If anyone was under any illusions about the decreasing importance of paying rugby fans in general, and Ireland supporters especially, then a cursory glance at the 2026 Six Nations fixtures will confirm as much.
The schedule was released on Monday and heaven knows how much bartering went into the negotiations between the various broadcasters (France Télévisions, ITV, BBC and S4C, Virgin Media and RTÉ, and Sky RAI) and the six unions/federations. As the relative poorer relations, save for the Italians, the two Irish broadcasters and the IRFU clearly carry little clout.
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How else can one explain the France-Ireland game being shunted forward to the Thursday ahead of the opening weekend? Apparently, it’s to avoid a clash with the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics a day later on Friday, February 6th.
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Games on Friday night and Sunday afternoon inconvenience travelling fans anyway, but a Thursday night fixture is actively discouraging Irish supporters from travelling to Paris. That is presuming the game takes place in the Stade de France as, curiously, the venues have not yet been confirmed.
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Aside from the exorbitant expense of flights and hotels, supporters wishing to attend this game will have to take at least two, but probably three, days off work. That is a huge imposition and is bound to affect the number of Irish supporters who will attend the game.
Traditionally, one of the great defining features of the Six Nations is away supporters. Yet clearly France Télévisions and the French Rugby Federation (FFR) don’t give a damn about the travelling fans, and the other unions (including the IRFU) went along with them.
The hope must be that this is a one-off, but supposing it rivals the 6.7 and 6.6 million French TV audiences that watched the last two Friday night opening matches? This could be the thin end of the wedge, for all that appears to matter are the broadcasters and TV viewers.
In 2024, the Friday night opener between France and Ireland in Marseille drew an average audience of 6.6 million viewers, while this year’s opening match between France and Wales, also on Friday night, was watched by 6.7 million viewers.
Tellingly, the 500-word release from the Six Nations confirming next season’s fixtures never mentioned actual paying supporters once, but instead stated the championship was “inviting more and more fans to tune in and enjoy the drama”.
As the biggest spenders among the TV broadcasters, if it’s not France TV, then clearly ITV are calling the shots
“In 2025, nearly 130 million fans were watching coverage of the Guinness Men’s Six Nations in home markets; a +6.30 per cent increase compared to the previous year, and the set of fixtures for 2026 promises to keep fans hooked for five rounds of sporting entertainment,” the release added.
If the host broadcasters and the FFR wanted to avoid a clash with the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, fair enough, but why not play the game on the Saturday or even the Sunday? After all, France v Ireland has effectively been the title decider for each of the last four seasons. Evidently, actual performances don’t count for anything either.
Next year’s Six Nations will be concluded on Super Saturday with France v England at 9.10pm local time (8.10pm Irish time). This is the third time in a row that the biennial France-England clash will take place on the final Saturday night at Stade de France. Meanwhile, the two England-France games at Twickenham, in 2023 and last year, were held in rounds four and two in the late Saturday afternoon prime time slot (4.45pm kick-off).
As the biggest spenders among the TV broadcasters, if it’s not France TV, then clearly ITV are calling the shots.
Under their broadcast deal with the Six Nations, ITV televise all of England’s games. So it is that England’s opening three games against Wales, Scotland and Italy are all in the later Saturday afternoon slot. England’s only fixture in the unpopular, for fans at least, 2.10pm slot is their game against Ireland at Twickenham on the Saturday of round three.
By contrast, Italy have another Sunday game as well as a couple of early Saturday afternoon games, although even the Azzurri have been afforded two of the later, prime Saturday slots. After that Thursday night opener, Ireland have three outings in the Saturday 2.10pm slot, two of which are home games.
There is also a Friday night home game against Wales to prepare for. It seems safe to presume that the hospitality industry will not be enamoured by the scheduling of Ireland’s games, while the atmosphere may be lacking at the Aviva in one or two of them.
Granted, all of this takes place against the backdrop of Tier 1 countries meeting for three days in London. The World Rugby Council meets on Wednesday to exchange ideas and discuss how they can keep the game sustainable.
Ultimately, of course, he who pays the piper calls the tune
Rugby is facing something of a post-pandemic crisis where TV revenues have, at best, seemingly reached something of a plateau. In the case of the Champions Cup, the TV rights in the UK and Ireland dropped by over half from circa €17.5 million when the EPCR turned down TNT Sports’ initial offer and ended up accepting a reduced deal from Premier Sports.
No country is immune. Even in France, where the club game is buoyant, the FFR owe World Rugby a big bill for the losses made in hosting the 2023 World Cup.
In England, Wasps, London Irish and Worcester all went out of business. Even the IRFU, although they have a strong balance sheet and assets, have cut their men’s Sevens programme and are conducting a study into the efficiency of the model. At least they have not reached the stage where the WRU are at in culling one of their four regions.
The time to work together has never been more necessary. Perhaps it’s time to stop allowing free-to-air rights holders like RTÉ and Virgin Media simply cherry picking the Six Nations or Autumn Nations Series without investing in domestic competitions further down the pecking order. As it stands, neither broadcaster will show a solitary provincial match next season.
Unity is strength, and if the Tier 1 countries could pool more of rugby’s various strands together they could probably strike a better deal for themselves and the sport generally.
Ultimately, of course, he who pays the piper calls the tune. We get it. That’s the way of the world. The broadcasters are funding the professional game. Without the broadcasters, there would be no professional game.
But rugby and the Six Nations are giving the actual real live, paying, singing, chanting, eating, drinking and colourfully-bedecked supporters short shrift. They’d be wise not to keep doing so.
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gerrythornley@irishtimes.com
