What the Premiership has to do to evolve according to expert Mark Evans

English rugby‘s broken model needs fixing and now is the perfect time to instigate change, says industry expert Mark Evans.

Against a backdrop of Premiership clubs carrying huge debts and supporting untenable wage bills even before Covid-19 forced crisis-hit sides to slash player salaries by 25 per cent, former Harlequins CEO Evans believes the reset button must be pressed.

He wants radical reforms:

• Ring-fencing England‘s top two leagues

• Cutting the salary cap

• Playing fewer games

• Initiating a collective bargaining agreement with players.

Evans, whose vast experience includes stints in Australia‘s National Rugby League (NRL) as well as his current role as CEO of Asia-Pacific’s fledgling Global Rapid Rugby, says the full extent of the Covid-19 crisis has yet to hit home.

Evans told The Rugby Paper: “Your model will only be completely destroyed if one of your broadcasters goes bust.

“BT and Sky are big beasts so I don’t think Premiership Rugby will be as badly hit as some, but that’s cold comfort because clearly individual clubs are going to lose gate, season ticket and commercial revenue that they’ll never recoup.

“At present, it’s a case of keeping your costs as low as you can, managing your cash and seeking any assistance you can get your hands on in terms of investment or loans, but AFL (Aussie Rules) is looking at 50 per cent pay-cuts, NRL will be something similar and once the dust settles on all of this, a few sports will ask if it’s now time to reset the model?

“This is the time when you need a collective bargaining agreement with players. We should be negotiating collectively with players, not club by club. The owners will bear the cost – again! – and pain will be spread, but no one knows the true scale yet.

“Will sponsors and TV companies ask whether clubs are in breach? Probably. Can you hold people’s interest? I’d imagine a lot of the CVC money that was meant to go towards investment will be swallowed up, which will bring into sharp relief the fact that PRL’s central distribution monies will be lower now because 27 per cent is going to CVC.

“This is going to be really, really difficult and if ever there was a time to say, ‘You know what, guys, let’s remodel this’, now has got to be the time – not just one or two changes, a complete remodelling of the whole way professional sport operates.”

Evans, an admirer of ‘closed league’ governance models practised in American sports like NFL and NBA, outlined some key areas he believes English rugby must urgently address:

“First, I would have both of England’s top two leagues ring-fenced, the Premiership and the Championship, and I’d have expansion of the Premiership every five or ten years through application matched against strict criteria.

“I also think the salary cap is too high and we play too many games, so we need to get our costs and revenue into balance so we’re not constantly looking for rich people to cover losses.

“I don’t think that grows the game because we never buy any assets or build up any contingencies because the whole thing is out of kilter at present.

“Third, I’d have a collective bargaining agreement with the players, with minimum and maximum squad sizes and a minimum wage built in.

“I want to get rugby away from this idea that we can mimic football. We can’t, it’s just nonsense and people need to realise this.

“The only positive I can see from this terrible Covid-19 situation is that out of it might come a reformed sport.”

Evans believes Premiership, Championship and RFU bosses need to realise that promotion and relegation in its current form must end.

He added: “You can’t have people chasing the dream of getting into the Premiership because you get there and there’s inequitable funding.

“You’re competing against people who’ve had however many millions for years. It’s utterly crazy and people have to spend lots of money to get up, and when they do get up they’ve got to spend even more money – then they might go down again. It’s just wasted money.

“The Championship should be about player, coach and referee development, with national TV coverage and people should apply to be in it. It needs to be funded by the RFU, Premiership Rugby and the clubs.

“Then, every five or ten years, the better run clubs in the right areas can apply to the Premiership and if they meet certain criteria, they can join the league and you grow the game rather than everyone continually talking about shrinking it.”

NEALE HARVEY