Scarlets call for URC and English Premiership merger as 'something needs to change'

Scarlets chairman Simon Muderack was the latest guest on WalesOnline's Welsh Rugby Podcast

Scarlets chairman Simon Muderack believes a merger of the United Rugby Championship and the English Premiership would have significant benefits for the professional game in Wales.

There have been talks behind the scenes centred on merging the United Rugby Championship and the Gallagher Premiership, with an Anglo-Welsh conference one idea that has been mooted. For years the majority of Welsh supporters have yearned for regular fixtures against English clubs, with the URC having failed to capture the imagination of the public.

Muderack believes the URC is part of the solution but insists the Welsh clubs do need to be playing English opposition on a more regular basis. "What I would say is both PRL and URC are not achieving the level of commercial success either leagues would expect to be achieving in 2024," said Muderack on WalesOnline's Welsh Rugby Podcast, which is released later on Wednesday.

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"It's no secret that effectively four pro clubs in England have gone bankrupt over the past few years and I don't know if you saw that report which came out last week. Clearly there's financial challenges there as there are in Wales which have been well documented and talked about and are one of the key points of genesis of this latest conversation we are in with the union.

"So, something needs to change. I think in both leagues you've clearly got great teams. With CVC the private equity firm having a stake in both leagues if I was in that position and I was looking to drive value in effectively what are my two investments I would love to get creative.

"I think there are strong arguments to bring the leagues closer together. There are a number of different formats which are being talked about and speculated about in the public domain but I think one thing which is certain is that both leagues need to drive up the value.

"Both leagues need to improve effectively the value of the product they put on the field. I do believe we need more cross border competition with the English clubs on behalf of the Welsh clubs.

"I think that's something that our fans ask for. I live in England and went to Bath University and I'd love to see matches against English clubs. You can build narratives around those fixtures, you can build great days out around those fixtures and I think we can deliver great days out for their fans at their place around those fixtures.

"There's a lot of history and I think it appeals to today's audience to have more of those fixtures in the calendar."

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Currently Wales' four professional sides are operating from a salary cap of just £4.5m, although plans are in place to increase the playing budgets to around £6.5m over the next few seasons.

Whenever an Anglo-Welsh league is suggested the inevitable question asked is what can Wales offer England? Muderack believes the fact there is a salary cap in the English Premiership of £6.4m means the Welsh clubs would be a good fit.

"You can see why the Irish teams would ask that question because they would argue they can deliver quite a bit of value too," he tells WalesOnline. "I think some of the Anglo-Welsh fixtures go back longer.

"We've also got the geographical proximity and it doesn't necessarily mean one happens without the other either. I think there's a way to navigate through that.

"Just thinking about this in abstract terms. We have a salary cap in Wales and they have a salary cap in England but they don't have a salary cap in Ireland.

"I think longer term for pro rugby as a whole... you look at Formula One as a great example. Formula One only started to make money when a spending cap was put in place.

"There's some press that's been out there over the last couple of weeks where before the spending cap came in Formula One teams were being traded for £1. The minimum value of a Formula One team now is £1.3b and some teams are worth £3-4b.

"It is quoted that is a direct result of the teams now being sustainable due to the spending cap. If you look at this season, the teams that are competing towards the second-half of the season against each other it's really exciting.

"I think cost control, sustainability enabled by a cap is something Welsh teams and the English teams could align on pretty quickly. Then you've got the history, the diaspora and what it means to our mutual fans.

"I am not discounting the value of some of the other teams and what they add to the competition nor our desire to play against them. Leinster is a team who probably on a club rugby perspective are the yardstick you want to measure yourself against.

"That means you want to play them for better or for worse so you know where you stand. It doesn't necessarily exclude those teams from the competition but I do think selfishly the Welsh teams and being uber selfish the Scarlets have a lot to offer a competition where we would play more games against English clubs."

Muderack is also confident an Anglo-Welsh competition would improve the financial position of the Welsh clubs. "I can't comment specifically from a braodcast perspective because only the market can tell us that but I would like to believe that it would lead to an increase in broadcast revenue," he said.

"It would potentially enable us to have more home fixtures which gives us greater opportunity to receive gate receipts. I believe access to some of those teams and the English marketplace would be appealing to some of our sponsors, certainly it's appealing to our fans.

"Any way you look at it you've got opportunities for increased enjoyment, increased value and increased revenue from our perspective."