IRFU keeps its cut as new European Cup is confirmed

The IRFU will continue to receive about €5.1 million from the European Rugby Champions Cup – in keeping with their participation payment from the ERC-run Heineken Cup – as part of the deal which was finally signed off and confirmed on Thursday. Under the terms of the new competition format and organisation, the Celtic and Italians were assured they would not be at a loss financially.

With “a guaranteed minimum distribution for the clubs from the Pro12 in years 1-5”, hence the Welsh and Scottish Unions will also receive €5.1 million, with the Italians receiving €4.7 million. The Italian Federation had been last to sign the heads of agreement until a meeting of the Pro12 today and an ensuing meeting between all the stakeholders in the new Champions Cup (the same as the stakeholders in the ERC), namely representatives of the respective six nations along with Ligue Nationale De Rugby (LNR), Premiership Rugby Ltd (PRL) and Regional Rugby Wales Ltd (RRW).

They relented

The Italians had wanted either an equal split of €5 million apiece with the celts, or for them and the Scottish to each receive €4.9 million, but in the end they relented after a meeting of the Pro12 in the morning. The meeting between the stakeholders commenced at 2pm today in London and continued until after 6pm, with the announcement confirming the new competition coming at 6.30pm, thereby ending a protracted and often bitter dispute which has raged since the LNR and PRL signalled their intent to leave the Heineken Cup on June 1st 2012.

A new accord will be for a minimum of eight years, and ultimately the English and French clubs have obtained pretty much everything they demanded in an argument which was as much about money and power as anything else.

Heretofore, the French and English had received less than 50 per cent of the participation pot, at around €9 million apiece, but that will doubled in keeping with their demands for a three-way split between the three main feeder leagues.

To achieve the increase, the new tournament organisation – to be called ‘European Professional Club Rugby’ (EPCR) – will seek to increase television and marketing income through new partners rather than a title sponsor – in line with football’s European Champions League.

A subsequent announcement confirmed a 50-50 split in matches between BT and Sky Sports, presumably for Britain and Ireland, although this was not specified.

The Pro12 will provide seven qualifiers in the new 20-team Champions Cup, along with six from the Top 14 and six from the English Premiership.

Seven qualifiers

As the seven qualifiers from the Pro12 will include at least one team from each of the four participating countries in the Pro12, on current standings that would mean Leinster, Munster, Ulster, Glasgow, the Ospreys, and the sixth-placed Scarlets will be joined by Treviso, with Edinburgh, Connacht, the Dragons, Cardiff and Zebre consigned to the secondary equivalent of the Challenge Cup, the European Rugby Challenge Cup, which will also feature the remaining 13 clubs from the Top 14 and English Premiership.

The Qualifying Competition will comprise between eight and 12 teams from Tier Two countries and Italian clubs as agreed by EPCR & FIRA-AER (Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur - Association Européenne de Rugby).

The 20th place in the first year of the Champions Cup will be decided by a play-off in May, over one or two legs, between the seventh-placed teams in the Top 14 and Premiership.

In subsequent years, they will be joined by two Pro12 teams - the eighth and ninth highest finishing clubs (or the two highest finishing which have not already qualified automatically).

Save for size, the Champions Cup will ape the outgoing Heineken Cup in most respects. It will be run in five pools of four, meaning the same amount of match weekends, with the five pool winners being joined by the three best runners-up in the quarter-finals.

As with the Heineken Cup, the Pool phase will be played in three blocks of two weekends and will be completed by the end of January. The final will take place latest the first weekend of May.

EPCR will be managed through a Board of Directors representing all parties and an Executive committee in charge of commercial matters and assisting with preparations of Board meetings. The EPCR Executive will comprise of an Independent Chairman, Director-General, and three voting representatives from each of the leagues.

Last night’s statement concluded rather vaguely by saying: “The parties take seriously their obligations to ERC and their staff and will ensure an orderly and proper transition to the new association.”