R360 rugby event flawed, say Premiership bosses

Following in the footsteps of Harlequins’ well-established ‘Big Game’ concept, Bristol played their home game against West Country rivals Bath at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium last month, drawing more than 51,000 to the Welsh capital.

Another club is considering the possibility of shifting a regular-season home game to a bigger stage for the 2025-26 season, with Massie-Taylor saying the league might test the waters across the Atlantic in the run-up to the Rugby World Cup in the United States in 2031.

Newcastle staged a home game against Saracens in Philadelphia in 2017, but the fixture fell well short of the hoped-for sellout, with the 18,500-capacity Talen Energy Stadium less than a third full.

Saracens, who were also the ‘away’ team for London Irish’s more successful St Patrick’s Day fixture in New Jersey in 2016, have shown interest in taking a game stateside previously, with then chief executive Mark Thompson saying in September they would “certainly” consider it, external if the circumstances were right.

The 2025-26 Premiership season will begin on a Thursday evening, with the opening round reconfigured to avoid any clash with the Women’s Rugby World Cup final.

The Red Roses are hot favourites to advance to Saturday, 27 September’s showpiece at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.

The first matches of the season will be spread across Thursday 25, Friday 26 and Sunday, 28 September, with a number of clubs interested in testing out the timeslot on Thursday evening.

Next year’s Six Nations will also begin on a Thursday evening, with French broadcasters keen to maximise audiences and avoid a clash with the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics the following day.