{"id":6542,"date":"2023-10-28T22:33:22","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T22:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/business\/rugby-to-court-investors-after-overhaul-of-international-game\/"},"modified":"2023-10-28T22:33:22","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T22:33:22","slug":"rugby-to-court-investors-after-overhaul-of-international-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=6542","title":{"rendered":"Rugby to court investors after overhaul of international game"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description\"><span>Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=cc60d9a8-313d-4a1a-9094-88b03cd2ac8e\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Rugby union is betting that new leagues and changes to its international calendar will power growth in markets such as the Americas and Asia, as the sport\u2019s governing body looks to court investors.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of Saturday\u2019s Rugby World Cup final in Paris between New Zealand and defending champions South Africa, World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin said the new competitions could unearth other challengers to the sport\u2019s dominant forces, which would bring commercial benefits.<\/p>\n<p>The governing body this week unveiled a two-division league for international sides from 2026, a move Gilpin expects to increase the opportunities for outside investors in the sport such as private equity. <\/p>\n<p>The scale of the changes underlines rugby\u2019s race to keep up with the rapidly evolving business of sport, amid fierce competition for top broadcast deals, pressure to reach fans who increasingly follow events online and a permanent battle for audience attention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat this biennial competition will do is obviously provide more meaningful fixtures that we know fans want,\u201d Gilpin told the Financial Times. \u201cThe fact that there\u2019ll be a kind of final of that creates a quasi kind of world championship, if you like, in men\u2019s XVs, but we don\u2019t think that\u2019s a threat to the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Plans are also under way to expand the next men\u2019s World Cup in 2027 in Australia from 20 teams to 24. World Rugby intends to push back the draw for the next tournament so that it better reflects international rankings following criticism that top sides such as France and Ireland were eliminated too early this year.<\/p>\n<p>Calendar changes will aim to reduce clashes between club fixtures and the international game, which the ruling body hopes will help attract external capital to support its growth plans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got a really ambitious strategic plan across investing more in the women\u2019s game, investing more in Sevens, and obviously all the stuff we\u2019re talking about here in men\u2019s XVs,\u201d Gilpin said. \u201cWe can\u2019t do all of it as quickly as we would like unless we find some partners to help us fund it.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"n-content-image n-content-image--full\"><picture><source media=\"(min-width: 700px)\"  width=\"2288\" height=\"1526\"><\/source><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/fb46ca4a-3129-4a2a-9ded-58cd321523b9.jpg\" alt=\"Canada play England in Dunedin in the WXV women\u2019s international rugby tournament \" data-image-type=\"image\" width=\"2288\" height=\"1526\"><\/picture><figcaption class=\"n-content-picture__caption\"><span>Canada play England in Dunedin in the WXV women\u2019s international rugby tournament <\/span><span> <!-- -->\u00a9 AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The World Rugby chief downplayed suggestions that the top flight, which will mainly consist of the powerful Sanzaar teams (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina) and the Six Nations (England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy), would perpetuate the gap between the sport\u2019s best sides and up-and-coming countries. <\/p>\n<p>Promotion and relegation will not be introduced until 2030, depriving some emergent nations of the chance to compete against the world\u2019s top-ranked sides in the new competition. Gilpin said World Rugby was committed to strengthening the second tier to catch up with elite sides.<\/p>\n<p>The US, which is set to host the 2031 men\u2019s World Cup and the women\u2019s edition two years later, is among the nations that will compete in the second tier. <\/p>\n<p>Helping the US to improve is a priority in the years before those tournaments, as World Rugby seeks to emulate other sports, such as Formula One racing, that have grown from a weak starting point in America.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDivision two is going to have some really interesting markets in it,\u201d Gilpin said. \u201cUSA, Spain, other parts of South America, other parts of Asia, so I think we\u2019ll have some really interesting conversations about how we try and drive value together over the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The significance is that countries such as the US and Spain will now know \u201cyears in advance what they\u2019re selling\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuddenly they\u2019ve gone from no certainty to 11 games certainty every year,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The next phase of discussions over the next six months will centre on how to commercialise the new competitions, with talks planned with media, broadcasters and other partners.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/cc60d9a8-313d-4a1a-9094-88b03cd2ac8e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Rugby union&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rugby to court investors after overhaul of international game | inFundPros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Rugby union is betting that new\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=6542\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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