Rugby officials across the Six Nations and Sanzaar face a fresh confrontation with World Rugby as several unions push to eliminate potential relegation from the Nations Championship.
The ten leading unions recently formed a new corporate entity named F10 to administer the Nations Championship. This organization handles broadcast and commercial rights for all competitions outside of the global World Cup, which remains under governing body ownership. According to as, Last week by, the 10 leading unions have set up a new company, F10, to run the Nations Championship and sell their broadcast and commercial rights for all competitions other than the World Cup, w. Which the 10 biggest unions have now introduced themselves, in addition World Rugby also originally suggested the joint sale of commercial rights.
This corporate shift has sparked anxiety that specific founding unions, notably Wales and Italy, seek protective measures to prevent dropping into the second-tier Nations Cup managed by World Rugby. Particularly Wales and Italy, want to introduce guard rails protecting them from relegation to the second tier Nations C, the creation of F10 has led to concerns elsewhere in the sport that some of the 10 founding unions.
Another tension point involves smaller unions and World Rugby desiring to bundle Nations Cup commercial rights alongside the primary tournament so all participants share revenues.
The Nations Championship secured over eighty broadcast agreements before F10 formed, whereas the Nations Cup managed only thirteen, relying on World Rugby platform RugbyPass TV for digital distribution in markets like the United Kingdom. The Nations Cup has brought in just 13, with games streamed on the Wor, while the Nations Championship has secured more than 80 broadcast deals for this year’s tournament in deals that were brokered before F10 was set up.
Japan and Fiji currently hold invitational status for the tournament’s first three editions ending in 2030, at which point licensing terms mandate the introduction of promotion and relegation.
The World Rugby Council narrowly approved the league structure in Paris prior to the 2023 World Cup final on the condition that it would operate as an open competition from 2030, enabling relegation and one promotion pathway.
Participants present at the vote indicated that any effort to protect the ten founding members would require fresh council approval, representing a fundamental shift from agreements made three years ago. According to sources present at the vote, Any attempt to ringfence the 10 founding members in the Nations Championship would need to go to the council for approval, as it would represent a fundamental change to the conditions agreed three years ago and damage the integrity of the competition.
Because the initial vote required a 75 percent majority and secured forty-one votes for against ten, reopening the debate carries significant risk and could destabilize the entire tournament. Meaning it got a majority of 80%, so reopening the debate would be a risky move by the unions as it could throw the tournament into turmoil, the original vote required a 75% majority to be passed and the motion received 41 votes for and 10 against.
A historical power struggle has persisted between administrators and unions regarding the competition, which World Rugby initially proposed nearly ten years ago before unions resisted relegation terms.
The official position of the Six Nations maintains that relegation will take effect in 2030 as planned, though organizers acknowledge that precise mechanics remain unresolved. How that comes into effect needs to be sorted out.”, the basic premise is still the same.
Under World Rugby expansion plans, the loser of a sixth-place playoff between hemispheres in 2030 would trade places with the leading team from the Nations Cup.
Italy and Fiji hold the lowest standings following four rounds of the inaugural competition, while Georgia and the United States lead the second-tier standings.
While Six Nations representatives argue that parachute payment sizing for relegated teams is the primary remaining financial concern, individual unions continue lobbying for exemptions.
Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Abi Tierney recently described potential relegation for Wales as cataclysmic, while Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney refrained from detailing implementation plans prior to recent fixtures.
Sweeney noted that a review group established by World Rugby and chaired by Brett Robinson is currently examining how promotion and relegation structures will function.
