{"id":296059,"date":"2023-12-05T17:24:39","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T17:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/?p=296059"},"modified":"2023-12-05T17:24:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T17:24:39","slug":"premiership-explore-options-to-take-season-finale-away-from-twickenham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/rugby-union\/premiership-explore-options-to-take-season-finale-away-from-twickenham\/","title":{"rendered":"Premiership explore options to take season finale away from Twickenham"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span>EXCLUSIVE<\/span> Premiership Rugby explore options to take end-of-season final away from Twickenham for the first time&#8230; as their chief growth officer insists changes are needed to ensure the sport &#8216;is relevant in the north&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Premiership end-of-season final has always been held at Twickenham<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Premiership Rugby are now looking at taking it to another venue in the country<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>They feel this is necessary to help grow the league&#8217;s appeal around the country\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Premiership Rugby is exploring plans to move its showpiece end-of-season final away from Twickenham for the first time as part of ambitious plans to grow the league\u2019s appeal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 2022\/23 campaign was the most tumultuous in the history of the English game\u2019s top professional league as three of its sides \u2013 Worcester, Wasps and London Irish \u2013 fell into financial oblivion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now in charge of a 10-team division, the Premiership wants to solidify its status and then evolve in different ways.<\/p>\n<p>One of those could involve moving the final away from Twickenham. Since the Premiership introduced a play-off format for the 2002-03 season, each of the subsequent year\u2019s finals have been held at the home of English rugby although that could soon change.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rob Calder is the Premiership\u2019s chief growth officer. \u2018We\u2019ve discussed this with the RFU. Personally, I would love the opportunity to take it (the final) elsewhere and grow the game across the country if the RFU supports that,\u2019 he told Mail Sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/16\/78605483-12828109-image-a-86_1701794366443.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The end-of-season Premiership final has always been held at Twickenham<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/15\/78602415-12828109-image-a-65_1701790986691.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Owen Farrell&#8217;s Saracens beat Sale Sharks in last season&#8217;s Premiership final, but it failed to sell out Twickenham<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/16\/78605005-12828109-image-m-80_1701793977572.jpg\" height=\"493\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Premiership&#8217;s chief growth officer Rob Calder (pictured) wants to take the final around the country so it remains &#8216;relevant in the north&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We\u2019re debating that at the moment. We know we need to ensure rugby is relevant in the north.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018They\u2019ve had rugby games in Newcastle before \u2013 World Cup matches and a European final at St James\u2019 Park. Newcastle Falcons have played there before too.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Rugby league has played games there. There is an appetite for rugby there so I definitely wouldn\u2019t rule it out. You\u2019ve got to put on a show to make sure it\u2019s a big day out. I think that\u2019s what people expect from a major final. We are looking at how we move that on again next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We want to make the final as welcoming as possible and a celebration of rugby. It\u2019s a day out for families and they are going to be so important for us moving forwards.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The final is our No 1 focus because it\u2019s our biggest opportunity to get a cut through for the Premiership. We\u2019re looking at all sorts of things around that.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ongoing and wide-ranging discussions over English rugby\u2019s next professional game agreement between the Premiership and the RFU remain ongoing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Manchester City\u2019s Etihad Stadium and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium \u2013 which will host this season\u2019s European finals \u2013 are also options for the Premiership\u2019s main event alongside St James\u2019 Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Last season\u2019s Twickenham final \u2013 which saw Saracens beat Sale \u2013 failed to sell out. Calder joined the Premiership last October from the England &amp; Wales Cricket Board where he was the commercial lead behind the creation of The Hundred.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/15\/78602685-12828109-image-a-66_1701791246178.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Newcastle United&#8217;s St James&#8217; Park could be an option in the north of England for the final<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I had a long chat with Simon Massie-Taylor (Premiership chief executive) before I joined,\u2019 Calder said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The ambition is to grow but we\u2019ve had a challenging year. Budgets are tight but my view is the Premiership should be shouting a bit louder about its brilliant achievements on the pitch.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Getting rugby into popular culture is important. That\u2019s what we did with The Hundred. We recognised cricket had fallen out of popular culture.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I wouldn\u2019t have joined Premiership Rugby if I didn\u2019t think there was a massive opportunity for the game. I believe in it. We just need to find ways to sell it.