Premiership Rugby, the body that represents clubs in the top division of rugby union in England, may have breached its contract with the Rugby Football Union, the sport’s governing body in England, by agreeing a rights deal with UK telecommunications company BT, according to RFU chairman Bill Beaumont.
Last week, BT announced a four-year deal, from 2013-14 to 2016-17, for domestic rights to Premiership matches plus rights to a summer rugby sevens tournament, with the agreement including coverage of Premiership teams’ matches in a new European tournament that would replace the existing Heineken Cup, in a three-year deal, from 2014-15 to 2016-17.
“I am not a lawyer. I am advised that there could well have been a breach in the contract, but at the moment let’s keep the door open, let’s not take sides,” Beaumont told the Press Association news agency. “Let’s keep talking and we have still got a fair bit to go. We had been aware of the clubs’ concerns and certainly Europe [European Rugby Cup, the organiser of the Heineken Cup] had been, regarding the structure of the competition. I was certainly not aware of the announcement of the deal that the clubs brokered… or the detail.”
According to the sport’s global governing body, the International Rugby Board, national leagues do not have the authority to sell rights without the permission of the relevant country’s union. The RFU did not consent to the BT deal, but Premiership Rugby claims that it had the authority to act independently under an agreement that was struck in October 2007.
Meanwhile, BT has announced that Jamie Hindhaugh, the head of production for London 2012 Olympic Games coverage at UK public-service broadcaster the BBC, will join the telco as chief operating officer for its new sports channel. Hindhaugh will join BT in October.