Expert Witness: England legend Ben Kay on possible watershed season for Premiership and his hopes for the 2022/23 campaign
With Round One of the 2022/23 Premiership season upon us, James While caught up with BT Sport pundit Ben Kay to discuss the challenges rugby faces this term.
Watershed season
“Is this a watershed season for PRL? That’s a tough one – this isn’t one moment in the sand, but for sure, the last couple of seasons have been particularly challenging post pandemic. Rugby has managed to grow very quickly, but we always have to understand that we’ve spent a lot of time playing catch-up to other sports given how late the game turned professional,” Kay said.
“Rugby wanted, and needed, the best facilities, the best medical care and properly rewarded players, and when you have that aspiration, then your business model can be stressed when things don’t go according to plan or you get natural events like the pandemic upsetting your balance sheet. When you hit a pothole like that, or rather a huge crater, then yeah, it makes things very tough.
“Rugby clubs operate a simple business model – get people through turnstiles and get corporate bums on seats in the boxes. There’s little room for big diversification or sweating assets given the pressure of the season and the need to rejuvenate stadiums and surfaces in a very short break. We know there’s pressure on sponsorship and on the corporate support side, but Premiership Rugby, despite a couple of early casualties, has always found a way through and I believe that will be the case now.
“Going back to the initial question about watershed, it’s my belief that this will be informed now by the attitude and the commitment of the owners and shareholders. When I was on the Tigers board up to the pandemic, we often wondered, knowing that we ourselves were one of the better supported and more sustainable clubs, how other sides were managing their spending? It’s down to the generosity of those owners, but now the pandemic and the inflationary pressures are now telling us that we cannot go on like this and we need to make the sport more sustainable from its own revenue generation.”
Made in England
“This is exactly why the salary cap has been reduced. It might not find favour with the players – far from it – but the bubble has now burst and it is needed to respond to the economic realities. If sides like Worcester survive, then I believe there will be immense positives as we become more sustainable as a rugby economy, as the owners, who have been quite disparate at times, now see the need to work together to grow the Premiership in a financially solid manner,” the 2003 Rugby World Cup winner said.
“This is also about refocusing on a longer term aspiration – do the owners want to win the league now or do they want a sustainable league with proper growth that in 10 years’ time is 500% bigger than it is now? We must drive to that longer term planned vision, whatever personal aspiration is. In short, they have to work together now to grow this thing.
“An interesting by-product of the salary cap reduction is that I believe it will improve the stocks of home-grown and younger talent. We’ve already seen players like Henry Arundell and Tommy Freeman smash their way into the international scene. Guys like Gabriel Oghre, Charlie Atkinson and so on are getting early chances because clubs cannot whistle up a big overseas signing, so expect the young English players and academies to benefit from the cut.”
Messages
“It’s been quite interesting that we, the BT Sport comms team, met up recently and we reflected that last season was arguably the best ‘product’ we’d seen in the Premiership. It was a fantastic season of rugby and we agree that as ambassadors and pundits, we need to be shouting this from the rooftops – reminding all how wonderful the PRL rugby has been and to get that out to the media and fans. Nobody has asked us to do this – we all agreed it was the truth, so the clarion call has to be that PRL is one of the most attractive rugby leagues going and we all need to respond to its excellence by watching, attending and discussing it,” he said.
🗣️ "There’s been a lot of writing off of loans in various other industries."
🏴 Austin Healey urges Government to write off debts. #GallagherPrem https://t.co/qQz0RqjwuI
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) September 8, 2022
“We also know that we live in changing times and it’s been the case that PRL might say one thing, in genuine good faith, then events change the dynamics of what they wanted to do. We cannot keep hitting them over the head with those initial aspirations if the context changes and prevents them fulfilling their words. We must show understanding and empathy with the change they face and, if they hit a crisis, give them the opportunity to get out of it without harsh judgement. This is absolutely key when trying to attract any form of investment – from the simple ticket sale to a huge ownership or sponsorship bid.
“Having said that, the fans need to know what’s happening – they have that right. So, giving the current information and proper facts is key. We need to control that narrative openly and transparently to get people to walk alongside us to a common goal – that of making Premiership Rugby sustainable and attractive.”
Level playing field
“The season ahead is so intriguing and that’s something we should embrace,” added Kay.
“It’s incredibly hard to separate them – some are on different momentum curves than others. As an example, Tigers and Saracens are quite mature and are close, in my opinion, to their improvement ceiling. Others, such as Northampton Saints, London Irish and Gloucester, are improving exponentially with each outing and I believe they have a greater ability to improve. Sides like Exeter and Bath have had poorer seasons recently but have ‘winning’ in their club DNA and will be anxious to improve.
“Factor in too the strength of the squads of Wasps, Sale and Bristol and it’s a cliched truism to suggest that anyone can beat anyone on their day and that adds to the excitement and tension to the competition.
“If I review the season with Planet Rugby at the end of June next year, I would love to be able to discuss three big things: 1) selling out Twickenham for the final, 2) a substantial increase in viewing figures both free-to-air and BT over the season, 3) two or three big young stars own this season – let the youth become the face of the game.
“If point three happens, it will really drive the success of points one and two. I really believe that it’s doable and absolutely achievable.”
BT Sport is the home of Gallagher Premiership Rugby. The new season kicks off with Bristol Bears v Bath Rugby at 7pm on BT Sport 1 on Friday, September 9.