Speaking in front of the Public Accounts Committee in parliament on Monday, the director general of policy at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Polly Payne, said the government was now monitoring financial risks not only to clubs but the Premiership itself, and that concerns over financial viability had grown.
Government officials ‘more pessimistic’ about financial health of rugby union Fate of Worcester, Wasps and London Irish has left DCMS officials concerned about the state of the sport.
Government officials say they are increasingly pessimistic over the financial stability of professional rugby union, as they defended loans given to sports organisations during the pandemic.
“In rugby when we have been thinking about likely insolvencies and the financial strength of the individual clubs, we have also thought about the financial situation of the Premier League (sic) as a whole,” she continued.
DCMS officials also pointed out that money had been retrieved from the three former Premiership clubs, more than £10m to date, and that a further between £7.3m and £11.1m is expected to be recouped from the nine recipients of Covid loans who have become insolvent.
