Premier league 2

Very true, at levels 1 & 2.

And, like Camquin, most people would have said Jersey, as they have no idea of the facts until it all goes wrong. Who will be next to reveal all and go under?

They're demonstrating a fully pro second level is possible *in France*

Maybe the RFU could look to do likewise if English local authorities suddenly started owning most of the grounds; the national profile of football was weakened; and whole tracts of the country were open to professional rugby because they had no overlap with much other professional sport. 

Because *then* we'd be comparing apples and apples, rather than apples and oranges.

No

I cant for the life of me see why ANYONE would want to buy-in to a franchise. 

This.

I can understand the RFU proving money to the Premiership to fund access to England players who are under contract to clubs - but it would be cheaper for both the RFU and Clubs to have these under central contracts. 

In reality no England international will be selected from any club playing in Premier 2* and therefore there is no business case I can see to fund them more than they fund any other club outside of the Premiership. 

I hear arguments about clubs developing future England internationals - and there is a discussion to be had around this point - but in practice all the clubs that developed the player - from the school or kids rugby, through colts, university, local club, etc should share in funding - not just his latest club, who will have benefitted from all the hard work put in by the clubs before. 

* We saw from the last RFU/PRL deal that England players had to be drawn from the Premiership clubs unless special circumstances existed - this was to provide the Premiership protection against players going abroad and the clubs potentially losing out on RFU funding if they didn't provide England with players.  Will this restrictive rule be included in the new deal - I suspect so because otherwise it weakens the Premiership financial argument. 

Get the Premiership back up to 12 clubs/franchises (call them what you will) and engage England players on central contracts. 

Allow the rest of the English clubs to form a truly national league structure with promotion and relegation as an absolute given for every club. This might even allow for a proper National Knock-out cup competition as well.

The better clubs will still be a focus for aspiring youngsters to showcase their skills.

How about the amount you have left after you deduct all other expenditure from the income you can generate?

Coming out so strongly (& unanimously) against franchising & separating pro from amateur rugby is a much bolder position than I thought they'd take. I'd assumed opposition was more from the position of not trusting there would be equitable treatment within the proposed new structure.

Seems a very big risk for the bigger clubs to take, though I guess they can be against it now, then when it happens anyway apply for a franchise at that point.