The Staggering Amount Of Money England & Ireland Will Lose If Rugby Doesn’t Restart This Year
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Losses.
The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and the RFU (Rugby Football Union) both look set to lose out on a staggering amount of money if rugby is unable to restart this year.
Both unions have lost out on Six Nations fixtures this year that will unlikely go ahead with fans attendance if they are rescheduled. Both nation’s summer tours are also set to bite the bullet as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the world.
Ireland are scheduled to take on the Wallabies in Australia with England planning a trip to Japan. But both tours will likely be cancelled.
The worst is yet to come though, with the autumn internationals now also looking like they will be cancelled. The cost of this to Ireland could be in excess of €10 million, should their games against South Africa, Australia and Japan not go ahead.
As noted by the sports investing experts at Ghost Insights, the loss of the home Six Nations game against Italy is roughly another €2 million on top of another €5-6 million lost in TV revenue for 2020. This means the IRFU could lose out on a potential cash windfall of around €18m if rugby does not restart in 2020.
The RFU meanwhile also look set to get hit hard financially if rugby does not resume, with chief executive Bill Sweeney stating that they will lose £107m if this year’s autumn internationals are cancelled.
Last year’s losing Rugby World Cup finalists are due to welcome New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia to Twickenham this November.
The RFU boss admitted that the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic could be “catastrophic” for the game in England and even if the November Tests went ahead behind closed doors, losses would total around £85m.
“It is a very significant loss of revenue and we are doing what we can to mitigate it,” Sweeney told the UK government’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee as part of a discussion on the impact of the coronavirus on England’s major sports.
No matter what happens, it looks like both unions, as well as every other union across the world – will be hit very hard in the wake of all of this.
