SA Rugby to gain no financial benefit from successful 1st URC, but it's all part of the plan

SA Rugby will receive no financial boost from its involvement in the United Rugby Championship (URC) despite its franchises ultimately having a wildly successful first season in the new competition, culminating in a final between the Stormers and Bulls.

In fact, participating in the competition will remain nothing more than a yearly cost for the local governing body until 2025, when its shareholding finally kicks in.

Considering that CVC Capital Partners, a Luxembourg-based buyout group, acquired a 28% stake in the URC for approximately R2.4 billion back in 2020 and projections that the tournament will earn between R667 million and R705 million per year, it would be surprising if questions aren't asked about why SA Rugby persists with an "investment" that nets them nothing out of the kitty.

After all - for the moment at least - the federation misses out on almost R180 million annually.

That's the point though: SA Rugby was never supposed to make money immediately and, in all fairness, they never hid that fact.

"SA Rugby took a strategic decision to invest in a northern future even before the unbundling of Super Rugby when we negotiated the inclusion of two teams in what was PRO12," the governing body told Sport24.

"That move paved the way for the speedy creation of the URC in which we will ultimately hold a 25% stake – but we must purchase that shareholding with an annual subscription fee."

It must be taken into account that the URC - capitalising on the commercial platform laid by the PRO12 and PRO14 tournaments - is still a new venture, a competition still a bit unsure of its true valuation because the SA franchises have only been involved for one season.

And while there's now widespread consensus that South Africa has indeed