Why Scotland will receive less than half of what England gets from CVC Six Nations deal

England are to receive more than double what Scotland get in the new Six Nations deal with CVC.

England are anticipating a windfall of around £95m over the next five years while Scotland will receive £47.5m

The private equity firm are pumping £365 million into the competition over five years in exchange for a 14.3 per cent stake in its commercial rights.

It means CVC will own a seventh, with the unions of Scotland, England Ireland, Wales, France and Italy retaining the other six sevenths.

But the investment will not be split evenly. Instead, it will be divided among the six unions on a sliding scale, with England and France receiving the largest slices of the pie because they boast the biggest share of the audience.

England’s Rugby Football Union is in line to receive £95m over five years while the Scottish Rugby Union gets £44.5m.

Wales and Ireland will also take home more than the Scots, with the WRU set to receive £51m and IRFU £48m.

That leaves around £126m for France and Italy, of which the French are expected to get a share similar to England’s.

The television market is the main driver, and England and France, with their large populations, are key to selling the rights to the Six Nations.

It has been assumed that this year’s Six Nations will be the last to be shown on free-to-air television. Matches have been shared by BBC and ITV for the last six seasons after the terrestrial heavyweights clubbed together to stave off satellite and cable broadcasters including Sky Sports.

That deal expires at the conclusion of the 2021 Championship and the contract is out for tender, with pay-TV operators ready to flash the cash.

The Autumn Nations Cup, staged at short notice last year, was broadcast mainly on Amazon Prime Video but some games were shown on Channel 4.

Speaking last month, SRU chief executive Mark Dodson says it would be wrong for people to write off completely terrestrial TV.

“There’s a bit of supposition going on there,” said Dodson. “If you look at the tender that will go out, I think we’ll be really, really happy. We’ve got interest from everybody: terrestrial, traditional pay-TV, and a wider new group of broadcasters. People from right across the spectrum are interested and we’re in a very good place.

“I’m optimistic and I don’t necessarily think that going behind a paywall is the likely favoured option. We have to wait and see what happens, look at how not only the money comes through but also what the coverage looks like and how accessible it is.

“Terrestrial TV gives us an incredible reach that is hard to achieve elsewhere. But equally, we’ve now got people who are prepared to pay material amounts of money for what is the best rugby tournament in the world.”

For CVC, the Six Nations deal increases its investment in rugby after previous agreements with the Guinness Pro14 and Gallagher Premiership.

The partnership with the Six Nations also includes the autumn internationals, the Women’s Six Nations and the Under-20 Six Nations Championship. It has been described as “pivotal moment’ for rugby”.

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