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United Rugby Championship
Pro12 looking to expand to the East coast of North America (New York)
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<blockquote data-quote="Bruce_ma gooshvili" data-source="post: 813391" data-attributes="member: 74121"><p>If you didn't have the option of Pro Rugby I wouldn't dismiss this proposal out of hand in either Canada or the US. The Pro12 is at a good standard outside of World Cup years and is growing pretty fast in terms of attendances (which are in part caused by unique challenges in Scotland (geography and stadia) and a botched introduction of top tier rugby to Italy. </p><p></p><p>For me, the biggest issue for any prospective country thinking about joining is your point about Italy. The main people to blame for the failure of Italian rugby to catch fire is of course, Italians. However, Pro12 organisers have shown a complete failure to grasp the fact that you need to subsidise, assist and nurture clubs from new territories in the short term in order to profit from them financially in the long term. Instead Pro12 essentially taxed them, abusing their position as the only available option for Italian club rugby outside of their own national league. </p><p></p><p> I find it embarrassing that despite a couple of hiccups, the guys running PRO rugby, with limited or no rugby knowledge, seem to instinctively run their organisation more professionally than Pro12, at least in terms of when considering expansion. </p><p></p><p>If I was the Canadian or US rugby unions I'd only agree to this if Pro12s existing clubs agreed to distribute some of their star players to my roster and pay their wages. Making me competitive on day one (like the NFLs Panthers and Jaguar franchises). Pro12 are reeking of desperation and you could negotiate from a very strong position. If it doesn't work out you'd hopefully have PRO rugby to fall back on.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bruce_ma gooshvili, post: 813391, member: 74121"] If you didn't have the option of Pro Rugby I wouldn't dismiss this proposal out of hand in either Canada or the US. The Pro12 is at a good standard outside of World Cup years and is growing pretty fast in terms of attendances (which are in part caused by unique challenges in Scotland (geography and stadia) and a botched introduction of top tier rugby to Italy. For me, the biggest issue for any prospective country thinking about joining is your point about Italy. The main people to blame for the failure of Italian rugby to catch fire is of course, Italians. However, Pro12 organisers have shown a complete failure to grasp the fact that you need to subsidise, assist and nurture clubs from new territories in the short term in order to profit from them financially in the long term. Instead Pro12 essentially taxed them, abusing their position as the only available option for Italian club rugby outside of their own national league. I find it embarrassing that despite a couple of hiccups, the guys running PRO rugby, with limited or no rugby knowledge, seem to instinctively run their organisation more professionally than Pro12, at least in terms of when considering expansion. If I was the Canadian or US rugby unions I'd only agree to this if Pro12s existing clubs agreed to distribute some of their star players to my roster and pay their wages. Making me competitive on day one (like the NFLs Panthers and Jaguar franchises). Pro12 are reeking of desperation and you could negotiate from a very strong position. If it doesn't work out you'd hopefully have PRO rugby to fall back on. [/QUOTE]
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Rugby Union
United Rugby Championship
Pro12 looking to expand to the East coast of North America (New York)
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