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RFU statement: 2022/23 annual report, operating profit of £4m
The RFU have praised robust financial management for delivering an operating profit of £4m for 2022/23, even though that figure is £11m less than the previous year. The governing body of rugby in England published its accounts for last season on Friday, explaining that increased revenues than in 2021/22 enabled it to pay off all the debt accumulated in the years impacted by covid.
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A statement read: “The RFU 2022/23 annual report shows significantly higher reported revenues for the year at £221.4m (£189.1m in prior year), increased investment in rugby at £99.4m (£77.4m in previous year) and an operating profit of £4m (£15m in previous year).
“During the year all debt from covid-impacted years has been paid off and the RFU has £24.9m in cash and £25m in deposits. Exceeding targeted profits to reserves, the union ended the financial year with a strong P&L reserve of £123.3m.
“Rugby finances work in four-year cycles based on the number of men’s home internationals staged at Twickenham Stadium. 22/23 is the third year in the Rugby World Cup cycle when there are the highest number of home internationals at Twickenham Stadium and, as such, these higher revenues were expected.
“Next year, with England’s autumn internationals replaced by the men’s Rugby World Cup, the 2023/24 annual results will show a significant loss.
“The high match profile in 2022/23 explains much of the increase in revenue compared to 2021/22 (seven men’s international fixtures versus five).
“Ticket income increased to £48.4m (£33.7m in previous year) and the world record crowd that attended the Red Roses’ victory over France in the Six Nations contributed c.£1m of revenue. Revenues from hospitality and catering reached their highest levels ever at £70.8m (£61.5m in previous year).
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“The two other largest revenue streams are broadcast and sponsorship revenues. Broadcast revenue fell slightly to £40.9m (£43.6m in previous year) and remain behind pre-pandemic levels, and sponsorship revenue increased from £24.1m in the previous year to £25.9m. Overall, rugby investment increased by 28 per cent year-on-year to £99.4m (£77.4m in previous year).
“Investment in the community game increased 52 per cent from 2021/22 (£31.1m vs £20.4m). The increase was partly due to the resumption of more programmes post-pandemic, and partly due to securing additional external Sport England funding, with £3.2m secured for Rugby World Cup 2025 impact projects, and £1.2m for the governance and business transformation project.
“Community game investment is made up of £7.4m of funding (for leagues, CBs, club insurances and the Injured Players Foundation), £8.2m of people costs, £1.5m of depreciation on artificial grass pitches, £9.7m of programme investment, and £4.3m of Sport England investment into Rugby World Cup 25 impact and governance and transformation programme investment.
“Increases are across all areas of investment, including people costs, community game insurances, CB funding and various programmes including ‘Project Phoenix’, a project focussed on increasing adult male participation numbers.
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“Professional rugby investment increased 20 per cent from £57.0m to £68.3m. This consists of club funding (including men’s and women’s Premiership and men’s Championship); England teams and programmes (including player fees and contracts, XVs and 7s programmes, pathway, and kit), and other (sports medicine, player welfare, match officials, rugby operations, events and competitions and, in 2022/23, the professional game elements of the governance and business transformation project).
“Most of the year-on-year increase in club funding (£31.1m vs £26.7m) has driven increased payments to Premiership clubs under the Professional Game Agreement. The increase in investment in our England teams (£25.5m vs £20.8m) is due to several factors.
“It includes the costs associated with changing the England men’s coaching team; the costs of the Red Roses attending a Rugby World Cup (both player costs and logistics); and the increased costs of the men’s team due both to a longer autumn window and the first Rugby World Cup camp falling in June.
“As a result of monies received from CVC for selling a share of future broadcast revenues, this and some sponsorship rights have been reduced in the short term. The RFU is committed to driving long-term growth by using these proceeds which will bring in £90m in capital over four years to invest in revenue-generating projects that support the game in England.
“Areas targeted for ‘strategic growth fund’ investment include the women’s game, stadium master-planning, digital transformation, and development of revenue generating projects (including assets) for the community game.”
CEO Bill Sweeney said: “Wasps, Worcester, and London Irish going into administration was the single most defining aspect of the men’s professional game last season. The after-effects of covid, levels of debt, and the economic environment brutally exposing difficulties for business models with existing challenges.
“In a very difficult financial environment, the RFU achieved an operating profit of £4m due to robust financial management. The coming years will continue to be challenging with inflationary pressure on our costs, our revenues being under pressure from reduced discretionary spend, and the recovery of corporate confidence. We will continue to implement strong cost control and prudent fiscal management.”
Sue Day, the RFU’s chief operating officer and chief finance officer, added: “It has been a challenging few years financially for rugby in England. The RFU is facing these challenges too, but from a position of stability because of our strong financial discipline.
“It is critical that we maintain that discipline so that we can continue to support all elements of the game now and in the future. We have made an operating profit in the year of £4m, but are facing challenging future economic conditions, and so it remains very important to manage our finances very tightly.”
- Click here to read the entire 104-page 2022/23 RFU annual report
Comments on RugbyPass
Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
6 Go to commentsSpot on Ben. Dead right. Havili looked great at 10. Easily the highest rugby IQ of any NZ player these days. Getting a kick charged down is a result of getting used to adjusting your depth to the line at 10, which he will sort out with time. But other than that it was an outstanding first effort in that position this year. I think the NZ media has misunderstood this directive from Razor. Havili might rank behind B Barrett this year, but Beuden is 33 this month and won't last much longer. DMaC is great but flaky and not really a test match animal (his efforts in Dunedin versus Aus last year for example). If Razor can't have Mounga, DMaC is too unstructured for Razor (and is just too small for test rugby). Havili will end up our first choice first five, and in partnership with Jodie will be excellent. Two triple threat operators in tandem, and big bodies and tough tacklers to boot. Jordoe will be the ABs goal kicker. I am an Aucklander and Blues (and Warriors) fan, but Havili at 10 is going to be sensational in time… he can be the best first five in the world by the end of this year. No question.
6 Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
6 Go to commentsGood riddance
1 Go to commentswel the crusaders were beaten by a queensland reds side that hadnt beaten them at home since 1999 and queensland reds partied like it was 1999
6 Go to commentsHard to disagree with the 5 points - with the exception that Wilson should be a squad member but, depending on the other loose forward selections, is not yet a shoo-in. McReight is. Aussie is looking a lot better this year and JS has some selection options. Also, Havili’s tendency to get caught, charged down is also a liability at times but he seemed focused (mostly) and is definitely a consideration for utility back-up. Still feel Reihana is a better prospect at 1st five for Saders.
6 Go to commentsYeah nah, still not sure on Havili tbh. Even though I’m a Crusaders fan through and through I’d be stunned if Razor considers him after seeing some of the stunning talent coming through up North.
6 Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
6 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
6 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
6 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
6 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
5 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
5 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
238 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to comments