EXCLUSIVE
Global brewing giants Heineken are to step down as title sponsors of rugby‘s Champions Cup, leaving tournament organisers with a big financial gap to fill before their two tournaments kick off in December.
With the financial problems in both English and Welsh rugby well known – three English Premiership sides have been shut down in the last year and Welsh clubs are seeing many of their best players head abroad – Heineken’s decision is sure to put more pressure on rugby’s finances.
The reasons behind Heineken’s decision have not been made known and they are expected to remain attached to the tournament, but in a reduced capacity.
EPCR will now have to find a replacement title sponsor to help refill their coffers.
A post-Covid recovery saw full houses for the semi-finals and final this season, and it is believed EPCR will be able to distribute around 50 to the clubs in their three participant leagues – Gallagher Premiership, BKT URC and Top 14 – as a result.
And, if they can find a replacement for Heineken and go on to fill the 62,850 capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the Champions Cup final next season, their financial picture should improve.
Heineken have been the only title sponsor of the main tournament since it began back in 1995. In the 1998-99 season, they pulled out, along with the English clubs, when Ulster won what was known for one season as the European Rugby Cup, but returned after a one-season political hiatus.
The Heineken Cup then grew to become the best club rugby tournament in the world, attracting world record crowds to matches and packed out stadia for its finals. Then another political change saw the organisation of the competition alter. ERC (European Rugby Cup) became EPCR (European Professional Club Rugby) in 2014 in a coup organised by the English and French clubs aimed at ending governing body involvement.
At the time, the ERC turnover was around 47m Euros and Bath owner Bruce Craig, one of the major catalysts for change, triumphantly announced the new TV deals for the revised 20-team Champions Cup competition was worth 57m Euros over its initial four-year period.
The revamped tournament cast aside Heineken as title sponsor, preferring instead to seek a suite of commercial partners. For four years Heineken remained loyal as a leading partner, with Turkish Airlines eventually joining them, before returning as title sponsor for 2018-2023.
Craig predicted a bright financial future for the new EPCR organisers at the time of the change, but his hopes and dreams of more than doubling the old ERC annual turnover failed to materialise. “We’ve just achieved an increase of 60% on TV rights alone,” Craig proudly announced in 2018 at the time of the scheduled TV contract renewals. In four years’ time our overall turnover will exceed 100m Euros per year. I don’t think, I know. When we say we’re going to do something, we do it.”
That bold prediction was based on EPCR recruiting four main partner sponsors, each paying 4m Euros per season. Heineken were the only ones in EPCR’s first season in charge and Turkish Airlines joined them for a further three years.
With a drop off in revenue, rather than the predicted increase, the way was cleared for Heineken’s return as the title sponsor at the start of the 2018-19 campaign.
