Think R360 is rugby’s only proposed breakaway league with the aim of shaking up the sport’s established order? Think again.
Introducing Ultimate Sevens, a new venture led by BIA Sports Group (BSG) – a company headed up by the same men who own Sunderland[1] FC, who have made a flying start to their Premier League[2] comeback season.
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Juan Sartori took full control of Sunderland in 2023, taking the club back to the top flight. The pair also own BSG and other sporting assets including the World Supercross Championship. Now, rugby’s shortest format is their next project.
‘Sunderland has been a story of wonderful growth,’ BSG chief executive Tom Burwell tells Rugby Confidential. ‘We are building to remain a part of the Premier League and continue to be ambitious on and off the field.
‘Can we replicate the success we’ve had with Sunderland in rugby? It’s very different but if we apply many of the things we do well, then I don’t see why not.
‘We’re investor operators, not just investors. I respect Mike Tindall[3], Mark Spoors and the guys at R360 because rugby is ripe for disruption. I’m a disruptor by nature. What got rugby to where it is now is not what is going to get it to the next level. We need to be attracting a wider audience and Sevens is the way to do that.’
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus watches his Sunderland team with wife Alexandra Nowikovsky. The Black Cats owner is investing in rugby Sevens, a sport he sees as ready for growth
Supporters attend the hugely popular Hong Kong Sevens tournament. But there are plans afoot to change the face of the sport
Led by England World Cup winner Tindall and top rugby agent Spoors, R360 wants to create ‘generational change’ in the sport by changing the 15-a-side domestic game as we know it. It plans to create eight new franchise teams made up of the world’s best players who will play all around the world following a Formula 1-style model.
BSG’s plans are similar. They include:
- The creation of seven men’s and seven women’s Sevens teams who will come under the umbrella of seven individual franchise owners;
- Seven rounds of matches across seven weeks in seven different European cities – London, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, Rome and Barcelona;
- A 2026 start, with the tournament held in August and September;
- Each round will be a knockout competition and be completed in a four-hour window on a Thursday evening;
- Players will be signed to the league and then allocated to a specific team via a draft.
‘We see ourselves as complementary to the existing Sevens ecosystem,’ Burwell says. ‘The World Series (Sevens’ flagship global tournament) has created an incredible opportunity in terms of the Olympics. It’s important rugby stays an Olympic sport. However, the contrast to that is the World Series is not built for the modern consumption of sport. It’s three days long.
Antoine Dupont of France celebrates scoring a try during the gold medal match against Fiji at the Paris Olympics last summer
France claimed Sevens gold which gave the sport a huge boost in the country
‘Rugby invented a short form version of its game before other sports did. But the irony is it takes longer than the full version of the sport to complete, and that is a problem. We need to create something that will bring fans back into consuming the sport with the best athletes in the world participating and it needs to get back to its short version of two to four hours.’
Burwell and the drivers of Ultimate Sevens believe it is ‘perfectly positioned to take advantage of the instability in the professional rugby Sevens landscape and capture the opportunity to define the future of rugby Sevens.’ They also want to have World Rugby and individual governing body approval.
England, Wales and Scotland all used to compete as individual nations on the World Series Sevens circuit. But budgetary problems at all three unions in the wake of Covid meant they combined to form a Great Britain side in 2023, one which has badly underperformed. The men’s team failed to qualify for Paris 2024 after losing their qualifying final against South Africa in Monaco, while the women’s side were soundly beaten in the Olympic quarter-final by the USA.
The presence of French 15-a-side superstar Antoine Dupont in his country’s Sevens side for their home Olympiad catapulted rugby’s shorter format to new heights. With Dupont in their team, France won gold.
‘This is a project that’s in the tens of millions. It’s already got an eight-figure valuation,’ says Burwell, who has experience in rugby and F1 and used to head up the Dubai Sevens – one of the World Series’ most popular legs.
