Scarlets boss Simon Muderack says the regions need to watch out for “gotcha clauses” in the long-term financial deal they are close to agreeing with the Welsh Rugby Union.
Executive chairman Muderack believes the six-year package could be signed off in the next few days with significant progress having been made over the past week. However, he says the regions do need to be cautious over the fine detail given the historic relationship with the governing body.
Outlining the ongoing negotiations, he told BBC Radio Wales: “It is an hour by hour, daily activity, across all four regions and the union trying to pull the deal together. We had productive all-day sessions in London and Cardiff last week where we made some good progress through final items and then the regions hunkered down and turned around a full set of mark-ups back to the WRU on Friday.
“There was a lot of good will in the room. So we are certainly trying to push things forward as quickly as we possibly can. We are back at it today [Monday]. Arguably we are days away. Nobody is trying to make the final steps in the process difficult. I am massively motivated and energised to get the deal done.
“The principles are largely agreed. These are fairly complex documents, so there are technicalities. We do have to watch out for gotcha clauses.
“We have come from a world where maybe the relationship has not been one of trust between the regions and the union. Bear in mind, the genesis of the contract we are looking at originates more than 12 months ago with different people in the room.
“Then we need to go through an approval process. In the case of the Scarlets, we have essentially got 10 benefactors that are stepping up to underwrite the risk for the club for the next number of years.”
With progress having been made, the Scarlets have started to offer formal contracts to players.
“We have around 25 players already contracted through next season, in some cases beyond. We have roughly 10 people that we have offered contracts to over the past week. Then we have 10 people, the large majority of whom are nos and one or two that are maybes,” said Muderack.
“I appreciate the difference here is we have only just been able to offer binding legal contracts, but we did notify our player group pre-Christmas.
“I am not saying this is an ideal situation. The numbers do make the future challenging for us and it will mean some players will leave Welsh rugby. All we can do as a region is focus on what’s the best result we can get for the club and for the players. We want to retain as many of those as we possibly can.”
Given the financial challenges within the pro game, amid significant cuts in playing budgets for next season, there continues to be speculation over whether the number of regions may be reduced to three or even two.
Giving his thoughts on this, Muderack said: “You can afford as many regions as you want, you have just got to split the pie accordingly and then that drives down the performance and wage levels. That is the equation that needs to be resolved. The numbers are the numbers based upon four.
“I’m not entirely sure that mergers work in sports. The heritage, the history, the community, the belonging is really important. I’m also not convinced that in rugby the concept of a franchise is that valid yet.”
Muderack continued: “Wales is in a precarious position right now. The world of rugby is too.
“I live in England and you look at what’s happening here with £300m worth of cumulative debt that the PRL clubs have between them. You look at the cash call Leicester now requires of £13m, arguably with the best supported club in the Premiership. You look at what’s happened to Worcester and Wasps. Other clubs are rumoured to be in not dissimilar positions.
"The dirty secret in the game is there is enough money but it exists at the international level. So a decision then needs to be made where does the professional club game fit into the pyramid. I think it has a critical role. This is a broader issue across the game.”
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