact breakdown of the deal is yet to be revealed, but Midi Olympique report that France are set to bag at least €75 million (£67.5m) over five years.

The deal has come at the perfect time for the cash strapped unions, who are forecast to lose millions due to pandemic lockdown.

RugbyPass reported last year that the CVC deal could see some Six Nations matches no longer broadcast on free-to-air television, a move that would inevitably cause controversy in the sport.

It’s a double windfall for Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy. The Luxembourg-based group, who previously invested in Formula One before switching its attention to rugby, spent £120million acquiring a stake in the PRO14.

The total value to the Irish, Italian, Scottish and Welsh unions is in the order of £30m each (net of costs), with an initial sum expected on Friday of approximately £5m to be paid to each of the four countries. South Africa, who have Southern Kings and Cheetahs playing in the league, won’t benefit from this deal.

[Caley_Red]

Le Crunch to be the first game behind pay per view, I suspect.

The government in the UK could end this slow-moving car crash overnight if they re-designated 6N as a category A TV event. Boris is a big fan of rugby so, come on Boris, sort it out! That course would have the delightful byproduct of seeing CVC take a sizable right down on that investment.

[Hugo]

RugbyPass reported last year that the CVC deal could see some Six Nations matches no longer broadcast on free-to-air television, a move that would inevitably cause controversy in the sport.

That's terrible. FTA coverage of the 6N is critically important to the health of the game. For a lot of non rugby people the 6N is their only way of accessing the sport, it keeps rugby relevant within the wider population. Second, you need kids watching the sport in order to keep playing numbers up, where are your next generations of players coming from if rugby is hidden behind a paywall?

[Monkey Magic]

RugbyPass reported last year that the CVC deal could see some Six Nations matches no longer broadcast on free-to-air television, a move that would inevitably cause controversy in the sport.

That's terrible. FTA coverage of the 6N is critically important to the health of the game. For a lot of non rugby people the 6N is their only way of accessing the sport, it keeps rugby relevant within the wider population. Second, you need kids watching the sport in order to keep playing numbers up, where are your next generations of players coming from if rugby is hidden behind a paywall?

Have started to think that is one of the reasons for the dropping interest in NZ rugby. Those growing up only having rugby on pay tv mean large chunks of the population haven't had the easy access needed to get the full 'indoctrination' to the game.

[Ymx]

I think exclusive rights to broadcast in a country have really f’ed up rugby.

It’s lead to a savage bidding war. And the end result is the consumer having to pay through the nose to access sports. It suits sky, and the teams pockets.

It’s worse in football over here in the UK. Games are sold as exclusive, not just comps. Think you need sky, bt sports, and now possibly amazon?? In order to watch the one competition.

[Kawazaki]

RugbyPass reported last year that the CVC deal could see some Six Nations matches no longer broadcast on free-to-air television, a move that would inevitably cause controversy in the sport.

That's terrible. FTA coverage of the 6N is critically important to the health of the game. For a lot of non rugby people the 6N is their only way of accessing the sport, it keeps rugby relevant within the wider population. Second, you need kids watching the sport in order to keep playing numbers up, where are your next generations of players coming from if rugby is hidden behind a paywall?

Concepts like 'FTA' television are close to being redundant already.

[Hugo]

RugbyPass reported last year that the CVC deal could see some Six Nations matches no longer broadcast on free-to-air television, a move that would inevitably cause controversy in the sport.

That's terrible. FTA coverage of the 6N is critically important to the health of the game. For a lot of non rugby people the 6N is their only way of accessing the sport, it keeps rugby relevant within the wider population. Second, you need kids watching the sport in order to keep playing numbers up, where are your next generations of players coming from if rugby is hidden behind a paywall?

Have started to think that is one of the reasons for the dropping interest in NZ rugby. Those growing up only having rugby on pay tv mean large chunks of the population haven't had the easy access needed to get the full 'indoctrination' to the game.

Would not surprise me, how can you develop affinity for something when you have such limited access to it? Is all rugby in NZ on pay TV?

[Monkey Magic]

That's terrible. FTA coverage of the 6N is critically important to the health of the game. For a lot of non rugby people the 6N is their only way of accessing the sport, it keeps rugby relevant within the wider population. Second, you need kids watching the sport in order to keep playing numbers up, where are your next generations of players coming from if rugby is hidden behind a paywall?

Have started to think that is one of the reasons for the dropping interest in NZ rugby. Those growing up only having rugby on pay tv mean large chunks of the population haven't had the easy access needed to get the full 'indoctrination' to the game.

