The Commission’s 150-plus page annual report revealed that sponsorship and partnership revenues in the Top 14 rose €67m over the same period; matchday income was up €43m, and merchandising sales were €13m up year on year.
“At the end of the 2020-2021 season, club revenues had collapsed [because of Covid-19], and a return to normality was not at all assured. But we’re finally back to pre-Covid levels,” Emmanuel Eschalier, the general manager of the of the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), told business newspaper Les Echos this week, on foot of the report.
Clubs are hoping, too, for an additional financial bounce following the Rugby World Cup later this year. “It should allow us to maintain the momentum we have [built], to develop the economy of the clubs … to continue investment in infrastructure and training,” the report said.
“This is the strategy that has been developed over the last few years, and French rugby is now reaping the benefits … We hope above all that [the World Cup] will allow us to continue the same dynamic and amplify it.”
Not everything in the garden is rosy, however. While 13 of the 14 clubs in the Top 14 showed improving results in 2021/22 compared with the previous year, several are still running deficits “linked in particular to the increase in the wage bill, which is faster than the increase in operating income”, the report revealed.
But the report has given all clubs in the top two men’s divisions a clean bill of financial health. Even so, budgets for next season, which have yet to be published, are expected to be slightly down on this year. The salary cap for both the Top 14 and ProD2, meanwhile, is set to remain at €10.7m.
Esta historia es de la edición May 07, 2023 de The Rugby Paper.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición May 07, 2023 de The Rugby Paper.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Unbeaten Lymm put the Tykes on a leash
LYMM maintained their unbeaten start to the campaign, taking the major scalp of Leeds Tykes and ending the visitors' unblemished start.
Dramatic late win boosts leaders
A LAST-minute converted try saw Tonbridge Juddians snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at Barnes.
England need to be more consistent
I WAS at last week's game against the All Blacks and as much as I enjoyed my first visit to the stadium since the Six Nations, I couldn't help noticing a different attitude of those in control of the stadium's notification system which puts out messages to the crowd.
Cuthbert: Wales have to deliver
ALEX Cuthbert says the pressure on Wales is huge ahead of their opening Autumn Nations Series game against Fiji today.
Anyanwu heads the list of star attractions
TOP 14 transfer speculation is always thoroughly entertaining, and this season has so far been no exception.
Goldthorp can challenge Kildunne for No.15 spot
LOUGHBOROUGH Lightning head coach Nathan Smith is backing Fran Goldthorp to compete with Ellie Kildunne, right, for England's No.15 jersey.
Four-try David calls the shots for Bears
MILLIE David helped Bristol blow Leicester away after scoring four of their 10 tries at Welford Road.
Scott-Young keen to follow his father
TYPICAL of most Australians, Scott-Young Angus has fairly sunny disposition and the loose forward is confident that Saints can soon start to turn things around on the road.
When value for money is not part of the deal
ENGLAND'S bench strategy against New Zealand - goodbye \"bomb squad\", hello \"squib squad\"-has been investigated, psychoanalysed, convicted on all charges and mercilessly sentenced by the entire rugby world and its maiden aunt, so there is no earthly point in returning to the scene of the crime.
'I want to prove my worth to Bath'
OUT-OF-FAVOUR winger RuBath aridh McConnochie is hoping to use the Premiership Cup to lay down a challenge to Johann van Graan and make his selection claims impossible to ignore.
