Premiership Rugby: Four teams who should join a franchised PREM

/ Inside Madrid / By

With billionaire James Dyson buying a 50% stake in Bath Rugby from Bruce Craig on the back of Red Bull´s takeover of Newcastle Falcons (now Bulls), it seems clear that although fans may not be a fan of the closed shop, the financial security it provides investors in Premiership Rugby is allowing some semblance of stability.

 

Premiership Rugby: A chance to grow

 

Now obviously, Premiership Rugby remains a basketcase, with a terrible CVC deal and a salary cap vastly higher than the revenue generated. Top that up with the RFU bleeding money in a failing attempt to keep players from the Top 14 and there´s no reason to be confident that the structure (with it´s ridiculous P share nonsense) will lead to the growth it could.

 

With all that said, many other leagues (the NRL being a great example) show how targeted locations and giving clubs time to grow into the league can be successful. So apropos of nothing , let´s imagine a fantasy world where a competently run Premiership is targeting clubs to grow, here´s four teams that would be worth a Prem Rugby spot.

 

Plymouth Albion

 

If anyone cared to look, Plymouth have quietly been pulling in impressive crowds for the third tier of Rugby Union in England, consistently pulling in over 1500 where normally only hundreds appear. However, there is nothing quiet about their record breaking 4500 plus crowd in National 1 and were they to go into the Championship, they would like become one of the best supported clubs in the comp.

 

But it isn´t just the crowds that make Albion a great shout, but the geography and lack of EPL competition. In so many places of England, Rugby in both codes has to compete with the spectre of EPL consuming all. Albion though are based in a growing city of 260,000 with a Rugby mad Cornwall also a location to draw crowds by avoiding clashes with both football and when Pirates play.

 
Crucially, Plymouth also can make a big difference to another Premiership club in Exeter by providing them a genuine enemy twice a year and another marquee game for TV rights. Plymouth Albion vs Exeter in front of 17,000 at Home Park? It shouldn´t be that difficult to imagine.

 

Coventry Rugby

 

A historic team, with healthy crowds and probably the club most in the pyramid who have been screwed over by Premiership/RFU incompetence. Whilst Wasps were allowed to move to Coventry then went bust, Coventry Rugby still march on. Crucially, there is no need to play regularly in the oversized box of Coventry City FC stadium but once again, rivarly games versus local rivals Leicester and Northampton have a genuine chance of selling out the football stadium and it´s another mid-sized city where Rugby Union in England seems to thrive.

The early stages of Wasps did show an appetite for Premiership Rugby but this time, a team not alienating the local area could further strengthen Rugby Union in its heartlands.

 

Cardiff Blues

 

Often suggested but never officially broached, the lack of a Welsh team (or an Anglo Welsh Premiership in general) remains a mystery from a commercial and broadcasting perspective. It´s clear from crowds sizes that their is little to no love in Wales for the URC and with the lack of a salary cap turning Welsh teams into also rans in most cases, there is little of a product for clubs to sell.

 

Dragging Cardiff into a league with cross border rivals Bristol, Bath and Gloucester would swell commercial interest in the club. It would not only allow Welsh Rugby Union to have a team that isn´t living hand to mouth but also provides the Wales vs England drama fans, tv companies and advertisers crave.

 

Rotherham Titans

 

Slightly left field but stay with me, Yorkshire´s first Premiership team were hampered by being prisoners of landlords unable to generate revenue at Millmoor. Since then, a descent down the leagues has turned and this weekend Rotherham will take on Plymouth in a National Division One top of the table clash.
 
Crucially though, Millmoor today lies empty thanks to the football club moving over the road to their own stadium and with a covenant in place preventing Millmoor from being bulldozed for housing, a chance exists for Rugby Union to acquire and develop an asset where the money could go straight back into the club.

 

Why Rotherham over Doncaster ? Geography. Rotherham lies directly between Doncaster and Sheffield (a city of over 500,000 people but often overlooked in its potential by both codes of League and Union) with tram links to pull people in from across South Yorkshire. A chance for Rugby Union to get a secure toehold back in Yorkshire with an asset in its own name? It shouldn´t be dismissed if the sport is serious about targeted growth.