So did the RA and from memory they took it to the IRB. Good on the RFU for saying no as they are also standing up for unions who can't afford to give away half of their gate money from matches they host. Particularly Wales and Scotland who have running on massive losses since redeveloping their respective stadiums. France and Italy don't have their own stadiums. Unless the deal has changed as they have threatened to walk away previously, the FFR burn €2 million each time they play a match at the Stade de France. They also don't have as much money as the club body LNR who have been racking up large increases on their tv deals as the EPCR and Top 14 rights are separate. I think the ProD2 has their own tv contract now.Quote:
The All Blacks have been on a crusade lately to play sides where they are guaranteed a percentage of the gate revenue.
The RFU would also be aware of the RA's ability to waste money and go after players while on contract. As for the Kiwis they go and sign players 30 plus on four year deals with holidays to not play Rugby. They also pulled the ABs out of half of the Super Rugby which destroyed the credibility of Super Rugby as it was seen as a training ground for test Rugby (nothing has changed since then) and schedule Bledisloe Cup matches with the RA in places like Tokyo and Hong Kong. They have talked about having one in Twickenham.
The IRFU are pretty prudent with their money so I doubt they would give away significant amount of one of their main revenue streams to an incompetent union like the RA. They either run at a small loss, break even or scrape a decent profit. The RA have also treated them badly. A Wallabies official damaged a changing room door at Lansdowne Road a few years back and I don't think they sought for damages. It was pretty obvious who it was and he may have been on a suspended sentence at the time. The RA through Cheika also actively pursued Kane Douglas at the start of his three season deal with Leinster and when a release was agreed the RA refuse to pay out the remainder of his contract which wasn't much. This is despite two seasons left on the deal, he was under rehab for an injured back and Leinster were put in a bind to find a replacement due to it being close to the RWC.