Premiership clubs link up with USA giants of grid-iron

England‘s Premiership clubs have opened talks with four American football franchises over a ground-breaking trans- Atlantic venture.
In an ambitious attempt to push back the frontiers and take the sport to a new market, the clubs’ umbrella organization, Premier Rugby Ltd, has approached four of America’s biggest grid-iron teams in Boston, Washington, Miami and Cleveland.
The initiative coincides with the imminent launch of the English Premiership’s £152m four-year deal with BT Sport and their avowed declaration to quit Europe at the end of the coming season.
The English and French clubs gave the tournament organisers, ERC Ltd, notice to quit 12 months ago, as revealed in The Rugby Paper, unless the four other member countries agreed to Anglo-French proposals for a streamlined, two-tier European competitions.
ERC have rejected recommendations for what the English and French consider a fairer, more lucrative tournament. Instead ERC have renewed the contract with their current broadcaster, Sky, for what would be a heavily devalued competition next season if there were no English or French interest.
Without the rest, most notably the four Irish provinces and three Welsh regions, England and France would be left to devise their own substitute tournament. In that context, the potential American dimension assumes real significance.
As Europe fragments, the enterprising English are looking at new horizons.
“I can confirm that we have had quite serious discussions with a number of American football owners,” Leicester Tigers chairman Peter Tom told The Rugby Paper. “We are keen to look into the practicality of playing some rugby matches in their stadia.”
The four franchises earmarked by PRL are understood to be the Washington Red Skins (stadium capacity 91,704), Miami Dolphins (80,123), the Cleveland Browns (73,200) and the New England Patriots (68,000).
“Can we create interest in the game in another continent?” Tom said. “For example, could London Irish play a St. Patrick’s Day fixture in Boston?
“Some people are looking at the creation of a world club championship. I’m not saying that Leicester will be playing Harlequins at the Washington Red Skins but anything’s possible.
“How much of this is for real and how much is pie in the sky, who knows? All sorts of options are being explored. The discussions with the American football owners will go on.
“The game is going global. Sponsors like Caterpillar at Leicester Tigers, Michelin, Toyota and HSBC are raising the profile of the sport all over the world.
Saracens, fearless pioneers of new frontiers, wanted to relocate their home European Cup tie against Munster last December to the Big Apple. Their bid to borrow the 82,500-seater stadium used by the New York Giants and the New York Jets had to be aborted because of a problem over the exact location of the posts.
PRL, through their enterprising chief executive Mark McCafferty, are drawing up contingency plans for a season without Europe when the current seven-year agreement expires next May. The possibilities include a competition with South Africa’s Super XV teams.
The Anglo-French blueprint for a 20-team elite European tournament, with the RaboDirect Pro 12 clubs subjected to the same top-six qualifying demands as the Aviva Premiership and French Top 14, has been rejected by the Celts and Italians.
The most recent attempt to break the impasse, in Paris in June, achieved nothing. PRL were excluded because, according to one ERC source, “they refused to sign a document which commits them to being more open and transparent about their BT deal”.
PRL claim the deal includes a record-breaking sum for a European competition of £40m, almost trebling its current worth.
“Despite the uncertainty over Europe, these are tremendously exciting times for the club game in England,” said Tom.
“We have built a fantastic relationship with BT. They recognise the difficulties over Europe as a long-running battle, not a short-term one.”
The major English clubs say that this time there will be no U-turn on Europe unless they get a deal which they say will make everyone better off.
“The television deal we have agreed with BT will increase the size of the pot for everyone in Europe,” McCafferty said. “What we want is to increase the size of the cake rather than argue about the slices.”
Tom, whose Tigers have already sold a record 14,500 season tickets for the new campaign, said: “All we want is to improve a great competition by making it greater. We are not trying to be greedy.”
PETER JACKSON