Scottish Rugby chairman John McGuigan admits the new rebel league is a potential threat — and could have a dramatic effect on the game at both domestic and international level.
Speaking after the governing body’s AGM on Wednesday, McGuigan that Scottish Rugby would have to monitor the idea closely.
It’s understood the breakaway league would involve a globe-trotting competition, which has been proposed for both men and women – with lucrative contracts on offer.
A slimmed-down fixture list has also been put on the table, offering an attractive alternative for international players who have grown tired of overloaded match schedules. The idea has been likened to the LIV breakaway in golf, where some of the best players in the world have joined the Saudi-backed league for vast sums of money.
Though sceptical about the logistics of such an operation ever coming to fruition, McGuigan said it was something that rugby could not now shy away from – as competition for wages and contracts increases in the pro game.
‘It’s interesting,’ admitted McGuigan. ‘I keep trying to find out about it because there’s all the rumour – but I couldn’t actually get to anybody who could explain to me what the actual opportunity is.
Scottish Rugby chairman John McGuigan didn’t know the detail about the breakaway league
A breakaway league could have a dramatic effect on rugby in Scotland and across the world
Some of Scotland’s top players could be targeted by the breakaway league
‘So somebody worked out on the back of a fag packet what it would cost, because you’ve got to pay all these players and they’re all looking for a reasonable chunk of cash and in addition to that you’ve got to build all the infrastructure around it.
‘They did a calculation at a billion (pounds) and by the time we kind of worked through that and started looking at who would commit themselves to that, we couldn’t quite get to a point where we could see it working.
‘Having said that, the qualification of all of it was, I’m sure somebody did that at the PGA when the golf thing came along, so I think we’re not absent of seeing it as potentially as an area we need to look closely at because it could impact leagues.
‘I think the way it’s expressed at the moment is that it wouldn’t impact your international players, because they would still be released for the internationals, but it could have a very dramatic effect on places like URC and premiership and all these types of things, so it would be wrong of us to pretend it’s not potentially a threat.
‘It could be, but we don’t know enough yet.
‘That’s not to say we shouldn’t always keep on track on all of that, because clearly if it did happen, it would be impactful.’
Behind the scenes, Mail Sport understands a target of September 2025 has now been set to activate millions of pounds’ worth of player contracts for the competition.
It’s a move which could upend the sport entirely – with promoters hunting some of the biggest stars in the world for the competition.
Pre-contracts have already been offered to headline players, which will involve complicated buyouts from their existing club deals.
It’s understood that three conditions must be met by next September in order for the pre-contracts to kick in.
The conditions are to have eight franchises sold in the fundraising process, an international TV deal and 200 players signed up.
If successful, the first competition could be staged in the summer of 2026. Organisers are hoping to secure funds from the USA and the Middle East, with hundreds of millions of pounds required to recruit the sport’s front-line stars.
