Potential Pro 14 'Development League'

[Leonormous Boozer]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/43843600
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I like the idea, we're clearly not happy losing the B&I Cup where a lot of fringe players make it or break it, something like the Espoirs league in France would be ideal.

 

[SelimNiai]

Interesting, if all teams buy into the idea it becomes a good platform to introduce yongsters, reintroduce injured players and give game time to players who cant always get into the 23

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Darn. I was hoping this would be something with the potential for inviting continental sides. I think Scotland are better off developing their emerging talent through their new Pro league rather than this. If you have two squads worth of talent in the Edinburgh and Glasgow Pro14 then the quality in the new professional Scottish league won't be any great shakes to entice fans.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Darn. I was hoping this would be something with the potential for inviting continental sides. I think Scotland are better off developing their emerging talent through their new Pro league rather than this. If you have two squads worth of talent in the Edinburgh and Glasgow Pro14 then the quality in the new professional Scottish league won't be any great shakes to entice fans.

It'd be stupid not to tap into that market. It's still very much in the early stages.

 

[profitius]

Sounds good. The word is this will be played during the international windows and the pro14 will have a reduced number of games meaning few if no games played during the international windows.


Bruce, no reason why continental teams couldn't be invited.

 

[Groundhog]

Would be great to use this to expand from the off honestly.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Looking at it from a purely Irish perspective, what would be ideal would be a development league season running from September to December with a restructured AIL given access to all squad players from January to May.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

If it reduces games during the international window then great. But I think the priorities of the different nations are really far apart on this, so it will take some thrashing out. Being highly speculative and ill informed I'd suggest:

Ireland & Wales: have very broad coverage across territory provided by existing Pro14 franchises. So this proposal makes sense for them.

Scotland and Italy: have large areas of territory and population with no access to decent level professional rugby. I'd say improving the quality of their domestic scene is a priority over a development tournament, with non-international franchise players being allocated to domestic sides during international windows. Issues then when shutting down franchises for 6-7 weeks during 6N.

SA: have Currie Cup for fringe player development. Travelling expense makes their involvement in a development tournament questionable.

The minds of the Pro14 came up with a great league format with zero preparation time; so I wouldn't rule out them finding a good solution here. But it will be tough.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

so want a proper European development comp.

Like a U23 Champions cup and chop the AWC.
Maybe have the rules as strictly U23 but with 3 players over 23 that are not in the main teams european squad or in the front row.

Maybe one day it might actually happen who knows.

 

[Amiga500]

I think we should call it The Aviva Premiership.

 

[rob39]

If I was team England I'd want to tap into this.......Dublin English Cardiff English.......................

 

[Big_Grumper]

My question is to how it would be funded and how much revenue it would require to make it viable.

 

[Thingimubob]

My question is to how it would be funded and how much revenue it would require to make it viable.

From the sounds of it each team is getting a significant bump in funding with the new Premier Sports TV deal, so I imagine that is what will keep any development league's afloat, rather than it directly having to rely on gate money etc.

 

[Big_Grumper]

From the sounds of it each team is getting a significant bump in funding with the new Premier Sports TV deal, so I imagine that is what will keep any development league's afloat, rather than it directly having to rely on gate money etc.

Are there any details on the TV deal? Duration, value etc. For it to have a chance of enduring success the league and clubs/teams need to find a way to survive without relying on the TV money.

My fear is that once the money dries up the league will soon follow.

 

[Thingimubob]

Are there any details on the TV deal? Duration, value etc. For it to have a chance of enduring success the league and clubs/teams need to find a way to survive without relying on the TV money.

My fear is that once the money dries up the league will soon follow.

Here's the details I've seen:

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/new-pro14-tv-deal-revealed-14594775

Apparently "this represents a 100% increase in revenue in the past three years"

Dunno if you mean the development league or the main pro14 itself, but same goes for every league I guess. I doubt the English Premiership's "A" league is all that profitable on its own, but imagine funding from the BT Sport TV deal goes a long way to keeping it afloat!

 

[Big_Grumper]

@Thingimubob - Sorry, I mean the development league. The English Premiership is fine but the 'A' League is becoming a train wreck: numerous cancelled games and unfulfilled fixtures. My club haven't faired too badly and have used the Anglo Welsh for player development with mixed results. Our squad doesn't have the necessary depth yet we're still losing players to rivals because they aren't getting developmental pitch time.

 

[bushytop]

So it's been a couple of months and we now know that it'll be 4 Welsh and 4 Irish teams playing in September and October (with the possibility of more games in April) but was wondering if there was any news on coverage of the competition.

The reason I ask is, with the beeb losing its coverage of the Pro 14, you would think that they would be all over this but I can't find anything. Maybe the Premier Sports deal will have this development league as part of its package but who knows?