Championship Rugby’s deal with Premier Sports falls through
Rugby fans should be witnessing one of the closest battles for promotion to the Premiership, with just five points currently separating four Championship teams in the tussle to go up.
But in this most exciting of run-ins in the English second tier, they have been shut out of the action by a complete absence of any matches being shown by a broadcaster.
Subscription channel Premier Sports agreed a deal to show matches in the Championship and even got as far as including some in its listings – but none has been broadcast yet.
A sticking point has been the Thursday night slot set aside for live games on Premier Sports, which also shows the United Rugby Championship and Spanish football’s LaLiga.
“We had hoped to establish a broadcast deal during the current season and have been in discussions with Premier Sports to broadcast Championship Rugby on an available slot on a Thursday evening,” said the Rugby Football Union (RFU).
“Given the practical challenges for clubs around scheduling games midweek, the broadcast partnership is unable to proceed at this point.”
Sources say that clubs had given various reasons – including late notice and travel complications – for being unwilling to switch their fixtures from the weekend.
What this has resulted in, however, is a blackout of the Championship at a time when it is already struggling for revenue as well as recognition.
Speaking to City PM in January, Richmond chairman John Heaton called on the RFU to reinstate a portion of funding to clubs that had previously been cut.
Furthermore, Heaton said he would allow his Richmond side to play at different times if it meant a television deal which could showcase the Championship.
In France, the top two divisions – the Top14 and ProD2 – have a broadcast deal which is packaged into one bundle and sees at least one second division game shown on Thursday evenings as the headline game.
Having two leagues under one body that work together is the case in the French game but not the English, yet it’s still difficult to understand why the Championship sides in question aren’t doing everything they can to feature on television.
The league does not have a title sponsor. The best way to attract one and show the competition’s proposition as a commercial product is by taking any exposure offered.
The Women’s Six Nations has done just that by moving to free-to-air TV, while rugby league’s arrival on Channel 4 this season has generated healthy coverage.
It all feels rather like the clubs are shooting themselves in the foot, though of course late changes and sudden gameday shifts are, in part, the responsibility of Premier Sports.
Matters have been complicated further this week by reports that the reserve teams of Premiership clubs could join the Championship.
There has also long been talk of a new breakaway league whereby some clubs would move out of an RFU-controlled league and into a new breakaway competition. With both ideas, the likelihood and popularity is uncertain.
What is on the cards, however, is a Championship where there is little external investment in a broadcast structure and therefore a plateau of sponsorship and club interest. The RFU website publishes highlights from each round but clubs have to stream their own games.
Only Doncaster and Ealing have applied to the RFU to be audited against the criteria demanded for acceptance to the Premiership – although sources suggest other clubs feel there may be other routes to entry.
For now, though, more than 80 per cent of Championship sides either don’t want to go up, know they don’t have a realistic chance at finishing top, or know they would fail to satisfy the seemingly endless audit criteria.
There are no Championship matches broadcast on our screens this season, despite hints to suggest otherwise. The league, which is extremely competitive this season, seems destined to stay hidden from view for at least the immediate future.