Champions Cup prize money: Why profits in semis are shared
As the Investec Champions Cup semi-finals get underway, why are the clubs involved not guaranteed all of the profits generated?
Over the last couple of days the Uefa Champions League semi-finals have played out at London’s Emirates Stadium and Barcelona’s Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys. The final four teams are battling for prize money that could impact their summer transfer plans.
Arsenal, for example, could bank over £80m in prize money should they overcome their 1-0 deficit to PSG and then beat either Barcelona or Inter Milan in the final.
But at this weekend’s Investec Champions Cup semi-finals, where Northampton travel to Leinster’s Dublin stronghold and Bordeaux play hosts to holders Toulouse, it’s not quite so simple.
Distribution model
Because European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), the governing body which organises both the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, operates a slightly different distribution model.
Northampton Saints chief executive Julia Chapman recently told City AM that the semi-final across the Irish Sea might actually incur a cost for the English champions, rather than net them a profit.
That’s because the gate receipts from the semis and final are taken by EPCR in a move agreed by the three major leagues – French Top 14, English Premiership and multi-national United Rugby Championship – which sees the cash centralised and distributed across Europe.
How each of the three major European-based leagues distributes their payout is up to them, but it is understood that the French Top 14’s allocation has a portion reserved for the second tier Pro D2.
And why Europe and not the participating clubs from South Africa? Because they’re not yet full stakeholders in the United Rugby Championship and pay to be part of European rugby – something that is up for negotiation.
One could argue that it means the clubs are playing for the love of the game, not the prize pot that (doesn’t) await the winner.
But it certainly is an interesting business model for the world’s premier club rugby competition.
Champions Cup cash
With the champions not getting any guaranteed prize money straight into their coffers from winning the competition, it is understandable why some clubs take the competition less seriously.
But Chapman did state that a run in the Champions Cup – despite a disappointing domestic performance – has a long-term benefit to the club’s finances.
It is therefore in the best interest of all top European clubs – and the second tier French ones, who do not play this weekend – that the two semi-final venues are full.
There is often controversy with Leinster being able to use the Aviva Stadium for the semi-finals, given they’re currently borrowing it as their home stadium, when other clubs with stadiums big enough are often forced to play elsewhere.
But this weekend it isn’t too bad with Bordeaux still playing within their city walls, albeit at the local football stadium.
And the final, at the 74,500-capacity Principality Stadium this month, will be buoyed by either Northampton or Leinster – given the former will invite English support and the latter a battalion of packed Ryanair flights from the Irish capital – being in the final.
Toulouse will probably bring the noise from France but Bordeaux would be first-time finalists and eager to show up for their team.
Either way, the four rugby teams left in the Champions Cup are beyond milking the cash cow and are instead focused entirely on the trophy – which one assumes cannot be pawned for funds after the event.