12 May 2023 , 22:26
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Alex Goode has called for an NFL-style commissioner to take charge of club rugby and help transform the cash-crippled sport.
The Gallagher Premiership stages its semi-finals this weekend after a regular season in which two clubs have gone bust and another is racked with financial uncertainty.
Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn recently slated rugby’s ability to create stars, saying he could not name half a dozen players and that away from internationals "the reality is the viewing figures are horrendous”.
Premiership boss Simon Massie-Taylor has pledged to turn the league’s fortunes around but Saracens star Goode says the current structure is a roadblock to progress.
“You need an independent person to run the league,” said the former England fullback. “You can’t just have every single owner of each club having their input because then nothing gets done. You can’t ever grow the game.
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“Having an independent person in charge of Premiership Rugby would be the most important thing. Then get everyone in a room.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (AP)“Work out how we move the game forward so we have a game that is exciting, that people want to be part of but also has drama and looks after player welfare.”
In American football Roger Goodell is the NFL’s long-serving and all-powerful commissioner. He has the final say on any dispute within the league.
Hearn looks at rugby and sees a failure of promotion. “The reason the viewing figures are horrendous is that you don’t have any stars,” he told The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast.
Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn (PA)That is stretching the point but only a bit. Rugby has been hopeless at maximising its assets and creating storylines. How it misses the innovative ways of Peter Deakin and Ed Griffiths.
Goode recalls how Griffiths, Saracens chief executive for seven years until 2015, would make it his business to “try and not be stagnant” in order to attract new fans.
“Those games at Wembley and the Crossbar Challenge,” he said, recounting how a fan won £250,000 in 2009 when hitting the bar at half-time with a drop kick.
Former Saracens chief executive Ed Griffiths (Getty Images)Another time Griffiths said he would give Bath fans their money back if Gavin Henson scored any points against Saracens.
“I said to him 'You are mad, what are you thinking’?” remembered Goode. He said, 'Do you know how many away fans are actually coming. About four. It is great publicity’.”
Today’s game pits Saracens with Northampton, two clubs with the sort of long-running rivalry so key for creating interest.
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Northampton players celebrate Alex Waller's Premiership Final-wining try against Saracens in 2014 (Getty)The Londoners recall six England stars including Owen Farrell, Jamie George and Maro Itoje. Winger James Ramm returns from a shoulder injury for Northampton.
That tickets are still available emphasises the challenge facing the sport.