riocard911 wrote: ↑July 22nd, 2022, 9:25 am
I'm with Ronk and heno on this one! It's a nice idea in principle, the practicalities would lead however to cannibalisation of the smaller teams and playing nations. Everyone below the absolute top tier would be just making up the numbers with no real chance of success. It would lead to a situation similar to soccer in Spain: which also doesn't make financial sense in conventional terms either, but still sees debt-ridden Real Madrid and Barcelona top of the pile year in, year out.
Is that not sport though, the reality is that the better teams dominate and as a result of that dominance are in a position to dominate further. In the URC, Premiership, Top 14, EPL, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A, La Liga, All Ireland Football Championship, and All Ireland Hurling Championship it's pretty much always the same top teams at the top come seasons end - the rest are just there for the TV money. You'll occasionally get an outlier team that might have a good year, but it's very rare.
The Heineken Cup was great for Ireland, but it didn't work. The Champions Cup was good for Ireland, but it isn't working.
A European competition will never succeed until it passes one key criterion. Every game that's played in Europe is worth more than a game in your domestic league, and that's currently not the case for France or England. The Top 14 TV deal is worth over €100 million a year. The European Rugby TV deal in France is worth €25m. That alone guarantees that the only clubs that will make an effort are the absolute top tier - we see this every year where even a relatively successful club like Castres could not give a cr@p about Europe
That's why European competitions work in Soccer, the money. Shamrock Rovers have already won €1.4 million from their Champions League qualifying campaign, and if they get knocked out they still have a qualifier in the Europa League and if they get knocked out of that, they still have a qualifier for the Europa Conference. Even if they don't win another game they will clear €2m in prize money - that's without gate receipts or TV money. The prize money for winning the entire Champions Cup is €1m. Shamrock Rovers, three-nil down from the first leg of the second qualifying round, have more prize money than La Rochelle, European Champions.