Irish Rugby Football Union chief executive Philip Browne has warned against any move to change the listing of Six Nations matches in the country, stating such a decision could have a “significant impact” on the sport.
IRFU officials are set to sit down with Ireland’s Minister for Communications Alex White in the coming weeks, amid talk that the government will press for Six Nations games to be made exclusive to terrestrial television.
The Six Nations is currently listed as a ‘B’ event in Ireland, which means deferred coverage must be available for terrestrial television.
The current media deal with UK public-service broadcaster the BBC ends after 2017 and Six Nations chief executive John Feehan said in January that the championship may consider offers from pay-television broadcasters, given how critical the revenue generated by the tournament is to the ‘home unions’.
A decision by the Irish government to force international rugby onto terrestrial television would see the England, Scotland and Wales unions exclude the IRFU from negotiations for a new broadcasting partnership.
“We just need to be collectively very careful that we don’t destroy what we have,” Browne said, according to the Irish Times newspaper. “We’re free to air until the end of this contract that we’re in with BBC. The fundamental issue I suppose is making sure that everyone understands the consequences of the government potentially interfering in the marketplace.
“We operate within an international environment, which is a very volatile environment. It’s a fairly delicately poised ecosystem that we exist within. We have two vast neighbours in France and England where the monies are significant and anything that damages our ability to compete in terms of revenues is going to have a significant impact on us.”
The Times said Irish rugby earned approximately €20m ($22m) from its victorious 2015 Six Nations campaign, €4m in prize money for retaining the title and the rest from television rights.