Money or eyeballs ? Once again, that's the big question

IS THIS the last year when the Six Nations is televised entirely free-to-air? As the unions involved prepare themselves for negotiations with bidders, they will be grappling with a simple question: money or eyeballs?

- PAUL REES

It is one that has taxed administrators in various sports in the last 30-plus years since Rupert Murdoch's Sky saw sport, football in particular, as a means of driving subscriptions. It spawned the Premier League and prompted excursions into other sports, including rugby union.

In 1996, when it was then BSkyB, an £87.5m deal was signed with the Rugby Football Union. It gave the company the live rights to all England's internationals at Twickenham, including the then Five Nations, as well as a match every round in the top division of the league, which the following year was rebranded as the Premiership.

A problem for the RFU was that, as a member of the Five Nations, it was bound by an accord and did not have the authority to sell the television rights for its home matches in the tournament. England were thrown out in a public row that prompted a debate in parliament over whether the government should intervene to ensure that the championship remained free-to-air in perpetuity.

"The RFU's deal with Mr Murdoch's empire is certainly to be deplored," said Sir Peter Fray, then the MP for Wellingborough. "We have already seen the rift that has developed between the big clubs and the rest of the people who play rugby."

Nearly 30 years later, the English game is still fretting over what is seen as a rift between the leading clubs and the rest, culminating in a special general meeting of the RFU after the Six Nations when heads will be called for. The prospect of Six Nations matches disappearing behind a paywall will hardly lighten the mood even if it means more money.

How much would the grassroots receive?

An issue for all the unions involved, who had to pare their budgets as a consequence of the pandemic with the lower levels of the game targeted rather than the professional end which drives income, is the true value of a television deal that means the Six Nations is no longer exclusively free-to-air.