Product, Process, People & Profit.

Promotion & Relegation (Part 347...)

Today's Sunday Times contains an "exclusive" article concerning the likely official end to Promotion and Relegation between the two top tiers of English Rugby. Claims of any exclusivity are somewhat stretched as similar features have already appeared in City AM and this week's Rugby Paper.

All reports begin with the expectation that the RFU Council will vote to split the Gallagher Prem from the remaining RFU leagues and create a new "expansion league" to which newcomers will be invited by a tender process. Council is due to sit this coming Friday. This would bring an immediate end to Prem/Champ promotion and relegation and ensure the continuation of a 10 team topflight until 2029/30 when a relaunched Prem will consist of the 10 existing teams plus two "franchise" teams. The two additional clubs would be selected by an "expansion review group" assessing criteria such as MOS, investment, business plans and rugby excellence. Aspirations to grow the new league to 20 clubs by 2040 are also postulated. Competing teams would be judged annually on three criteria - sporting performance, attendance and club following; bottom feeder clubs could potentially be demoted.

You should be able to read the Times piece in full here but let's have a look at a few segments with most relevance to Worcester Warriors in more detail:

"Expressions of interest for clubs wanting to join the top flight will be invited at the start of the 2027-28 season, although the process could be brought forward. Ealing Trailfinders and Worcester Warriors will certainly apply, and potentially London Irish, too, as they eye a return to competitive rugby."

The journalist, Alex Lowe, has not provided any evidence to back his "certainty." Perhaps "probably" would be more apt. The CEO at Warriors, Stephen Vaughan, has already said that Warriors will apply only when the time is right and when the structure of the league and details of the financial commitment are clear. As for Ealing, the club has made no secret of its ambition to be promoted. However the pathway has already been open to them for the last three years, yet they have done little to ensure that they meet the RFU's minimum standards criteria, preferring instead to invest millions in their squad.

"Any club that wants to join the Prem will have to buy a share in the league. The price will be set at “market value”, according to sources, which some insiders believe to be about £13.5million. When Wasps and Worcester went bust, Prem Rugby bought back each club’s share for about £9million (sic) from the administrators."

Market value is deservedly in quotation marks. Book values of P-shares seem to vary widely amongst clubs and book values are often inflated beyond true worth. Historically their value was related to income from broadcast rights. Warriors and Wasps were both paid £9.8m for their P-shares - presumably the £13.5m comes from (9.8 x13) / 10 (plus a bit for inflation.) That said, CVC bought a 27% share in Prem Rugby for around £200m in 2019 which in no way aligns with the apparent value of £135m for the remaining 73% !

"Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, supports the Prem’s franchise model. He is on record as saying that promotion and relegation no longer works in its traditional form. The Champ clubs had long been against the franchise plan, describing it during negotiations as “anti-sport”.

Sweeney may well be tempted to use the recent experience of the new Worcester Warriors to support a tender process for joining the Prem. Even the most ardent troll of Warriors would be hard-pressed to deny that our return has been anything but good for The Champ with large crowds home and away and an excellent match-day experience at Sixways. One could also argue that the failure of Ealing Trailfinders to meet the Prem's MOS criteria has been the biggest single factor behind Sweeney's view that promotion/relegation no longer works.

Worcester, with the help of Cecil Duckworth, met the required criteria in 2004 resulting in our promotion as did Exeter Chiefs in 2010 and Bristol in 2015. Undoubtedly Ealing would cite the cases of London Welsh and, to a lesser extent, Rotherham whose failures in the top tier resulted in financial disaster.

"However, the Tier Two board, which represents the Champ clubs, has been involved in the design of this new model."

I would question the validity of the last sentence of this extract. The Tier Two board, I believe, is unchanged since its inception in late 2024, comprising:

• Simon Gillham OBE (Chairman)

• Nick Johnston (Ex CEO Coventry Rugby)

• Simon Beatham (Director Nottingham Rugby)

• Simon Cohen (RFU Council Championship Clubs’ representative)

• Stuart Ramsey (RFU Commercial Director)

• Conor O’Shea (RFU Executive Director of Performance Rugby)

• Terry Burwell (RFU Council Member for Hampshire clubs)

Of these, only Simon Beatham has any direct relationship with a Champ Rugby club. The independent Chairman is employed by the RFU, as are Ramsey and O'Shea. Burwell was a long-serving RFU director and is an RFU-appointed member of the board. Johnston left his position at Coventry in December last year. Simon Cohen is best known as being CEO at Premiership club, Leicester Tigers from 2012 to 2020. If the Tier 2 Board have indeed been involved in the new model, it is surely disingenuous to suggest that they are all fighting Champ Rugby's corner.

