Southern Kings and Toyota Cheetahs are set for September start up north
It is understood a deal to expand the Pro12 to 14 teams from next season has been agreed.
The South African sides Toyota Cheetahs and Southern Kings will join the league after losing their Super Rugby status.
The 6-year deal is likely to benefit the league to the tune of an extra £6m per season from the South African Rugby Union and additional television income.
All elements of the deal have been agreed and, once legally ratified, could be formally announced next week.
The new Pro14 league will kick-off in the first week of September and will comprise 2 conferences of 7 teams. Each conference will have 1 Scottish side, 1 South African side, 1 Italian side and 2 each from Wales and Ireland.
The current preference is for 2 conferences of 7 teams playing each other home and away. Within this format, the teams would also play 1 game against all the sides from the other conference, which would deliver 19 fixtures.
Additionally, each club would also play home and away derby fixtures as well, providing a total of 21 league games. However, other formats are also being discussed.
The winners of each conference will qualify automatically for the semi-finals, while the teams placed in 2nd and 3rd in each conference will be drawn together in play-offs for the remaining 2 semi-final places.
The Pro12 currently raises around £12m in television revenues, meaning the addition of the 2 South African sides represents a significant uplift as the Scottish, Irish and Welsh rugby unions try to bridge the financial gap to the English Premiership and French Top 14 teams.
The increase equates to around £500,000 in additional income per season for the existing Scottish, Irish, Welsh and Italian sides in the Pro12.
The Toyota Cheetahs and the Southern Kings are the weakest of South Africa’s Super Rugby teams, and they were cut from next season’s competition, opening the way for the move to join the Pro12.
One of the anticipated clauses for the deal is that the 2 franchises will commit to strengthening their squads, to ensure the competitive nature of the competition is protected.
bbc
Interesting times. Just waiting for the official announcement first thought it would be later this week now it looks like it could be early next week. Can they not get a move on, guess there is lot to be arranged. Feel like a child waiting for Christmas. Maybe I am overthinking the importance of this move but I think it could be the start of another big shift in the way we ‘do’ rugby.
Will be keen to see the make of the Kings and Cheetahs squads, had thought they would do well in PRO rugby but then started to think about their squads and with so much lack of knowledge there we will have to wait and see.
Exciting times. However, how much will the 2 SA sides receive? Will they be eligible for the European Championship?
@ Lion4ever:
Hi Lion4ever European Rugby have said they have not been involved in any of the negotiations and if there are changes to the PRO league then the organisers of the league (in this case Celtic Rugby) would have to make reprsentations to European Rugby about qualification from the league for the two European competitions.
@ Lion4ever:
Regarding what will they receive don’t know the answer to that one are any numbers being speculated on over there? I think I saw that WP got R50 000 prize for winning the Supersport Challenge Cup last week. That sounds very little, would that be in addition to money they and the rest would have got for taking part in the Cup or is that all they earned?
@ Bullscot:
That was just for winning the Cup. The Supersport Challenge is a great competition, in that it really takes the sport into townships and previously disadvantaged areas.m
There have been no figures bandied around regarding what the 2 SA teams will be getting. All I know is what the format will be. The speculation is around whether the 2 SA teams will be allowed to participate in the 2 European Comps.
@ Lion4ever:
Sounds like it has been a good thing the Supersport Challenge.
Seen a journalist here has written that a South African team could win the Pro14 but CANNOT qualify to play in the Champions Cup, don’t know why he is so certain of that but could have an inside source. What he doesn’t say is whether the SA teams would be able to play in the next tier of European Rugby i.e. the Challenge Cup.
@ Lion4ever:
Thanks for clearing up the bit about the prize money for Supersport Challenge Lion4ever. Maybe you can help with an answer to something that is really puzzling me – they are saying that the addition of the SA teams will bring £6 million extra to Pro rugby per year/season for the next 6 and implying this is coming from South Africa. That is a lot of money, more than R100 million! Where on earth can all that money be coming from? Broadcasters? If you consider this would be in addition to what the broadcasters already pay for all the rugby they broadcast it seems over the top. Maybe because they will have less Super Rugby games to broadcast they will be shifting some of their budget to Pro14 but even so to me still doesn’t add up. Do you know how much the SA broadcasters pay per year for Super Rugby?
It could also be the money is being made up from extra contributions from the broadcasters here too.
Is Guinness consumed by many in SA ? The PRO12 is currently known as the Guinness PRO12 so maybe Guinness is adding more to be the title sponsor to try and increase exposure. Of course the likes of the team sponsors like Toyota will get increased exposure here from this (don’t think they sponsor any of the current PRO12 teams) so maybe they have to pay more as part of the deal of the SA teams joining?
@ Bullscot:
Sorry for all the questions mate have Supersport being broadcasting PRO12 games? If they have is it every round?
Have asked a lot of questions if anyone else some answers would be great thanks
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