The broadcaster confirmed it will not show Mike Tindall's proposed competition
The chances of Mike Tindall’s R360 breakaway rugby league becoming a money-making enterprise have been slammed by the big boss of TNT Sports.
Tindall is the driving force behind the proposed 12-team franchise league which would host events around the world in a grand prix-style with a 16-match season taking place in two blocks between April to June and August to September.
Related: British & Irish Lions suffer first casualty with prop drop-out
For players it’s a no-brainer with the potential to play fewer games for far more money and owners of Premier League, F1 and NFL teams are reportedly interested in purchasing franchises. However, the appeal does not appear to extend to at least one rugby broadcaster.
Andrew Georgiou, President and MD for Warner Bros. Discovery UK and Ireland of which TNT Sports is a division that broadcasts the Gallagher Premiership and Autumn Nations Series, questioned where the money was coming from to make the project a success and confirmed TNT Sports would not be broadcasting R360 if it does get off the ground.
Mike Tindall is behind the new R360 breakaway league (Getty Images)
In a briefing with journalists, he said: “I’ve been involved in sport for 25 years. I can’t tell you how many of these PowerPoint presentations I’ve come across my desk with people who were absolutely certain that what they had on that page was going to be the new thing. It was going to be absolutely the new thing.
“And all I ask, and I don’t know the details of what’s happening involved, no one’s come to us and made a presentation, no one’s told us what the new format is, no one told us what the new schedule is. I mean, I actually don’t know much about it.
“But the one question that I think you guys should be asking is, how are they going to grow the revenue by putting this event on? Where’s the money coming from? The media industry is going through a massive generational change. There’s been no more change in the media industry in the last five years than there has been since the invention of cable television in the late 70s and early 80s.
“So if these folks believe that they are going to grow the revenue by putting this thing on, I think they’re delusional. I really do. What it will do is further complicate what is already a well-functioning rugby ecosystem.
“And so I would just ask some pretty fundamental questions around, is this a commercially sustainable model? The fact that it’s being likened to LIV Golf, I think is a perfect analogy. It’s a perfect comparison to what this is really going to be: Commercially unsustainable.”
Watch the Premiership Rugby Final live on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+ from 1.30pm this Saturday.
Download the digital edition of Rugby World straight to your tablet or subscribe to the print edition to get the magazine delivered to your door.