The globetrotting new breakaway league is hoping to launch next year with 12 franchises
Former England centre Mike Tindall has been revealed as part of the driving force behind a new proposed breakaway global rugby league that hopes to launch next year.
The World Cup winner has been named as one of the co-founders of ‘R360’, along with former Bath director of rugby Stuart Hooper, former rugby agent Mark Spoors and John Loffhagen, the lawyer behind the creation of cricket’s Indian Premier League and the rebel LIV Golf tour. The reveal of the driving forces comes amid a push for backers for the franchise system, with multiple bids having reportedly already been made.
According to the Telegraph, team owners from other sports, including the NFL and Formula One, have made bids as more details of the league, first reported last autumn, become clear.
A brochure has been circulated to potential investors from R360, which puts more meat on the bones from the initial reports last year.
The new league, were it to get off the ground, would run in two windows – one from April to June and the other from August to September – in order to make players available for internationals.
The report adds that they are hoping to launch the competition in September next year and expand to 10 male franchises in its second year.
The initial proposal is for 12 franchises, with eight male teams and four women’s teams. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
It would follow a ‘grand prix’ model, visiting 16 venues that include Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Barcelona’s Nou Camp and Sao Paulo.
Other locations include Los Angeles, New York and Buenos Aires – all of which would transform into “festival hubs with live music shows, fan zones and celebrity appearances”.
Heads of agreement have already been signed with a number of players, with the league targeting the top 300 male and female player in the world.
It has previously been reported that the new league intends to pay the world’s top 40 rugby union players more than £1million a season – a figure that only a few players currently make.
The Times report that some members of this summer’s British and Irish Lions squad have signed conditional contracts with the new league, which would be activated if the R360 owners can meet targets related to broadcasting rights and team ownership.
With no relegations and laws to “minimise dead time, maximising fast-paced and non-stop action”, the new league says that it wants to turn rugby into a summer sport and give the game “its Super Bowl moment”.
“Rugby is feeling the fallout of the last few years with financial mismanagement, declining investment in the club game and a product that is struggling to evolve,” said Tindall in the brochure sent to investors seen by the Telegraph.
“Clubs around the world are feeling the strain and are being propped up by the international game. Rugby’s lack of innovation and ability to change risks losing its appeal to new audiences and its younger market.”
