Tens of thousands of unsold tickets for Saturday’s European Champions Cup showpiece at Twickenham between Toulon and Clermont Auvergne have helped persuade organisers to shift the final to the middle of May from next season.
The final was traditionally held on the penultimate weekend of the season. But when the tournament was revamped last year it was moved to the beginning of May, before the end of the regular season in the three leagues that feed the tournament, with the French clubs most vociferous in demanding the change.
Paul McNaughton, the interim chairman of the tournament’s governing body, said there were moves to make that slot permanent because of the difficulties of selling tickets when there is less than two weeks between the second semi‑final and the final.
“We are expecting a crowd of 50,000 at Twickenham, which is the norm when two French clubs play each other outside France, and we are looking at initiatives to encourage sales,” said McNaughton, when asked if discounted tickets would be offered. “We expect up to 8,000 supporters to travel from France and I am not sure that in this case playing in the middle of the month would have made a huge difference.
“That said, there is a feeling that the two finals [Friday’s Challenge Cup final between Gloucester and Edinburgh at The Stoop will be a sell-out] should be played in the middle of May rather than the beginning and more are coming round to that. There was no way of moving Saturday’s final to France because 30,000 tickets had already been sold and, anyway, there was no time.”
It has been the first year of the revamped Europe with a new governing body in charge. It has been a slow start with just one partner on board, Heineken, and the organisers looking for a permanent chairman and director-general.
“We have agencies speaking to potential partners and we were never going to have four this season because of the time constraints,” said McNaughton. “Even so, there will be more money this year for all three leagues and by the end of next month we will have an independent chairman and director-general.”
One promise was a beefed-up Challenge Cup, but without the prize of an automatic place in the Champions Cup for the winners, the French clubs did not make it a priority and none qualified for the knock-out stage.
“That is being addressed,” said McNaughton. “The Challenge Cup winners next season will qualify for the Champions Cup and after that they will go into the play-offs for the 20th place. The French league will next season provide financial incentives for its clubs who make the last eight of the Challenge Cup and we expect that to make a difference.
“We constantly review matters and we hope in the coming years to take the Champions Cup final to places like Rome, Milan and Barcelona while also developing the qualifying tournament which this season could see a Russian side qualify for the Challenge Cup for the first time.”