[The Guardian] Premiership Rugby final could be staged away from Twickenham after 2024

[pagliaccio_euforico]

Thoughts?
I like the idea of spreading things around but twickenham does seem like a proper home. I hope they don't move it a luxury box palace in London if they do.

Premiership Rugby final could be staged away from Twickenham after 2024

The Premiership Rugby chief executive, Simon Massie-Taylor, said that people should be ‘open-minded’ about a stadium move

www.theguardian.com

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Like the idea in theory,
Surprised the RFU would go for it, though, seeing as Twickenham is free and they'd have to rent/split revenue at whatever football ground they took it to elsewhere in the country

 

[Which Tyler]

Like the idea in theory,
Surprised the RFU would go for it, though, seeing as Twickenham is free and they'd have to rent/split revenue at whatever football ground they took it to elsewhere in the country

Would the RFU get a say?
It's entirely down to PRL, surely.

Personally, I'd be torn, on the one hand Twickenham is home, and it's still rugby, and taking it on the road means either a quarter of the crowd, or renting from football.
On the other hand, taking these things on the road is a great idea in principal.
On the third hand, the play-offs are still a money-spinning PR exercise that doesn't really interest me* - though that's mostly the semi-finals, and I probably will watch the final despite myself.




* Basically, too much is down on "on the day" rather than rewarding form over the season; the bounce of a rugby ball, a ref missing something, an early injury - these things have always been important in rugby, but shouldn't determine who the best team is in a league structure.
I don't have a problem with a play-off per se, or money-making for that matter; but it should just be the top 2 teams in the league, and there should be some advantage for finishing first, or having a decent gap back to 2nd place over the course of the season - my preferred option is to translate league table points difference to a head start on the score-board. So this year, I wouldn't have had semi-finals, but just a big day out at Twickenham between Leicester and Saracens, Leicester start the match 7-0 up.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Would the RFU get a say?
It's entirely down to PRL, surely.

True enough,
I'd still imagine the RFU/PRLs relationship would mean Twickenham would be more favourable than hiring St James' Park, or wherever, though

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Would rather the prem final stayed at Twickenham.
It's our Wembley and the FA Cup will never be moved unless due to unavailable.


England should move around more though, they should be playing games in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle.
At least 1 AI game should be away from London.

"The goal for the final is to try and make a national sporting moment, and I genuinely believe we can do it," he said. "There are a few things in the calendar where we have that established moment, the Grand National and Wimbledon, and we know there's 10 million rugby fans knocking around, plus all the genuine sports fans who get attracted to big moments. You've got 10 million [rugby] fans in the UK, 9 million are England fans and pretty much all of those will watch a game on ITV. Now it's a pretty broad demographic of people.

somewhat funny given Wimbledon and the Grand Nationals have never moved around.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I might be going full tinfoil hat here but wouldn't this reduce RFU revenue which affects championship funding. If it became a semi regular thing it could increase the gap and make the ring fenced top tier less attainable for championship clubs.

No idea what the finances are but it seems like it's sticking two fingers to the RFU.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Would rather the prem final stayed at Twickenham.
It's our Wembley and the FA Cup will never be moved unless due to unavailable.


England should move around more though, they should be playing games in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle.
At least 1 AI game should be away from London.

Yeah, I like this idea more actually

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

I might be going full tinfoil hat here but wouldn't this reduce RFU revenue which affects championship funding. If it became a semi regular thing it could increase the gap and make the ring fenced top tier less attainable for championship clubs.

No idea what the finances are but it seems like it's sticking two fingers to the RFU.

yeah I think it has to do with fundings. They would rather rent out a stadium with more luxuries. I don't know if not giving the RFU money is a primary reason but it probably doesn't hurt.

I think neutral semi-final double header would always get good crowds and would be a good way of getting the game in different areas. Also eliminates Saracens' home semi-finals in front of 25 people.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Would also pretty much make finishing top 2 pointless

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Would also pretty much make finishing top 2 pointless

Top 6 qualify for playoffs with top 2 going straight to semis could counteract that.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I personally can't stand the idea of someone finishing 6 and having the potential to make the final by playing only 1 away game.

 

[Which Tyler]

I personally can't stand the idea of someone finishing 6 and having the potential to make the final by playing only 1 away game.

Here here.
IMO 4th is too far down the table to claim to be the best team in the league that year. Not to mention that there are already too many matches, so we should be looking for reductions.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I personally can't stand the idea of someone finishing 6 and having the potential to make the final by playing only 1 away game.

Fair enough, I don't think anything needs to change in the Prem tbh, just a suggestion around the neutral semi final issue. I think I'd prefer that system for the URC. It was emphatically proven that the 8th best team shouldn't make the playoffs in the last two weeks. We've got conferences and 16 teams though so it's more justifiable to have 6 playoff sides.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Fair enough, I don't think anything needs to change in the Prem tbh, just a suggestion around the neutral semi final issue. I think I'd prefer that system for the URC. It was emphatically proven that the 8th best team shouldn't make the playoffs in the last two weeks. We've got conferences and 16 teams though so it's more justifiable to have 6 playoff sides.

Yeh I mean I feel that all the URC did was prove that they should've just had a play offs with the top 4 teams since that was what ended up as the semi finals anyway.