Interview with Belinda Moore: World Cup 2025 could take Premier 15 to the next level

Premier 15s will restart after Gloucester-Hartpury play Exeter in Saturday's final. Photo: Bob Bradford/CameraSport via Getty Images

Premier 15s looks to capitalize on the 'lioness effect' as it prepares to restart next week to put the league on a sustainable path.

Two days after As Gloucester-Hartpury face the Exeter Chiefs in the final at Queensholm, the league's new name and brand will be revealed as the first step in a 10-year plan by new chief executive Belinda Moore. The next steps will involve finding the best possible broadcast and sponsorship partners as the deal with the BBC closes this season and with Allianz at the end of the 2024-25 season.

Moore says she was «pleasantly surprised» by the scale of interest as brands actively seek to join women's rugby ahead of England's 2025 Rugby World Cup. in front of a peak television audience of 17.4 million.

“There is a huge amount of interest in women's sports and what we're doing with women's rugby in particular,” Moore said. “I think the landscape is changing a lot. The Lionesses were the start of this and really put the women's sport on a whole different footing for a lot of people. And women's club football saw this as an advantage.

“We had 58,000 people at Twickenham the other day (for the Red Roses Six Nations game against France) and over 7,000 of us for the Premier 15s final, which they haven't finished selling tickets for and is already doubling last year's final attendance. I think the growth is very clear. People come to women's rugby and find a product they really like.

Twickenham drew 58,000 spectators for the Six Nations Final between England and France in April. Photo: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

“I think a lot of brands have probably seen what happened to the Lionesses and are looking ahead to 2025 and thinking there is an opportunity. join us to be ahead of that curve so they can really talk about the players journey. Without a doubt, I think 2025 will be a turning point. Whatever happens on the field, women's rugby will be in the spotlight, which has never been seen before in this country, and I think it's very, very important.”

With the disastrous collapse of three Premier League men's clubs last season, Moore frequently cites resilience. “We have to be careful to grow in line with what the fanbase looks like and how much sponsors and broadcasters will pay,” Moore said. “We can't run until we can walk, and we need to keep that growth going at a sustainable and reasonable pace.

“We need to get to the point where the whole business is sustainable, where it breaks even. . I want players to make more money, not necessarily full-time, but definitely make significantly more money than they do now. To do this, I need to pass these numbers and this income to the clubs and make sure that all these numbers converge.”

To this end, Premier 15s will have a £ cap on rewards. 190,000 per team, not including Red Roses central contracts, from next season. They will also introduce a requirement for each side to include 13 English-qualified players in all matchday squads.