Worcester to model themselves on Premiership's most sustainable club

A reimagined Worcester Warriors will look to model themselves on Gloucester as they prepare for a return to professional rugby in the Championship next season.

The club, suspended from the Premiership in September 2022 after entering administration with debts of around £25 million, will be part of a new 14-team second tier after passing an RFU-led tender process.

Former England U21 international and current Leonard Curtis director Alex Cadwallader, whose company worked on Worcester’s recovery plan, believes the club now has an opportunity to build a sustainable model. The company have just released a financial sustainability on English domestic rugby – the Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report.

“The opportunity is to demonstrate how to run a club within its means like their neighbours Gloucester, who are committed to not losing millions every season,” he said.

Gloucester posted losses of £516,000 in 2023/24 and £544,000 in 2022/23 and remain the Premiership’s most financially restrained outfit.

There’s a school of thought within the game that Gloucester’s approach is a viable template for survival in an increasingly financially fraught English rugby landscape.

Worcester 2.0’s new regime hasn’t been without criticism. Many question if the club should be allowed return with creditors still out of pocket from the club’s collapse two and a half years ago. Worcester’s new owners Chris Holland and Junction 6 Limited have, however, provided a financial security guarantee held by the RFU and have committed to settling rugby creditor debts left by the side’s previous regime.

They have also revealed plans to expand the Sixways Stadium from 11,500 to 12,750 capacity and develop surrounding infrastructure, including a hotel, golf driving range, multi-storey car park and solar farm.

“Clearly, the owners are looking to generate as much non-rugby income as possible,” Cadwallader said. “We have seen this type of model developed in the US, where a team’s stadium is at the centre of a destination which attracts visitors itself.

“However, what our report established is that the business model for the rugby team itself needs to be sustainable.”

Worcester’s return to English rugby’s professional ranks comes as Ealing Trailfinders and Coventry failed to meet the stadium criteria required for promotion to the Premiership. Their exclusion from top-flight contention opened a route for Worcester’s inclusion in a strategically expanded Championship.

“This is clearly a strategic decision to stabilise the Championship and preserve its brand appeal – important given the failures of others to meet the requirements of the Premiership recently,” said Prof Rob Wilson, an academic who contributed to the RFU’s review of the second tier.

“Worcester’s presence can raise gate receipts across the league, elevate match day media interest, and potentially unlock regional sponsorships.

“If managed correctly, I’d estimate the club could contribute an incremental £500,000 – £1 million in combined value to the league ecosystem through increased commercial and broadcast engagement. There is a phoenix-style story attached to this, which can generate eyes on screens, and bums on seats.”

Cadwallader added: “The infrastructure is at a level above most of the other teams and one suspects the new owners are banking on the crowds coming back to Sixways. If that is the case it will strengthen the second tier.”