"Red Bull would not have come on board at Newcastle without work being well under way towards the launch of a franchise league. Potential investors and sponsors, particularly those connected to American sports, prefer the certainty of a competition with no relegation."

This is perhaps the crux of the matter and the major reason for the RFU's push to adopt a tender process. Money. American money specifically. Forget the history of sport across Europe, the compelling viewing of crucial end of season relegation and promotion matches, the jubilation and despair of players and supporters alike. Let's ignore the long-term growth of the game, the appeal to supporters and broadcasters and just hope that the likes of McDonalds or Coca-cola will be tempted to pump their sullied money into our game. Maybe if they can be tempted a fat bonus cheque will be landing into our bank accounts.

Given that the return of Worcester Warriors was down to a tender process, it would be hypocritical of me to dismiss the RFU's plans completely. As I have already mentioned, I believe that Warriors' return has been good for the game. I don't doubt that a return for London Irish and Wasps would also be a huge boost for rugby union in the South-East. However, our return was accompanied by the promotion of Richmond from National League One. Surely a mechanism that ensures there remains a pathway to elite level from the RFU league system is in the game's interest. If a team applies to be audited for promotion, has a credible squad of players and a sustainable business plan then they must be allowed to ascend. I believe that the highest-finishing eligible team in The Champ should be promoted. If the likes of Ealing continue to win the league but decline to meet MOS then the next cab on the rank should be offered the opportunity - be that Doncaster, Pirates, Coventry, Worcester or any other ambitious second tier outfit.

In the meantime, identify areas of the country to target for expansion of the elite game: Yorkshire, Liverpool, Birmingham, East Anglia, East London, Cornwall, Kent etc. and encourage tender bids to gradually add teams to the league. But safeguarding Promotion through merit is key to the credibility of the game.

The title of this post are the 4 Ps of Franchising. I have at least one thing in common with Bill Sweeney, in that I think the word "Franchise" is misleading and an unfortunate label. Worcester Warriors is not a Franchise and neither will Wasps or London Irish be if they return. They are all real clubs with heritage and history.

Anyone attempting to bring a new team into the Prem or The Champ will surely need a credible support base to attract appropriate investment and players. However the 4 Ps remain relevant for any club attempting to launch itself into the Prem:

• PRODUCT - A credible squad of players and coaches

• PROCESS - Excellent match-day experience, Academy system and Women's team

• PEOPLE - Strong supporter base and dedicated non-playing staff

• PROFIT - A sustainable business plan

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A Tribute to a Warriors' Fan

One of the best things about being a season ticket holder at any ground is the relationship that builds between fellow supporters. Over the season you may just nod acknowledgment to some people, others you share conversations with but many become genuine friends and your connection builds over time, especially when you have been sitting close for many years.

I'm not exactly sure when Paul and Jenny started sitting in front of us in the East Stand Block B but it must be well over 10 years ago. For the first few months we didn't even know their names - or if we did we had forgotten them by the following week! (It then becomes one of those awkward situations when you can't ask a person's name because you almost know them too well!)

But then slowly you get to know them better and realise how much you have in common - a love of travel, a passion for cricket, a mutual sense of humour and, above all, the shared experience of following your team.

Jenny Bodfish was a lovely lady. Clearly kind and caring and full of fun. She loved Worcester Warriors and was so excited by the club's return this season. She was one of the many volunteers to come along to our Sixways SOS days, donning her rubber gloves and carrying on late into the afternoon, despite a bad back. She was interviewed by Tammy Gooding from BBC H&W whilst at the ground on our first clean-up day and made such an impression that Tammy asked her to appear on the Breakfast Show the following morning. Jenny, of course, obliged.

Tragically Jenny was taken ill in early January and given a terminal diagnosis. Just a matter of weeks later she passed away in Worcestershire Royal Hospital on Wednesday 11th February. She will be sorely missed by all who knew her and especially by her fellow Warriors' supporters from East Stand Block B. Our thoughts are very much with her husband Paul. Rest in peace Jenny x