Premiership Rugby clubs are facing an uncertain future unless they can grow their fan base, Northampton Saints chief executive Mark Darbon has warned.
Darbon says that with the influx of private equity investment and the ever-increasing salaries of players and coaches, the Premiership is in danger of becoming a closed shop.
“If we don’t have a big enough fan base to support the levels of expenditure that are required to run a Premiership club, then I think the model is unsustainable,” Darbon told BBC Sport.
The gap between the haves and the have-nots is going to become too great if we don’t find a way of growing the game and attracting new fans.
The Premiership has seen several high-profile foreign investors take over clubs in recent years, with Saracens and Bath both being bought by rich benefactors.
However, Darbon believes that while private equity investment is important, it is not the only answer.
He doesn’t want a situation in which a few clubs are bankrolled by billionaires and the rest are just making up the numbers.
If we don’t find a way of growing the game and attracting new fans, the gap between the haves and the have-nots will become too great.
My Opinion:
I agree with Mark Darbon that the Premiership needs to grow its fan base in order to thrive. The influx of private equity investment and the high salaries of players and coaches are creating an unsustainable model that will only widen the gap between the rich and the poor.
We need to attract new fans to the game, and the only way to do that is to grow the game. We need to invest in grassroots level and make the game more accessible to everyone. Only then will we be able to create a sustainable model that will benefit all clubs.
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