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CVC's £365million buy-in set to be confirmed before 2021 Six Nations kicks-off - reports
By Online Editors
An announcement of a five-year deal worth £365million by CVC Capital Partners to buy into the Six Nations is expected before the 2021 championship starts with his opening round of matches on the weekend of February 6.
The purchase of a stake in the Six Nations by CVC has long been rumoured but it has now been reported that agreement has finally been reached with the six rugby unions for the sale of 14.5 per cent of commercial right belonging to the tournament.
A report in the Daily Mail suggests that the RFU will net the biggest share of investment from the investment by CVC, the company who already own stakes in the Gallagher Premiership and the Guinness PRO14. Next-best rewarded will be France, with Italy set to receive the smallest dividend.
It has taken two years of negotiations to reach this stage and although the sport has been impacted by the pandemic, it is believed the 2021 tournament will go ahead as currently planned.
This is reportedly at the behest of the new investors despite speculation that it could be shifted until a later date in the hope that restrictions preventing fans attending games might be lifted by then.
A reason why negotiations have taken so long is that checks had to be done at Government level regarding the status of the Six Nations and whether it would be considered a crown jewel of sport that must be kept on a free-to-air TV list.
Free-to-air status wasn't forthcoming and with fresh broadcast deals set to be negotiated for the 2022 tournament, CVC now wants to put the championship out to tender with subscription channels in the UK as well as BBC and ITV, who currently share the rights. The 2021 tournament begins with Italy hosting France and England playing Scotland on February 6.
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Latest Comments
Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol!
It's incredible to see the boys playing like this. Back to the form that saw them finish on top of the regular season and beat Toulon to win the challenge cup. Ibitoye and Ravouvou doing a cracking Piutau/Radradra impression.
It's abundantly clear that Borthwick and Wigglesworth need to transform the England attack and incorporate some of the Bears way. Unfortunately until the Bears are competing in Europe, the old criticisms will still be used.. we failed to fire any punches against La Rochelle and Leinster which goes to show there is still work to do but both those sides are packed full of elite players so it's not the fairest comparison to expect Bristol to compete with them. I feel Bristol are on the way up though and the best is yet to come. Tom Jordan next year is going to be obscene.
Test rugby is obviously a different beast and does Borthwick have enough time with the players to develop the level of skill the Bears plays have? Even if he wanted to? We should definitely be able to see some progress, Scotland have certainly managed it. England aren't going to start throwing the ball around like that but England's attack looks prehistoric by comparison, I hope they take some inspiration from the clarity and freedom of expression shown by the Bears (and Scotland - who keep beating us, by the way!). Bristol have the best attack in the premiership, it'd be mad for England to ignore it because it doesn't fit with the Borthwick and Wigglesworth idea of how test rugby should be played. You gotta use what is available to you. Sadly I think England will try reluctantly to incorporate some of these ideas and end up even more confused and lacking identity than ever. At the moment England have two teams, they have 14 players and Marcus Smith. Marcus sticks out as a sore thumb in a team coached to play in a manner ideologically opposed to the way he plays rugby, does the Bears factor confuse matters further? I just have no confidence in Borthers and Wiggles.
Crazy to see the Prem with more ball in play than SR!
Go to commentsWhat these stats actually seem to show is that there isn't a massive about of variation in the number of cards/penalties conceded by the top teams.
South Africa received 13 yellow cards in 13 matches; Ireland received 11 in 12; New Zealand received 11 in 14. The difference is pretty immaterial.
In terms of penalties, SA conceded 131 in 13 matches; England conceded 111 in 12. Considering England had the best record of anyone, SA are hardly far off the pace.
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