Axe cap or risk losing out on TV bonanza, says Nigel Wray

Saracens chairman Nigel Wray believes greater success in Europe is critical if Premiership clubs are to maximise future TV revenue.
With a resolution to the dispute over Europe finally in sight, with BT Sport and Sky likely to share coverage of matches in future, English clubs will look to cash in heavily when the next tranche of television rights comes up for grabs.
But Wray fears clubs will be disappointed for as long as it takes them to break free of the self-imposed salary cap, which he insists makes it impossible for sides like Saracens and Leicester to compete effectively in Europe.
Next season’s Premiership salary cap will rise to £5m, with a marquee player on top. But Wray told The Rugby Paper: “If you look at the recent French TV deal, it signposts that our own TV agreement, touch wood, should rise considerably.
“But if we want to achieve that, our league has got to be up there competing with the best teams in Europe and attracting the best players.
“At the moment, though, the stats would suggest clubs without a wage cap are tending to win the Heineken Cup.
“It’s no coincidence that the six Heineken Cup pool winners this season were Irish and French clubs, all of whom effectively have no salary cap, so to that extent our clubs are being held back.
“Should we be held back? Clearly not. If you’re, say, Leicester and you want to win the Premiership AND the Heineken Cup, that requires a completely different squad and investment to a club that just wants to remain in the Premiership.”
Wasps were the last English club to lift the Heineken Cup in 2007, since then it has been shared by cash-rich French and Irish teams.
Leicester and Northampton reached finals in 2009 and 2011, but there has been a decline in Premiership teams reaching the knock-out stages. By contrast, recent success of French sides in Europe has contributed to the game’s growing popularity there, enabling their elite league to negotiate an eye-watering TV deal with Canal+ worth £300m over five years.
Top players are heading to France in droves and Wray’s English aspirations are being stymied.  He insists the salary cap will be removed, whether there is Premiership opposition or not, adding: “It’s unsustainable under European law.
“It can’t possibly work in a European context if we’re all in the same competition but playing by different rules. That’s not a level playing field.”
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