Nothing official, let alone with immediate consequences. But compared to individual voices that for some time have been raised from time to time against Italy’s stay in the Six Nations rugby, this time there seems to be a more solid and concrete prospect.
From numerous media in the United Kingdom and South Africa a news is bouncing that it is difficult to categorize as completely “fake”: the South African federation has agreed for a new three-year participation of its national team in the Southern Hemisphere Championship (committing itself from 2022 to 2024 ) but aims to make it enter the Six Nations starting from the 2025 edition. And the sacrificed team, as part of an operation that would open the doors of the event to a non-European for the first time, would be Italy, as d ‘besides, it was easy to imagine.
To push in this direction would be above all the private equity fund CVC, which was awarded 14.5% of Six Nations Limited, the company that manages the Six Nations, spending an amount exceeding 350 million euros. A powerhouse in the field of sports investments, which recently acquired 10% of the Spanish football league, among other things.
CVC would aim to maximize the profits of the most popular rugby tournament in existence by bringing in the world champion team, which would presumably mean greater contributions from sponsors, greater television audiences with growing TV revenues, greater popularity on a global scale.
Naturally the more and more disappointing results of the Azzurri in the Six Nations (33 defeats in a row, last victory in 2015 in Scotland) have a considerable weight: from this point of view, Italy could not put on the table reasons in favor of their own. stay. And with an exit it would suffer a terrible economic blow. Suffice it to say that the 2019 financial statements of the Fir (the last in the pre-Covid era) showed a turnover of 46.5 million euros, of which almost 20 derived directly from participation in the Six Nations. Which then became a driving force for other income, starting with the sponsorships of the national team.