Jeff Probyn: Why didn’t BT deal with the other leagues as well?

Jack WilsonAs the European row still rumbles along with a myriad of possible outcomes, it's time to reflect on what started it. The sudden announcement that BT were joining the market place and had negotiated a deal with Premier Rugby Ltd (PRL) to show all games (including European) really threw the cat among the pigeons.
Now it may just be a coincidence that PRL had lodged notice to quit shortly before that deal was announced in 2012 but somehow the cynic in me just doesn't believe it.
There was a rumour that PRL's representative attended the ERC meeting that discussed the renewal of the TV contract with BSkyB and had agreed it in principle. That explains why, despite the announcement of the BT deal, ERC went ahead with signing the Sky contract.
It may be that PRL were playing the field in an effort to see which offer was more financially rewarding, or it could be that as they didn't have all their alternative competition partners sorted, they were playing for time.
Whatever the reasons, you can understand why PRL would choose to be a little reserved about what information they wanted in the public domain as negotiations with fellow member clubs were at what they thought was a crucial stage.
The question that keeps echoing in my mind is, why would BT launch a new
business and make a deal to buy a product that at the time and still today doesn't exist and why would they choose to deal solely with PRL?
If the rumours are correct that BT are now in talks with the Welsh regions and Irish provinces about sponsorship, it shows that talks with those countries could have taken place at the same time as the PRL talks.
That said, it would seem logical to me that if BT seriously wanted to show European rugby they would have approached the body in control of the European game (ERC at the time) and made them an offer.
It's not as if BT didn't want to approach ERC  in fear of a bidding war with Sky, because, as BT have shown recently when outbidding Sky with a £900 million bid for UEFA Champions League, they are
prepared to put money on the table for the things they want.
The BT figures that have been produced for public consumption have varied from around £20 millon to £30 million a year depending on the split between games and Europe and the number of years the contract was to run.
If we take the lower figure, the bid made to PRL at around £20 million a year for four years, seems to be more than the share that was on offer from the Sky deal which, if split three ways with and the Rabo 12, would have been slightly less than £15 million each.
But there was no telling what would have actually been offered to other nations should they have joined the BT bandwagon – just a speculative suggestion that the same would be on offer to all.
I am surprised that neither PRL nor BT have said categorically what level of funds would have been available to each of the other nations and it seems that BT have deliberately stoked the fires of conflict by buying any European competition, as long as it is not the Heineken Cup.
BT's actions make it appear that they are seeking conflict between the Unions, clubs, regions and provinces and the only reason I can think of for that, is that it will give them an element of control within the sport that will enable them to tailor any future competitions to their requirements.
That and the fact that by splitting the sports they can, in the future, buy the broadcasting rights at knock-down prices and may well achieve what Sky attempted when they tried to differ the amounts paid to each Union dependant on subscribers.
As the newest and biggest player in the demand TV market, BT have the funds to outbid anyone and buy anything they want, but it appears as far as fledgling professional rugby is concerned, buying what is on offer is not enough, only ownership of the sport will do.
One of the proffered scenarios is bringing the Welsh regions into the Premiership as a possible replacement for Europe for a year or two.
I have to ask why the English clubs would want to play more games against the Welsh regions.
They face each other every season in the LV Anglo-Welsh Cup, so unless the intention is to abandon that competition and replace it with weekly matches against the Premiership, it would appear to duplicate what we already have.
It has been said that any new competition could rekindle the ‘good old days' when English and Welsh club games mirrored the international rivalry although I doubt it because that hasn't happened in the LV. Despite the promises, the Premiership won't solve the problems of the Welsh regions, the lack of finance and lack of fans can't be cured by a short-term fix for a year or so.
is parochial, it always has been and always will be and the formation of regions hasn't changed that. are still Swansea, still , Blues still and Scarlets still and although they may have attracted slightly bigger crowds because of the big name stars, most fans will still go to their local village clubs.
Also the Premiership teams are stronger than the Welsh regions and so would help to improve Welsh players without the same benefit for the English players.
If I were the , I would do all I could to delay any further cross-border competition – at least until after the .

2 Comments

  1. A major question is why the RFU has remained so silent on the BT/PRL plans, given that those plans risk undermining a hitherto very successful competition. Over recent years the RFU has consistently yielded more and more power to PRL to the detriment of the rest of the English game, as is confirmed by that silence.
    After the Bloodgate scandal just four years ago, one would have thought that PRL might have kept a low profile. Not a bit of it. For the third time in just 19 seasons there looks like being no English representation in Europe. That would be another scandal. Why doesn’t the RFU ensure that doesn’t happen?
    Rugby-mad Cornwall took 50,000 fans to the 1991 county final, with 10,000 crowds regularly at Redruth for earlier stages of the competition. The best crowds in the Duchy are now the 2,000 or less who watch Cornish Pirates in their prably forlorn attempts to reach the Premiership.Not surprisingly, Redruth or Launcston fans don’t support the Pirates; they are competing in the same league pyramid. Many of those lost 50,000 would soon return if their county side was playing in a proper competition with teams such as Ulster or Ospreys.
    Yorkshire has more clubs than any other constituent body in world rugby, yet its best fixtures are currently the likes of Leeds v Moseley and Rotherham v Plymouth. Such matches would be overshadowed by Yorkshire v Leinster or Yorkshire v Scarlets.
    Lancashire is in the same boat. Sale v Worcester on a Friday night, or Sale v Calvisano in the Amlin Cup, wouldn’t compare with Lancashire v Munster or Cardiff Blues.
    The current Leinster squad shows nine different clubs on its playing roster. That explains why Leinster and Munster attract support from all their member clubs. The same principle was behind Cornwall taking all those fans to Twickenham 20 years ago and also explains why modest NZ provinces like Taranaki and Southland can, even in the professional era, still give tough tests to, for example, the Lions.
    Unlike those representative sides referred to above, England’s Premiership clubs represent nobody but themselves. It is absurd that this season Joe Launchbury and David Wilson miss out on the Heineken Cup while overseas test players Dean Mumm and Marcus Ayerza take their places. The same happens every season and is the price for the RFU entering individual club sides into Europe. Can you imagine current All Blacks or Springboks being in a structure which causes them to miss Super 15?!!
    Another side-effect of allowing some areas like Cornwall and much of the north to almost die in terms of getting clubs into the Premiership is that there are huge associated risks. There are currently four Premiership clubs within an hour of Heathrow. If London Welsh had stayed up last spring at the expense of Sale, and if Newcastle had lost their Championship play-off to Bedford, there would have been five this season, with not a single Premiership club in the north – a region which, thanks to giving domestic rep (county) rugby proper respect, had in former years produced a stream of top players from modest clubs such as Beaumont, Old, Dooley, Squires, Neary, Carleton, Slemen, Harrison and many more. Given the levels of money and ambition at clubs like London Scottish, Ealing, Bristol, Cornish Pirates, Richmond, London Welsh and Esher, it’s easy to envisage a situation in which the north becomes a wasteland for rugby union unless the RFU reviews its attitude to representative rugby.
    That review ought to begin with entering our strongest counties into the Heineken Cup as replacements for the self-interested Premiership clubs. They would already be on a par with the Zebres and Connachts. It wouldn’t take many years to catch up with the others.

  2. Your comments about the Irish provinces are unrealistic. In truth the provinces are professional sides just like the English clubs. To talk about them as if they were representative sides as they used to be and like the English counties used to be is nonsense. Yes the Leinster players are registered to clubs but when was the last time Brian O’Driscoll played for University College Dublin RFC?

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