Would not surprise me, how can you develop affinity for something when you have such limited access to it? Is all rugby in NZ on pay TV?

World cups get free to air coverage but everything mitre 10 cup, super or international level has been on Sky.

It's the money we've needed to run the game, but long term I think causes it own issues - i do admit though that without those broadcast deals we would probably have 90% of our test players playing overseas by now

[lilyw]

Le Crunch to be the first game behind pay per view, I suspect.

The government in the UK could end this slow-moving car crash overnight if they re-designated 6N as a category A TV event. Boris is a big fan of rugby so, come on Boris, sort it out! That course would have the delightful byproduct of seeing CVC take a sizable right down on that investment.

Why should the Government interfere with a decision made by the elected officials of the sport? Who will replace the lost income & who will foot the bill when CVC sue?

I don't agree with an outside agency overriding the wishes of the administrators. There is absolutely no guarantee (or even likelihood) that the Government will act in the sport's best interest, they will do whatever gives them the best headlines when they need them. (I'm against the whole concept of "listing" events.)

[EnergiseR]

I'd like to ask Alan Quinlan a few questions as I heard him earlier saying it's a fine idea, in between the very audible rustling of paper as he checked his notes. The presenter was a bit 'ehhhhhhh'

[Paddington Bear]

RugbyPass reported last year that the CVC deal could see some Six Nations matches no longer broadcast on free-to-air television, a move that would inevitably cause controversy in the sport.

That's terrible. FTA coverage of the 6N is critically important to the health of the game. For a lot of non rugby people the 6N is their only way of accessing the sport, it keeps rugby relevant within the wider population. Second, you need kids watching the sport in order to keep playing numbers up, where are your next generations of players coming from if rugby is hidden behind a paywall?

Concepts like 'FTA' television are close to being redundant already.

This was said around 2005 by the ECB when flogging off cricket. It wasn't true then and I'm not convinced it is true now. The damage it did though is plain to see.

[JM2K6]

A lot of entertainment & media has switched to subscription services since 2005, though, and I think that's the problem here. Everyone's a rent seeker now.

[sockwithaticket]

I can understand the unions going for this. They're cash strapped all of a sudden and as far as they're concerned the millions of casuals who tune in for the 6 Nations doesn't really seem to translate to increased support of the domestic game nor amateur playing numbers.

It's pretty short sighted, though. While growth might be limited there's certainly scope for significant downturn in both areas once international rugby has been paywalled for a few years. If anything efforts should be made to increase accessibility to the national team, not further reduce it. Is it any wonder so many English people only care about the 6 nations and world cup when those are the only England games they FTA access to?

[New guy]

RugbyPass reported last year that the CVC deal could see some Six Nations matches no longer broadcast on free-to-air television, a move that would inevitably cause controversy in the sport.

That's terrible. FTA coverage of the 6N is critically important to the health of the game. For a lot of non rugby people the 6N is their only way of accessing the sport, it keeps rugby relevant within the wider population. Second, you need kids watching the sport in order to keep playing numbers up, where are your next generations of players coming from if rugby is hidden behind a paywall?

Concepts like 'FTA' television are close to being redundant already.

This is the elephant in the room isn't it. Cable/satellite TV wont be far behind it. I'm seriously considering getting rid of Cable completely as it goes weeks without being used (unless there's sport on). We almost exclusively watch Netflix, Disney Plus and YouTube.

There's a niche in the market for a sports streaming service and the first company to pull it off will make a fortune.

[Jock42]

I see Prime have done a bit of fitba and tennis over the last couple of years. Do the games stay up when they're finished? The big plus for me with sky is that I can record all the matches I need to.

[Hugo]

From Rugby World:
https://www.rugbyworld.com/in-the-mag/w ... ssion=true

So, their stated aim is to have buy in to the 6N (which we know) in addition to the two leagues which according to their strategy gives them an influence in NH rugby, where the money is. By the sounds of it they have no interest in buying into the SH.

They want to be part of expansion into the US or any other market where there is significant growth potential. They have no interest in the day to day mechanics of the sport itself beyond the money.

All in all the article was full of trite corporate phrases "commercial potential", "collaboration" and the like. They don't appear to have any vision for how to accomplish their goals tbh, they just sound like parasites - the actual work of growing the game is hard yards at the grassroots level and on up to administration and its not something they want any part in, they just want to profit from any growth, have a stake, have a say.

