Telegraph reports Premiership plan to scrap relegation

England’s leading clubs are proposing a radical plan to expand the Premiership for the start of the 2016-17 season and then scrap ­promotion and relegation – which would be the biggest overhaul of club rugby since the game went professional.

It is understood that the proposal is to increase the top flight from 12 to 14 teams by a meritocratic process before dispensing with promotion and relegation, which have been a bedrock of English rugby since leagues were introduced in 1987.

The fine details of how the new league structure would come into existence and how the new fixture schedules might work have yet to be ironed out. But it is understood that the concept has the support of the majority of the Premiership clubs following a meeting of owners and shareholders on Monday.

The full support of the 14 clubs who own Premiership shares – which includes Championship sides Bristol, Worcester and Yorkshire Carnegie – would be required before the plan could be agreed as policy. It would then have to be put before the Rugby Football Union for approval.

However, it is understood that further meetings are already planned to discuss the detail, with supporters of the plan confident that those opposing it can be persuaded of its merit.

doctor_grey wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:It would seem that the discussions are not to exclude promotion entirely - just not to make it automatic. May just be semantics of course.

Anyway, I have organised enough shareholders that we could force an EGM should Leicester be looking to sign up to something that completely removes any chance of a team breaking through into the elite.

As I read this, I just received an email on the same subject from Saints.  I would guess this is happening at other clubs similar to ours.  

I would like to see changes to the promotion process to include raw financials as well as raw performance.  But then, all Premiership sides would have to meet these financial standards.  That was a legal learning from the London Welsh suit.  And, one which seems appropriate and correct.  A positive of a revised, not eliminated, promotion/relegation process would probably put the knife in any more credible notions of ending the salary cap.  Would be good to see that put away for good.  

Exiledinborders wrote:Why not add a collar to the current salary cap? So a team can only be in the AP provided they have a playing budget of say £3.5 million. The limit of £5million would stay.

Exiledinborders wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:It would seem that the discussions are not to exclude promotion entirely - just not to make it automatic. May just be semantics of course.

Anyway, I have organised enough shareholders that we could force an EGM should Leicester be looking to sign up to something that completely removes any chance of a team breaking through into the elite.

As I read this, I just received an email on the same subject from Saints.  I would guess this is happening at other clubs similar to ours.  

I would like to see changes to the promotion process to include raw financials as well as raw performance.  But then, all Premiership sides would have to meet these financial standards.  That was a legal learning from the London Welsh suit.  And, one which seems appropriate and correct.  A positive of a revised, not eliminated, promotion/relegation process would probably put the knife in any more credible notions of ending the salary cap.  Would be good to see that put away for good.  

Why not add a collar to the current salary cap? So a team can only be in the AP provided they have a playing budget of say £3.5 million.  The limit of £5million would stay.

In reality other than Worcester and Bristol how many of the other teams even want promotion? Maybe Leeds (or whatever they are now called).  

doctor_grey wrote:

Exiledinborders wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:It would seem that the discussions are not to exclude promotion entirely - just not to make it automatic. May just be semantics of course.

Anyway, I have organised enough shareholders that we could force an EGM should Leicester be looking to sign up to something that completely removes any chance of a team breaking through into the elite.

As I read this, I just received an email on the same subject from Saints.  I would guess this is happening at other clubs similar to ours.  

I would like to see changes to the promotion process to include raw financials as well as raw performance.  But then, all Premiership sides would have to meet these financial standards.  That was a legal learning from the London Welsh suit.  And, one which seems appropriate and correct.  A positive of a revised, not eliminated, promotion/relegation process would probably put the knife in any more credible notions of ending the salary cap.  Would be good to see that put away for good.  

Why not add a collar to the current salary cap? So a team can only be in the AP provided they have a playing budget of say £3.5 million.  The limit of £5million would stay.

In reality other than Worcester and Bristol how many of the other teams even want promotion? Maybe Leeds (or whatever they are now called).  

I think that is right on the money.  A salary cap combined with minimum salary expenditure.  That would go a long way to preserving the competitive balance as well as the overall financial health of the Premiership.  

gcBlues wrote:And thus the Regions to the English premiership plan begins. Looking forward to it.

Irish Londoner wrote:The best way to do this would be for the Avivia to expand to take in the Championship (and PRL to fund it together with the RFU) to create two professional divisions of 10 sides. Basically the current 12 plus eight from the Championship.
18 League games a season, two up, two down promotion between the divisions plus European competition for the top division, B & I cup for the second division and some form of domestic RFU Cup (FA Cup style), which runs from the grassroots all the way to the top with a final at Twickenham to replace the LV.
Ringfence on a three to five year franchise and at the end of that period offer up to two places for any club outside the top level who wish to apply to join - winners of National One get an automatic place at the expense of the bottom club (if they want it) and the runners up in National One can play off against the second from bottom side or the bottom side if the National One winners don't want to come up.

Irish Londoner wrote:The best way to do this would be for the Avivia to expand to take in the Championship (and PRL to fund it together with the RFU) to create two professional divisions of 10 sides. Basically the current 12 plus eight from the Championship.
18 League games a season, two up, two down promotion between the divisions plus European competition for the top division, B & I cup for the second division and some form of domestic RFU Cup (FA Cup style), which runs from the grassroots all the way to the top with a final at Twickenham to replace the LV.
Ringfence on a three to five year franchise and at the end of that period offer up to two places for any club outside the top level who wish to apply to join - winners of National One get an automatic place at the expense of the bottom club (if they want it) and the runners up in National One can play off against the second from bottom side or the bottom side if the National One winners don't want to come up.

SirBurger wrote:You might be right that will be where we end up - I imagine it will be gradual though as only Wuss and Bris are currently Premiership ready.

I imagine Yorkshire and Cornish would be next on the list.