It is ironic that CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firm hoping to buy a 50 per cent stake in the Premiership for £275m made a £9 billion killing by investing in Formula One for a decade.
The irony is because Rugby Union’s only other notable dealing with a Formula One investor was a killing of a different sort. It saw Tom Walkinshaw, in his capacity as Gloucester owner and Premier Rugby chairman, kill the idea of a meritocratic league structure by introducing the cartel-like P share formula to the top league.
It is a funding model Walkinshaw was familiar with from...