All Championship clubs have been threatened with relegation if they don't sign up to Prem 2.

Sweeney is clearly a bananaing tosspot

I do not believe we have seen anything in black and white, but the press reports are that the RFU will set up Premiership II with whoever applies, and there will be no funding for those that don't - so no change there then.

If the RFU wants clubs to apply, then they will need to send clubs - and any other potentially interested parties - a detailed proposal. I think that the Guardian report said that would come in February.

They have said it will be based on facilities, and if they require a capacity of 5,000 - I believe only Coventry, Doncaster and Ealing qualify. If there has to be a plan to increase to 10,000 then that list could drop to the Knights.

Outside the Championship, Darlington Mowdem Park - if the arean can pass a safety inspection.

If Premiership II gets sponsorship, a TV deal and a salary cap that makes it viable, I would expect Soccer or League clubs to apply. As they have suitable stadia already - so 'just' need to recruit or partner with a team.

If the RFU does not create a viable commercial offering, why would any Rugby club apply.

And no I couldn't care less about the England national team.

Our 13 a side cousins will be rolling on the floor with laughter.

Spot on 

Ding ding, lawsuit! 

If this is true, Sweeny really has declared war on the English rugby pyramid and meritocracy. 

PII won't get sponsorship if nobody knows who is going to be in it, nor a TV deal. My understanding is the Prem clubs are deadset on stopping the reappearance of the clubs which went bust, so it will be an odd league - one or two who crumble in the fact of RFU pressure, but if it's a 5K capacity criterion, then only Knights is a possibility. Then what? DMP maybe - Sweeney called them out by name before Christmas, but I've heard the guys who dug DMP out of their recent hole are not very enthusiastic about the plan unless it's very well funded. 

It's not looking very good for the plan right now. Maybe they will pull a big rabbit with diamonds on its collar out of the hat at the last moment. 

You do realise that at least three other Championship clubs 'qualify' on that particular criterion?

It is the "intention to join the premiership" that could rule out Coventry, Ealing and Bedford. 

As far as i know, none have a viable path to a 10,000 seater at their current location - not due to lack of ambition, but due to lack of council backing.

But can you say that's so for Cov? I can't comment on the other two.

From where I'm sitting, Coventry City Council are supporting the club in their planning requirements. You may wish to consult with Nick Johnson if there are still doubts on that score, as he is dealing with the issue.

(My comment addressed that sole mentioned erroneously-applied criterion btw. I'm quite aware of the ongoing requirements, ta).

Happy to be corrected. Hopefully Coventry will grow organically to the point these developments are needed every week.

There are probably solutions that could be made to work for other clubs.

Ampthill could move the 10 miles to Stadium MK (10 miles)

Cambridge could move to the Abbey stadium (3 miles)

Nottingham could move to the County Ground (<1 mile)

But, I cannot see the upside. You are adding rent and probably losing the revenue from wet sales. 

Not to mention splitting the first team away from the club and losing atmosphere.

I realise that of course Coventry are ambitious to progress but as a supporter would you want to gain promotion to Sweeney's dream?

It didn't work for Nottingham before.

I'd hope that by the time Cov are in a position to be promoted, Sweeney is nowhere to be seen.

Going back to the 31st December 2023 when this question was posed. 

Why has there not been any reportage from any reputable news hound regarding this 'alleged' proposal to relegate any Championship club who does not accept the RFU terms?

It seems incredulous that there has not been a single response to this. I know that rugby is a minority sport and especially so at any level below the Premiership but this news, if true, would be worthy of a few column inches, if only to question the morality and legality of any such threat.

If this had appeared on 1st April I think that we all would have rumbled a good April Fools joke.

There has been no news since the new year.

The major news stations have limited time for sport.

Soccer takes up the majority of that.

Darts has been taking up much of the rest - and spilling out of the sports bulletins.

And the rest has been focussed on Lawn Tennis.

If rugby got a mention, it was that the Quins "Big Game" attracted 75,000 supporters.

I am not sure that the sports reporters in the press even knows which clubs are in the Championship - and who can blame them when even the Rugby paper gets it wrong.

If we want to get this on the broadcast radar, it is going to take a concerted PR effort.

The Championship does not have a full time PR department.

And half the clubs don't have full time PR staff - and the volunteers are doing their best getting coverage in the local paper.

The Rugby Paper does not count, almost nobody reads it and those that do are probably already volunteering at a club.

It was the splash on the Rugby Paper and mentioned several times inside. Nick Cain was utterly damning of the RFU's handling of Tier 2.

As Camquin says, there is no full-time PR for the Championship. This is because the "Championship" does not exist except as the brand name of the second division of English rugby. Tier 1 is owned by a private company (PRL) and has a full-time PR operation. 

The Championship has no budget for PR and for most of the clubs that have a PR person, it is a voluntary role. The clubs get £150,000 a year from the RFU, down from £650,000+ in 2019/20, and of that amount, about £65,000 is pre-spent on insurance and other matters. The actual "funding" of the Championship is about £85,000 a club. The equivalent figures in France are in the millions of euros.

Bearing all that in mind, I think the Championship has done a pretty good job in getting its messages across in the media, but the clubs could certainly do with all the help they can get from supporters and rugby lovers in general, because currently it is not obvious who else is championing the "whole game".

I suspect it might be this one - currently behind firewall:

http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/all/domestic-club-rugby-union/the-english-rugby-championship/413001/halliday-no-way-we-can-agree-rfu-deal/" rel="nofollow - Halliday: No way we can agree RFU deal

Simon Halliday has condemned the threat by RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney to relegate the 11 Championship clubs if they fail to sign up to the “Premiership 2” franchise plans in the PGP deal, as not only outside RFU regulations, but also probably illegal. Halliday, who is chairman of the Championship clubs, called into question whether Sweeney’s approach, which they consider to be unduly autocratic, is exceeding his role as chief executive. As the gridlock between the Championship and the RFU intensified going...

Nothing since then (hasn't been a week)

I agree with other points. There's limited scope for rugby in today's media.