Prem Rugby play-offs set to move to neutral venue

The Prem Rugby play-offs are set be played at a neutral venue from the 2029-2030 season.

The current format, which sees the top two teams in the regular season table getting home advantage in the semi-finals, has been in place since 2005.

But league bosses say they have a vision of playing both the play-offs on consecutive days in one city, similar to the European finals weekend.

It is thought Liverpool and Brighton are two of the cities under consideration at this early stage.

This season’s play-offs were a major success, with Northampton’s Franklin’s Gardens and the Rec in Bath hosting two epic contests in front of sold-out crowds.

However, with both grounds having a modest capacity of about 15,000, Prem Rugby chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor believes there is an opportunity to grow the product on both a commercial and sporting level.

France’s Top 14 semi-finals have taken place this season at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome, which has a capacity of more than 67,000.

“The semi-finals that we have just had were awesome in terms of the rugby spectacle, and they’re sell-out games with their home crowds,” Massie-Taylor said.

“But I think they would sell out larger venues and neutrals would go as well. This is about the long term. In the long term, it will be more valuable if you are playing in bigger stadia.”

Club insiders have given the proposal a mixed reception when approached by the BBC, with some excited about the number of fans that could attend the play-off weekend in a big venue in a destination city.

However, it is estimated clubs currently make between £600,000-£750,000 when hosting a play-off at their home ground, so the money generated from switching to a neutral venue would need to be significant to make it financially viable.

There are also concerns the lack of home advantage might disincentivise clubs towards the back end of the season, especially if there is no tangible benefit for finishing first in the regular campaign compared with fourth.

One option would be to incentivise teams to finish in the top two by awarding either prize money and/or a greater share of the play-off gates.

As well as the commercial factors, another advantage of holding the play-offs in a host city would be the chance to take big league games to an underserved area of the country.

“You have to mix up trying to open up new markets and with tried and tested fan bases,” added Massie-Taylor.

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