URC 2023/24

You may as well say there's 60 million potential TV viewers in South Africa.

Exactly. They got 14.5m viewers TOTAL in the 21-22 season, or around 500k per round.

An average of ~1m then watched the final.

If they exist they are potential.

I believe BT pay £40m a year for the Premiership.

Given any combined league would in theory be a more attractive competition that figure should rise as there would probably be more competition for those rights. In other words the TV Rights for the URC would at least double, albeit the English clubs would be taking a chunk of that.

The devil will be in the detail.

Assuming TV revenues double to 80m per year, it then gets chopped up between unions of England, Ireland, South Africa, Scotland, Wales and Italy.

Assuming unions will want a share of TV money proportional with the number of teams they have, that grants us a share somewhere between 15% and 20%, with the proportion decreasing with every team England enter into the competition (realistically they can probably sustain 6 or so; they'll probably push for at least 8).

So a realistic projection for the upside to the IRFU is around 12m from this source of TV revenue.

As it stands, Provincial income (URC TV included) makes up the 20m or so "other income" portion of the IRFU income statement, out of the 90m+ total.

Long winded way of saying, I'm not sure how much appetite there'll be to secure this source of revenue, given all the costs that come with it.

I also can't see (a) English clubs suddenly folding into RFU control or (b) the URC unions entering into a deal that doesn't deal directly with the RFU.

What was with Mack Hansen knocking back a pint at the Connacht v Ospreys match on TG4?

Stormers letting the Lions back into this game.

35-26 with 7 minutes left.

Man watching Saturday afternoon match in pint drinking shocker.

I agree, but he was necking it in one and spilling a bit on himself. I should have clarified better.

The English game is in the process of destroying itself. The IRFU and others would be better off staying away or at least waiting until the RFU are back in greater control over the premiership before having anything to do with them.

Scarlets getting destroyed by Bulls

What on earth is going on with Josh McKay's line-up picture 😂

Wonder how much of a break all the players will be getting after the world cup. Especially SA players who still have a game to play this coming weekend.

Easier for the SA teams, they will be asked (told) by SA rugby to give most of the players a decent break to recover, but those players playing for clubs abroad might not get the same courtesy.

Fair enough, but Scotland did exit a week earlier than Ireland. Is Hansen playing the coming weekend? That woould indicate a weekend off before getting back to it.

I hope the players get a bit more of a break than that, but also realise the clubs pay their wages and will want them to play as soon as possible.

Kolisi can play the final saturday evening and run out for Racing 92 on sunday lol