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018There is no reason why rugby can\u2019t reflect modern Britain and that\u2019s what we want to do \u2013 attract the game to wider audiences. The barriers in cricket led to the creation of The Hundred.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The aim was to make it more accessible and more entertaining. Then you have a product that can explode and it has done. With Premiership Rugby there is nothing wrong with the product.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/15\/78603085-12828109-image-a-67_1701791655289.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Rob Calder wants to follow the lead of The Hundred in cricket to make rugby accessible and entertaining<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s great and I genuinely believe that. I\u2019m not here to change the format of rugby.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney caused shock among English rugby fans when he said in October the game in the country was \u2018on the cusp of something spectacular\u2019 despite its current ills.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Calder wants to make the Premiership\u2019s players its biggest selling point. He also revealed talks over renewing the league\u2019s broadcast deal with TNT Sports \u2013 set to expire at the end of this season \u2013 are ongoing and that he would love to see more double header fixtures between the men\u2019s Premiership and the Premiership Women\u2019s Rugby.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Gloucester and Leicester have already hosted back-to-back matches with their men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We saw some research last month which showed rugby could be so much better in attracting new viewers to the sport through the personalities of the game,\u2019 Calder said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Basketball, NFL and football are all up there. Even rugby league scores higher than union. We need to stop talking about this \u201cno-one is bigger than the team\u201d idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/05\/15\/78603227-12828109-image-a-68_1701791821048.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney (pictured) said rugby was on the cusp of something special&#8217; in October. Calder wants the Premiership&#8217;s players to be the sport&#8217;s biggest selling point<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Of course that\u2019s the case on the field. But there are superstars in rugby. That\u2019s why we wanted to do the Amazon documentary. That\u2019s why we were thrilled when Finn Russell came to Bath.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We know the impact he can have. We\u2019ve seen that on our social media channels. We had our biggest sales number on our streaming service when Bath played Sale. Finn drives interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Two fans from the west coast of Scotland drove to Bath this season to watch them because Finn was playing. We want the Premiership to have the best stars.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Players are so critical to selling this game.\u2019<\/p>\n<h2>Rob Calder on\u2026<\/h2>\n<p><span>Could the Premiership take games abroad for the first time since 2017?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve talked about it and I think it would be a brilliant ambition. It\u2019s been done before, before our time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was a big undertaking and I\u2019m sure Premiership Rugby learnt a lot from it. I love the ambition but I think we need to build towards that. It\u2019s not about too much too soon.<\/p>\n<p><span>What balance are you looking for between a subscription channel and free-to-air broadcasting in the Premiership\u2019s next television deal?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>TNT are our incumbent broadcaster and there is a really strong relationship there. They are full of innovation and have some brilliant ideas. We\u2019re really enthusiastic about that and are in discussions about how we might extend.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Free-to-air is a vital part of our shop window. It\u2019s always going to be a balance. That\u2019s part of the discussion. I think what we can do better is promote the ITV games more and our focus on that has definitely improved in the last 12 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a balance of reach and revenue in these discussions. We want to drive reach across the game. We know we need to get to more people.<\/p>\n<p><span>Will we see more men\u2019s and women\u2019s Premiership double headers?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d love to do that. There are some commercial challenges with different partners involved but in terms of promoting the game and creating festivals of rugby which attract families, I think it\u2019s really important the men\u2019s and women\u2019s games are aligned.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There is a great growth opportunity for both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s games. It\u2019s important we work together to make that happen.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12828109\/Premiership-Rugby-explore-options-end-season-final-away-Twickenham-time-chief-growth-officer-insists-changes-needed-ensure-sport-relevant-north.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EXCLUSIVE Premiership Rugby explore options to take end-of-season final away from Twickenham for the first time&#8230; as their chief growth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296058,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Premiership explore options to take season finale away from Twickenham - Sports Love Me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/rugby-union\/premiership-explore-options-to-take-season-finale-away-from-twickenham\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Premiership explore options to take season finale away from Twickenham - Sports Love Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EXCLUSIVE Premiership Rugby explore options to take end-of-season final away from Twickenham for the first time&#8230; 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