Optimizing the structure of elite competitions in professional sport - lessons from Rugby Union

Abstract

This paper discusses how the structure of the elite domestic competition between the leading professional teams in a sport can affect the success of the national team. A study of the alternative structures proposed and developed for Rugby Union since the sport turned professional in 1995 reveals the key issues that any sport must resolve. These issues include not only the operational design of the competition and the conditions under which the players are employed but also the underlying funding and governance of the sport. A comparison of three models from world sport - the North American 'cartel', the oligarchy of the English soccer Premiership, and the hierarchical governance of the Rugby Super 12 competition - shows that the ways in which particular sports in particular countries resolve these issues depends on the power/dependency relationships between the major stakeholders in the network.