ChicagoKid
Academy Player
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2020
- Messages
- 326
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Disclosure - Honeymooned in South Africa during RWC and really started watching Rugby only the last year or so. So if I say something completely backwards, please call me out.
However, reading the tea leaves, it seems like Super Rugby is likely finished and there will be substantial shakeup of competitions like Six Nations and Rugby Championships. Now I understand that countries like Italy, Scotland and Wales would likely never go for this, but here is an idea:
South Africa appears like they are making shifts to join the Six Nations and cash-in. That's bad news for RC members because SA is 50 percent of TV audience.
So here is my proposal: South Africa Joins Six Nations to Create a 7 Nations Tournament. SA gets more money and Six Nations get a prestigious team to join with a massive TV audience. You create two separate Six (Seven) Nation tournaments with promotion/relegation.
For year 1: Italy, South Africa, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and France. ---- On the other side, you create a mostly Tier 2 development league with the winner being promoted: Georgia, Russia, Romania, Portugal, Spain, Germany and Fiji (Based somewhere in Europe).
Now the Rugby Championship is clearly needing another economic engine to power TV contracts, so they add Japan. That aligns timezones and creates an avenue for Japan to grow into a major power and use its massive GDP to attract advertisers.
So am I bonkers?
However, reading the tea leaves, it seems like Super Rugby is likely finished and there will be substantial shakeup of competitions like Six Nations and Rugby Championships. Now I understand that countries like Italy, Scotland and Wales would likely never go for this, but here is an idea:
South Africa appears like they are making shifts to join the Six Nations and cash-in. That's bad news for RC members because SA is 50 percent of TV audience.
So here is my proposal: South Africa Joins Six Nations to Create a 7 Nations Tournament. SA gets more money and Six Nations get a prestigious team to join with a massive TV audience. You create two separate Six (Seven) Nation tournaments with promotion/relegation.
For year 1: Italy, South Africa, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and France. ---- On the other side, you create a mostly Tier 2 development league with the winner being promoted: Georgia, Russia, Romania, Portugal, Spain, Germany and Fiji (Based somewhere in Europe).
Now the Rugby Championship is clearly needing another economic engine to power TV contracts, so they add Japan. That aligns timezones and creates an avenue for Japan to grow into a major power and use its massive GDP to attract advertisers.
So am I bonkers?