‘We’re educated investors. We know what we’re doing and we’re taking this seriously. We can’t do this half-hearted. I’ve been involved in Sevens for the last 20 years. I’ve seen the sport flatter to deceive.
‘In part that’s because the funding wasn’t there. Our funding is rock solid. We want to provide a window for franchise rugby Sevens with the best players in the world. We’ve built into our system the ability for a franchise owner to invest in a wildcard player outside of the draft system.
‘It could have enormous marketing impact. But we want to use the best Sevens players in the world.
American llona Maher (right) is a superstar created by Sevens – and has become a social-media sensation too
Star of the recent women’s World Cup, Ellie Kildunne shows her talents for Great Britain’s Sevens side during last summer’s Olympics
‘Ilona Maher is a superstar created by Sevens. She’s the biggest rugby star in the world judging by modern metrics. Dupont had a huge impact on the Paris Olympics. But don’t forget, he came off the bench in the final and didn’t make the starting team.
‘At the moment, the World Series has teams not competing due to funding issues. If I can come in and fund those players to be on year-round contracts that don’t impact the World Series, the sport as a whole is stronger.
‘We have to be careful with calendars, but in cricket Twenty20 has shown what is possible. I can’t see us competing for the same players as R360. Our costs will be much, much lower. Our players will be paid tens of thousands for their eight weeks, certainly not millions.
‘If a player has an opportunity of both, the financial reality is they won’t be choosing Sevens. At BSG, we look at sports that have significant fandom but are maybe underfunded. Rugby Sevens is exactly that.
‘It’s a short-form sport that can attract a young demographic. We want to change the digital model so there are more eyeballs on it. That’s a relatively easy fix.
‘There are some bright people working in rugby and asking the right questions and that means there is opportunity. We need to service rugby fans in a different way to how they have been. I believe it’s an exciting time for the sport.’
HQ plans more women’s loos
Plans to redevelop Twickenham include the provision of more women’s toilets after there were long queues at England’s glorious World Cup final win over Canada.
John Mitchell’s Red Roses sealed glory in front of a record crowd for a female Test of 81,885 – 50 per cent of whom were women.
Twickenham has far more male toilets than female to cater for the more male-dominated, beer-swilling crowds that come to men’s internationals.
There is a recognition at the RFU better services for female fans need to be provided both for rugby matches and in the hope of the venue securing leading acts for concerts in the future.
England celebrated winning the World Cup at Twickenham but facilities were not up to scratch at the stadium
Bare-bones Bears seek reinforcements
Bristol are on the lookout for two new half-backs with England scrum-half Harry Randall set to be out for two months and No 10 AJ MacGinty also facing a long spell on the sidelines.
Randall suffered a hamstring injury in the Bears’ season opening win over Leicester and is unlikely to be a part of England’s autumn internationals as a result, while MacGinty was forced off with a worrying achilles issue.
Maverick wing Gabriel Ibitoye also suffered the same problem as Randall, leaving Bristol boss Pat Lam needing reinforcements. Rugby Confidential understands Bristol have now gone to market in the search for a scrum-half, fly-half and potentially an outside back too.
Noah Heward, Jack Bates, Rich Lane and Jimmy Williams were already on the sidelines before the Leicester game.
Bristol Bears will seek reinforcements after Harry Randall was forced to leave the field with an injury during their match against Leicester Tigers at the weekend
Willis in running for top award
Jack Willis missed out on Lions selection earlier this summer and remains ineligible for England due to his club contract with Toulouse.
But the former Wasps flanker’s extraordinary form in French rugby means he is in the running to be named the best player in the Top14.
Willis helped Toulouse to yet another league title last season, adding to the haul of domestic and European trophies he has won on his travels.
On Monday, Willis is one of three players up for the 2024-25 player of the season, alongside his Toulouse team-mate Thomas Ramos and Sireli Maqala who is a centre partner of former England ace Manu Tuilagi at Bayonne.
References
- ^ Sunderland (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Premier League (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Mike Tindall (www.dailymail.co.uk)