03-04-2023, 10:14 PM
The dates for 23-24 were announced today with four weeks for the pool stages, as in recent years, so seems safe to say we won’t be going back to four team groups next season at any rate.
But this particular TV rights deal is unusually short, only covering this season and next. That does give scope for a format change in 24-25. There has been reports in some media outlets that, at that point, the EPCR, PRL, and URC rights will be bundled together, at the behest of common PRL and URC shareholder CVC. The idea is that the winning broadcaster would become the U.K. and Irish “Home of Rugby” but it would be a mammoth task to take on that on a weekly basis. The URC is a tricky one as it effectively demands all games be broadcast; fans in each country mainly want to see games involving that countries teams.
But this particular TV rights deal is unusually short, only covering this season and next. That does give scope for a format change in 24-25. There has been reports in some media outlets that, at that point, the EPCR, PRL, and URC rights will be bundled together, at the behest of common PRL and URC shareholder CVC. The idea is that the winning broadcaster would become the U.K. and Irish “Home of Rugby” but it would be a mammoth task to take on that on a weekly basis. The URC is a tricky one as it effectively demands all games be broadcast; fans in each country mainly want to see games involving that countries teams.