New England Rugby venue in running to host Prem Rugby play-offs

The Gallagher PREM semi-finals are set to be staged at neutral venues such as Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium from 2029 as part of a drive to increase the number of bumper crowds.

The plans come as the league gears up for expansion from 10 to 12 teams for the 2029-30 season in a move to a franchise-style model that ends traditional promotion and relegation.

This weekend Villa Park, the Principality Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium host fixtures in a round being dubbed ‘Big Match Bonanza’, while Allianz Stadium is the ground for two Harlequins games each season.

Amid increased attendances and TV audiences on last season, PREM Rugby chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor is targeting further growth.

“Our ambition is to have 10 big games by 2030 and that includes the final and the potential for neutral play-offs,” Massie-Taylor said.

“We see neutral play-offs adding to the narrative and the general scale of the league. They are big games and you want to make them bigger. France do it. They’ve created a moment there and we want to explore it.

“It allows us to take the game on the road and that’s what we’re seeing with Gloucester hosting a game in Birmingham this weekend – it’s a big undertaking but a big step in building a new market.

“England have a game against Fiji in July at the Hill Dickinson Stadium up in Liverpool, which is a great new 55,000-seater stadium and in an area where there is clearly demand because people are buying tickets for England v Fiji.

“Is that a good example of where we could host a play-off event? Maybe. There are a lot of options. We’re intending to do this in 2029 deliberately because it takes time to secure venues and find the right spot and build demand.”

A salary floor of £5.4million was on Thursday morning approved by Prem Rugby’s board for next season with the intention of adding to the competition’s competitive balance.

Most clubs already spend up to the salary cap limit of £6.4million, with only Newcastle’s player wages publicly known to be below that figure. There is no intention to increase the salary cap level.

“Our vision is to be the best league in the world,” Massie-Taylor said.

“We are on a journey to define exactly what that means, but it doesn’t mean we are going to spend beyond everyone else and create wage inflation around the world, paying so all the ‘Galacticos’ turn up.

“We will only increase our salary cap when we’ve established a salary cap formula as part of our financial control.

“Once distributions from Prem Rugby get to a certain level, then that will allow us to increase that in a sustainable way.”

Teams invited to join the expanded PREM must first complete a season in the Championship in 2028-29 and are likely to be set the target of finishing in the play-offs to fulfil minimum performance criteria.

Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney believes it could even grow to as many as 20 clubs by 2034, declaring “it is unlimited in where it can go”.