The Rugby Football Union is set to cut its funding of the Championship by 50%, throwing England’s second tier into turmoil and handing “ring-fencing to the Premiership on a plate”.
Currently the RFU pays the clubs about £534,000 per year, but that will drop to a 2015 level of £288,000 per club.
However, that slash was going to change this summer but will now could be done over two years.
Rugby really is in a bad place at the moment… https://t.co/6b4XuEBc7l
— Alex Lewington (@AlexLewington48) February 12, 2020
“We’re looking at phasing that reduction over a longer period over two years,” Sweeney told the BBC.
“We have gone to them and said ‘look, we can reschedule these cuts over a period of two years, and work with you in terms of how to how to manage that situation’,” Sweeney told Radio 4’s Today, in his first interview on the subject.
“The other thing we said is ‘let’s sit down and work together as a group and figure out what is the role of the Championship’.
“We haven’t just cut this to save £3m. We’ve cut it because we are not clear of the benefit we’re getting from that spending.”