Gallagher PREM play-off games could be played in neutral venues as part of the league’s franchise overhaul.

First and second in the league currently earn home advantage in the PREM play-offs before the final is played at Twickenham.

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Going forward, these play-off games may be hosted in bigger stadiums to create more revenue. Some regular season games are already shifted to larger venues, such as Harlequins’ long-running Big Game concept where they take matches across the road from Twickenham Stoop to Allianz Stadium.

It is part of plans to increase the number of PREM games played in bigger stadiums to ten by 2030, when the league is set have expanded to 12 clubs as part of a relegation-free franchise model.

“Big games are really important, as they make games bigger, and appeal to a wider fanbase. Our ambition is to have ten big games by 2030, and that includes the final and the potential for neutral play-offs,” PREM chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor said on the plans.

“The reason you do it is because of scale. They are big games and you want to make them bigger. It allows us to take the game on the road, and that’s what we’re seeing with Gloucester hosting a game in Birmingham this weekend, it’s a big undertaking but a big step in building a new market.

“England have a game against Fiji at the Hill Dickinson Stadium up in Liverpool, which is a great new 55,000-seater stadium, and in an area where there is clearly demand, as people are buying tickets to England Fiji. Is that a good example of where we could host a play-off event? Maybe.

“There’s lot of options. We’re intending to do this in 2029, deliberately because it takes time to secure venues, and find the right spot and build demand.”

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While clubs that finish first and second would no longer gain home advantage from the play-offs, PREM Rugby confirmed they would take home the majority of revenue from the game and have other home advantages such as changing rooms.

No specific venues were mentioned but the intention would be to host the play-offs in bigger football stadiums in new parts of the UK like Liverpool and the West Midlands, depending on venue availability.

PREM’s move to a franchise league

This move comes alongside the PREM’s decision to move to a franchise model.

From 2027, traditional promotion/relegation will be scrapped in favour of a requirements-based model.

Clubs will now be asked to hit a series of on and off-field requirements such as stadium attendance and investment in order to be part of the top-tier.

Teams will then be reviewed on their performance and either added or removed from the league.

The intention is to then expand to 12 clubs from 2030 with the two new clubs having played at least one season in the Champ.

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The RFU and PREM rugby expressed their intention to use this transition to a franchise model and expansion of the league to take the professional game to new parts of the UK.

Yorkshire, the West Midlands and the south-east were all mentioned as large parts of the country without professional teams and target areas for the expansion.

This weekend, three PREM games will be hosted in different stadiums with Bristol hosting Harlequins at the Principality in Cardiff, Saracens hosting Northampton Saints at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium and Gloucester facing Leicester Tigers at Villa Park for the Slater Cup.

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