These are the exact types of people that rugby remained amateur to insulate itself from.

[Paddington Bear]

'Breaking the States' just isn't going to happen and you're pouring your cash down the drain trying. For a fraction of the cost I'd bet you could get Germany, Spain and Holland up to roughly where Italy are now.

[PornDog]

'Breaking the States' just isn't going to happen and you're pouring your cash down the drain trying. For a fraction of the cost I'd bet you could get Germany, Spain and Holland up to roughly where Italy are now.

The same thing was said about "Soccer" in the States and that's doing very well for itself and continues to grow. By its very nature I could see rugby having much more of an appeal to the 'common man' over there.

[Kiap]

Concepts like 'FTA' television are close to being redundant already.

This is the elephant in the room isn't it. Cable/satellite TV wont be far behind it. I'm seriously considering getting rid of Cable completely as it goes weeks without being used (unless there's sport on).

Traditional big cable/satellite will die ***before*** FTA.

[Hugo]

'Breaking the States' just isn't going to happen and you're pouring your cash down the drain trying. For a fraction of the cost I'd bet you could get Germany, Spain and Holland up to roughly where Italy are now.

The same thing was said about "Soccer" in the States and that's doing very well for itself and continues to grow. By its very nature I could see rugby having much more of an appeal to the 'common man' over there.

It is doing well but it was not an overnight success. Its decades since the first attempt at a professional American league and it took a lot of time, setbacks, hosting the world cup and then getting a team good enough to consistently qualify for the world cup and win some matches for it to gain traction.

I think the last time USA won a match at a RWC was 9 years ago.

[Paddington Bear]

'Breaking the States' just isn't going to happen and you're pouring your cash down the drain trying. For a fraction of the cost I'd bet you could get Germany, Spain and Holland up to roughly where Italy are now.

The same thing was said about "Soccer" in the States and that's doing very well for itself and continues to grow. By its very nature I could see rugby having much more of an appeal to the 'common man' over there.

Notorious sport of the common man that is *checks notes* rugby.

Football is a different egg altogether - the US couldn't ignore the most popular sport in the world forever. It can ignore a minority sport played largely in the Commonwealth.

[Lemoentjie]

It's a private equity firm- its only interest is to make money. It's not like CVC is hiding this, their intentions are obvious and you can't dislike them for that fact.

The question that needs to be asked is "Do the measures that will be made to make rugby as profitable as possible for CVC overlap also have a positive effect on rugby as a game/experience for players and spectators?"

If the answer is yes, then there's not a problem. If the answer is no, then NHers can thank their national bodies for selling them out.

[PornDog]

'Breaking the States' just isn't going to happen and you're pouring your cash down the drain trying. For a fraction of the cost I'd bet you could get Germany, Spain and Holland up to roughly where Italy are now.

The same thing was said about "Soccer" in the States and that's doing very well for itself and continues to grow. By its very nature I could see rugby having much more of an appeal to the 'common man' over there.

It is doing well but it was not an overnight success. Its decades since the first attempt at a professional American league and it took a lot of time, setbacks, hosting the world cup and then getting a team good enough to consistently qualify for the world cup and win some matches for it to gain traction.

I think the last time USA won a match at a RWC was 9 years ago.

Hey I'm not saying it would be easy in any way - just that I don't think it'd be impossible like PBear is suggesting.

Notorious sport of the common man that is *checks notes* rugby.

Football is a different egg altogether - the US couldn't ignore the most popular sport in the world forever. It can ignore a minority sport played largely in the Commonwealth.

I think you know what I meant - the collision aspect appeals to the yank mindset. They certainly can't deride it in the same way they did soccer for years.

Like I said above - it wont be easy and will most likely fail, but I just wouldn't be so sure about its failure as you are.

[Line6 HXFX]

For me Rugby is just a business, that has convienently wrapped itself up in our national symbols and culture.
It is about cultural exploitation for cash.
At the end of the day though it was always someone elses earner, not yours or mine.
That is all it is.
It is hard to imagine this. It never happens in any other product we are sold.
You don't see Colgate toothpaste doing this, demanding you stand and sing the national anthem when you pull it out of the shopping bag, just so they can make more money.

I for one look forward to it having less of a grip on our national identity.
It satisfies a lot of peoples patriotism.
People are only patriotic welshmen 6 times a year and for the rest of the year couldn't give a shit about Wales and its international standing or identity.

Maybe that is Rugby's massive appeal to the UK establishment.