While English claims that they will withdraw their clubs from the Heineken Cup are wearing thin, it seems a TV deal could jeopardise the future of the European game.
By Declan Whooley
Reporting in today’s Irish Times, Gerry Thornley predicts a legal wrangle as the minimum consequence of the Premiership announcing a four-year television contract with BT which includes the selling of rights to European matches from 2014/15 onwards.
That €225 million deal prompted the Heineken Cup governing body to announce a four-year deal with Sky Sports starting also in 2014.
The conflicting deal looks likely to cause a real headache for the ERC, which will be music to the ears of Premiership chief Mark McCafferty who has been campaigning strongly for change to the tournament.
To add further confusion to the whole rights debacle, the decision to extend the Sky contract was voted by unanimously by the board in June which contained Premiership rugby board member Peter Wheeler.
The ERC issued a carefully worded statement raising questions over the Premiership deal, re-iterating that only the tournaments’ governing body and not individual shareholders are entitled to sell television rights. They are due to meet to discuss the provocative deal.
McCafferty has been looking to push forward his ideas on the Heineken Cup revamp and this deal has got the attention of the European big-wigs. The future of the competition and participation of English sides is now very much in question.
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