24th June 2025
Leonard Curtis director and ex-rugby player Alex Cadwallader backs Premiership franchise plans
- Amid a renewed threat of a global breakaway league and major concerns over the finances of English top-flight clubs, Cadwallader adds to calls for change, saying “a fresh approach is needed.”
- Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report co-author Prof Rob Wilson points to potential pitfalls of a franchise model for the Premiership but believes there are “more benefits than drawbacks given the current financial challenges.”
Alex Cadwallader, a Leonard Curtis director and former England U21 rugby union player, has backed plans for Premiership Rugby to adopt a new franchise model, saying “change is needed” to help deliver financial sustainability across the league and avoid losing players to a new global breakaway competition.
Under the proposals for the Premiership, which first emerged in April, the league would reportedly abolish relegation but maintain promotion to support an expansion to at least 12 teams, and possibly 14 or even more.
The move – which has been publicly supported by Bath owner Bruce Craig – has come amid major concerns over the finances of professional club rugby in England, which were highlighted by the first edition of the Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report, published last September.
The report found that in the 2022/23 financial year, seven of the ten Premiership clubs could be classed as balance sheet insolvent, meaning they were reliant on financial support from their owners, as they were also loss-making.
Clubs racked up total losses across the league of £30.5 million during the year, with no team posting a profit, while the combined debt level across the Premiership amounted to £311.5 million.
The clubs’ financial data for 2023/24 will be included in the next edition of the report, due to be published this autumn.
Commenting on the Premiership’s plans for a franchise model, Cadwallader said: “This is something that needs to be seriously considered. There is no guarantee it will be a success but what our first report has shown is that the current model doesn’t work and change is needed.”
Threat of new global breakaway league
On June 2, fresh details emerged of a new proposed global breakaway league which aims to attract the top 300 men’s and women’s players in the world.
The franchise competition, known as R360, would be played predominantly in the summer in cities including London, Paris, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Buenos Aires and Cape Town.
It was reported that England players who quit the Premiership to participate in R360, which is due to be launched next year and intends to pay top players more than £1 million a season, will risk becoming ineligible for the national side.
Cadwallader said: “Something like this was more likely than not going to happen. When the key stakeholders – including the fans, the unions, the professional and amateur clubs and the players – are not able to work together for anyone’s benefit, the game leaves itself open to innovative disrupters making a play.
“With clubs and unions losing money, and players being overworked a fresh approach is needed.”
“More benefits than drawbacks”
Under the Premiership’s plans for a franchise structure of its own, the competition would reportedly be run in a similar way to cricket’s Indian Premier League, which centralises commercial operations and kit deals and distributes revenue equally between the clubs. Promotion criteria would be revised to include factors such as fan base, financial stability and regional value.
Professor Rob Wilson, who is a professor of applied sport finance and co-author of the Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report, noted that the proposed US-style model “aims to provide financial stability and attract investment by reducing the risks associated with relegation.”
He said a franchise-style league could also make it easier for Premiership clubs to keep hold of their best players. “Stability should help clubs retain top talent, knowing that the team won’t face relegation-induced disruption to both competition level and salary,” he explained.
He added: “However, it also raises concerns about competitive integrity and will naturally present barriers for the development pathways for emerging clubs. That said, I can see more benefits than drawbacks given the current financial challenges.”
New fans and TV deal “not sufficient to ensure financial sustainability”
Those difficulties are showing little sign of easing despite data showing the Premiership attracted almost a million new supporters aged 18 to 34 last year, and reports of a new five-year broadcast deal with TNT Sports understood to be worth almost £200 million in total, which would bring the league’s annual broadcast revenue back to the level last seen in the 2017/18 to 2020/21 cycle.
Prof Wilson said: “While the new TV deal and growing fan base are promising, they are not sufficient to ensure financial sustainability across all clubs, as shown in last year’s Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report.
“The franchise model offers a structural solution to the recurring financial challenges faced by clubs, particularly those that have struggled with the consequences of relegation. However, it’s essential that any such transition includes mechanisms to maintain competitive balance and opportunities for club development at all levels.”
Interests of the England team
Cadwallader – who played professionally for Newcastle, Bristol, Newport and London Welsh over a 10-year career – also stressed it was important to ensure any changes to the structure of the Premiership were aligned with the interests of the England team.
“Bringing the national team into the discussion is also required,” he said. “When looking at restructuring a business you often ask the management what does ‘good’ look like if you had a blank piece of paper? It is then the advisors’ job to map out different possible routes to that end goal. The game needs to have that ambition, but the challenge is always getting all the stakeholders on board.”