Exclusive: R360 rugby breakaway will have a player draft and be free-to-air

The R360 global rugby breakaway plans to be broadcast free-to-air, beginning with a draft of big-name male and female players where club owners are mic’d up, City AM has learned.

The franchise-based project is slated to launch next year and – if successful – promises to fix the loss-making club game and change the face of the sport.

Insiders say rugby’s newest iteration will see a central funding pot with a “full draft, fully commercialised – the teams and owners will all be mic’d up to tell the story better”.

A source close to the plans added: “There will be a central pot. We are trying to take the best practice from the most successful sports leagues in the world and putting it into this sport. 

“[There will be] centrally managed logistics and player management, seconded through a draft to the franchises.

“We want to actually have people working with players on a day-to-day basis like the most mature sports. A mixture of founders, shareholders and teams will own it.”

R360 on free-to-air?

The project has faced criticism, including from the broadcaster of the English Premiership. Senior Warner Discovery Bros figures described the breakaway plans as “delusional”.

But speaking prior to those comments, R360 insiders stressed that they want to tap into a wider rugby audience by showing all games on free-to-air broadcasters.

“Best case scenario we increase the amount of fans that love the sport who then go down the pyramid and watch their grassroots and clubs,” they said. 

“There are only 1.4m rugby fans who follow club rugby in the UK, there are 10m who follow the international game. We’re after the 10m.

“Rugby uses the worst phrase in the English language: ‘We’ve always done it this way’. 

“We want to tell the story by getting it in front of the rugby people, decreasing the ticket price – we’re going to be £50 for two matches and a music concert.

“[We want it] to be free-to-air. The revenue comes from ticketing and sponsorship.”

On the identity of sponsors, R360 insiders said they were “talking to global brands but we are not going after anyone from the current rugby ecosystem”.

“We don’t want to harm the current ecosystem,” they added. “People will say it will because we’re taking the best players from each team, [but we’re not].”