Martyn Phillips has revealed the most important decision facing Welsh rugby – and it isn’t mergers between regions.
The WRU chief executive insists it’s the future funding of Test rugby, with a number of potential investors in talks about buying a stake in the Six Nations, and World Rugby wanting to introduce a so-called Nations Championship in 2022. You can read a full explainer on the situation here.
Four investment companies have been talking to Six Nations power-brokers about taking over the commercial arm of the tournament.
“We are open to the idea, why would you not be?” said Phillips.
But he also sounded a note of caution, warning: “Of all the decisions we have to make, it is the biggest one.
“All you do with a private equity deal is forward sell your profit. It looks attractive, but it will not be as attractive in three or four years. It has to be much more than that if you do it.
“There is always an element of control. We are rugby unions and you have to make sure you can govern the game.
“The devil is normally in the detail. If you partner with the right people, you have to believe that you can drive revenues further with them than working on your own.
“It is about having control over the things that matter and being relaxed over those that don’t.
“It is a very big decision. A lot of our main commercial inventory would be in that deal: Six Nations, autumn internationals, World Cup warm-ups, sponsors for those tournaments, broadcast revenues, digital assets.
“If you are going to tie up your main commercial inventory for 12 years, you need to be really sure you have that right.
“We will take as long as we need to make sure we really understand how that offer compares to what we think we could do through our own means.
“That is the base position. We have various other suitors interested in working with the Six Nations or potentially all Tier One nations.
“On the basis it is a 12-year term and you will get one go at it, it would be ridiculous not to consider all your options before you make that key decision.
“I have seen £5bn bandied around. I would make that number sound as big as I could if I wanted to buy something.
"But, if you break it down over 12 years and lots of countries and lots of tournaments and commercial inventories, the numbers become smaller quite quickly.
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“No-one would thank me for doing what looks like a stunning deal if, in four years, it did not look so stunning."
He said the WRU would take its time before responding to World Rugby’s plan to set up a nations league in 2022.
The idea would see the prospect of Six Nations relegation and promotion effectively being introduced, something which has caused concerns among Scotland and Italy in particular.
RFU chief Nigel Melville has described the potential prospect of England ever being relegated as "catastrophic".
It would also mean every game Wales played having something riding on it. A full explanation of how the competition would work can be found here.
“It is good World Rugby has grabbed this. There are certain factors in the way the calendar runs that could be better with things like having more jeopardy around autumn internationals,” continued Phillips.
“It would be difficult to see another 12 years of having the same. Everybody around the Six Nations feels the need to make the game sustainable globally.
“We share an ambition to grow rugby. Compared to football, rugby is overly reliant on far too few countries globally. We have to find a way to grow that.
“In terms of the specifics around the deal on the table, we are working through it."
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