Pro 14 Grasping the nettle

With the intertwined goals of increasing revenue and interest in the League, Celtic Rugby have taken a risk, but it is a risk worth taking

As a competition, the Pro 12 was often seen as the poorer cousin to both the English Premiership and the French Top 14. The quality of teams and play stand up well, as evidenced by Champions Cup performances, but the media interest and negotiating power is a level below.

Celtic Rugby (the Pro 12 organisers) wish to raise interest from fans, the media and with it increase revenue.

There are only so many ways to increase the revenue of a league; attract a major sponsor, sign a better TV deal or get more money from the Unions themselves.

Guinness are the current sponsor and are signed on until 2020, so that path is closed for now. To attract higher bids from TV broadcasters you need to improve interest in the product and get more bums on seats / eyes on screens.

This is where Celtic Rugby are making their stand. There were already discussions underway about the introduction of one or more teams from America into the league, but a dramatic change in Super Rugby presented a major opportunity.

Super Rugby are reducing the number of teams from 18 to 15 for next season. The South African Cheetahs and Southern Kings have been sent packing and Celtic Rugby have swooped to add them to the now Pro 14 (the third team to drop out will be Australian, but which one exactly is under dispute).

What are the new teams like?

The Cheetahs and Kings are in slightly different positions at the moment.

The Cheetahs are based largely on the Free State Cheetahs, who are a Currie Cup side with a long tradition in that competition and were indeed 2016 champions. They entered Super Rugby in 2006 and have been competitive, even if mostly placing in the bottom half of the league, bar 2013 where they finished 6th.

Backed as they are by the Free State Cheetahs they are looking to make a relatively smooth transition to the Pro14 with the majority of their players and coaching staff staying in place.

The Southern Kings are not in such a comfortable position. Prior to the latest expansion of Super Rugby, the Kings regularly switched places with the Lions as part of the South African relegation and promotion system. As a result they only took part in Super Rugby in 2013, 2016 and 2017. Ironically they have just had their best outing, finishing 11th, even managing to beat the Waratahs, Sunwolves and Jaguares overseas.

While they were originally backed by three Currie Cup provincial teams, financial difficulties led to the Kings being wholly taken over by the South African Rugby Union (SARU) in late 2015 and they no longer have formal ties to any provincial team. With their removal from Super Rugby, the Kings coach has not yet signed on and many of their players have left, meaning that the make up of their squad is somewhat of a mystery and they may have a tumultuous first season.

Risk and Reward

There are a number of advantages to this expansion. By adding the two South African teams, Celtic Rugby have simultaneously increased the number of viewers, reinvigorated interest in the league and brought in additional income from SARU, mostly through a TV deal.

But, there are also a number of issues to be overcome.

While South Africa is in the same time zone as Europe, the travel is not insignificant and coaches will be wary of the strain this will place on players. Scheduling will need to make efforts to minimise long distance travel as much as possible.

There is also the small matter of South African summer vs European winter, again scheduling will need to shield teams from the harshest temperatures of South Africa.

Another problem is team stability. For the league to remain competitive and increase its status, all the teams need to be stable. Zebre have just come out of yet another period of uncertainty and as previously mentioned the Southern Kings are in a state of turmoil.

The appointment of Michael Bradley is a good move from Zebre as he brings experience and a good reputation across European rugby. SARU have experience of managing their assets to meet commitments to Super Rugby at this point, so should be able to ensure that the Kings are resourced sufficiently to maintain their place. Plus, with the rumoured addition of 5 Springboks to each team, it would seem that SARU are taking this aspect seriously.

It would be ideal for Zebre and the Kings to both grow from here, but certainly one of them needs to be a solid member of the league for the next few seasons, too much chopping and changing would be problematic for the image of the fledgling Pro 14.

What lessons can we learn from Super Rugby

There are a number of issues with the current setup of Super Rugby that has led them to reducing in size, some organisational and some market driven.

With their expansion to an 18 team format, Super Rugby wished to maintain interest from all markets and to minimise travel as much as possible. To achieve this they implemented a system of four conferences, which decided what teams would play each other in a given year, the top team in each conference would also host a quarter final.

This has led to some unrest this year.

First, due to their conference system, the Brumbies qualified for and hosted a quarter-final even though they only had six wins, none of them against New Zealand opposition. This would have placed them outside the top 10 on a straight league table. They were then soundly beaten by the Hurricanes in that quarter-final.

Secondly, the top ranked team, the Lions from South Africa, did not play a single New Zealand team until the semi-final. This is due to the conference’s annual alternating structure and in no way their fault, but as a result of not having to play against the tougher New Zealand conference, the Lions will now host the final with some questions as to how fair that is.

This has led to issues of credibility for the playoff system in Super Rugby and the Pro 14 need to ensure that they avoid these mistakes. The two conference system is a sensible one, requiring that all teams in the league play each other at least once, while also maintaining all of the home and away derby matches so beloved by fans.

The other major problem for Super Rugby was market saturation. Their newest entrants from Argentina and Japan draw large crowds and TV interest while New Zealand seem to be going from strength to strength. However, South Africa and Australia have issues supporting five franchises, both in terms of fan interest and player numbers.

This has led to a decline in on field competitiveness and the numbers attending matches. The final has sold out in rapid time, but that stands in contrast to the lower than hoped for attendances at the quarter and semi-finals.

The Pro 14, thankfully, avoids these saturation issues as they are introducing an entirely new market, rather than overreaching in an existing one. But, they need to ensure that the playoffs are marketed and hyped sufficiently if they are to maintain interest in all countries.

Conclusion

Change was needed and the new Pro 14 is a good way to move forward.

The playoff system where first in each conference bypasses the first round straight to a semi-final is a good idea which will make games among the front runners more meaningful.

In-conference games will have more value than out of conference games, so should see some spice added to non-traditional rivalries, like Scarlets and Leinster or Munster and Ospreys for example.

There will be grumblings about the fixture list with home and away matches for out of conference games being somewhat of a lottery and extra derby games for the Italian, Scottish and South African teams. These could have been mitigated by a different structure, but I think learning from the over-complicated nature of Super Rugby, this is a decent compromise.

The one sticking point for me is the fact that the conferences will change every year. From a fairness point of view it makes sense, but there was an opportunity to really see new rivalries develop over a few years, perhaps a three year stability period with change then? In any case, this is a minor gripe.

We finally have the certainty that we all craved, bring on the #GUINNESSPRO14.