Rugby Paper: Championship playoffs set to be scrapped

http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/featured-post/26070/exclusive-championship-playoffs-set-to-be-scrapped/

The controversial Championship play-offs are set to be discarded as part of a new £220m, eight-year agreement between Premiership Rugby and the RFU.

As first reported by The Rugby Paper in April, the new deal will see top-flight clubs double their existing £110m RFU funding deal which was brokered in 2008.

Academy boundary disputes involving Wasps, Worcester, London Irish and Saracens have been resolved and Premiership Rugby’s desire to bin the Championship play-offs in favour of a straight first past the post system has been agreed.

Have they factored in paying for the four Welsh regions in that £220 million ?

Works out at roughly £2.3m per year per Aviva club if that is purely top division funding.

Makes sense to go that way with the Championship. It is unlikely the league would be effected by the international call ups that the top leagues do that would distort the league table. Probably need to do something like a Judgement day or a Magic Weekend to try to generate more interest in the league instead. With LW, LS and LI, could you do a 3 match weekend deal at Twickenham and an equivalent with YC, Rotherham and Doncaster at Elland Road?