Proposed R360 series delays launch until 2028

The launch date for R360, the proposed global rugby series aimed at the game’s elite players, has been postponed by two years to 2028, which raises questions about the project’s viability.

According to R360 board member and former England center Mike Tindall, “the decision to shift our launch to 2028 is a strategic decision based on timing.”

“Lancencing under compressed timelines would neither produce the long-term commercial impact the sport deserves nor meet the standards we set for R360.”

Any R360 recruits barred from combining the new venture with their international careers, along with the British and Irish Lions, eight world-renowned Test nations.

Any player switching to R360 will be prohibited from competing in Australian rugby league for a 10-year period by the NRL. Any players who had agreed to participate in the proposed 2026 launch will now be fired from their contracts.

R360 co-founder Stuart Hooper reiterated his desire for a launch in 2028 and for R360 to become an established part of the rugby calendar in an email to players that the BBC saw.

R360’s initial plan to hold its inaugural event in October 2026, consisting of eight men’s and four women’s teams, was put under pressure due to the failure of the organizers to obtain World Rugby’s sanction.

The game’s governing body was questioned about the organization of the event and the availability of players for international combat after receiving more than 100 pages of R360’s plans.

R360 was only four months away from the planned start of the new circuit’s first season that World Rugby could have approved.

According to Tindall, who claimed in September that R360 was “on plan and, in some areas, ahead of plan,” “ensuring player welfare, supporting their international ambitions, and working collaboratively with the global game”

Due to the decision to postpone its two-year launch, R360 won’t attempt to compete in the same year as the men’s rugby world cup and the first women’s lions tour, which was a landmark event.

However, 2028 is the year’s plan for the inaugural Club World Cup, an event that brings together the best domestic rivals from both hemispheres and was accelerated by the threat of R360.

After several snubs during its initial search for stars, R360 now faces the challenge of resuming its player recruitment.

With Northampton’s Fin Smith another reported target, who is also renewing his contract with his current club, Sale and England fly-half George Ford turned down an offer.

R360 has been attempting to add to their roster, while global superstars Finn Russell and Antoine Dupont have also signed new contracts with Bath and Toulouse, respectively.

Only a few players resigned because of the coordinated action by leading Test nations and the possibility of a decade-long NRL ban, according to R360, which claims it had 200 players sign provisional agreements.

“As a board, we are unwaveringly determined to realize R360 on a global scale.” We’re creating something innovative and original that will appeal to people around the world, and Tindall is excited to debut it in 2028.

Martin Gilbert, a Scottish businessman, was appointed chairman and investor after unsuccessful negotiations to establish a third Scottish professional rugby team in Aberdeen ten years ago.

R360’s goal is to draw in new audiences while retaining fans of international rugby.

Their plan is ambitious, including sending the game’s biggest names to newly formed franchises and organizing a trip through the world’s most exciting cities.

MetLife Stadium in New York, Nou Camp in Barcelona, and Croke Park in Dublin were all proposed as potential locations, along with a promise to create a weekend-long spectacle featuring music acts, celebrity appearances, and fan zones.

R360 advertised for a Head of Celebrity Management position along with an operations director position last month to ensure the event had the biggest possible impact.

However, it faces a lot of difficulties.

Finding space for a roster of athletes from both hemispheres and genders to appear at the same events is challenging due to Rugby’s congested calendar.

The Rugby Championship was also hampered, and R360’s initial plans clashed with the Women’s Six Nations.

Without making sure that players can participate in Tests, World Rugby will never be able to ratify them, and recruits will have to choose between R360 and their respective nations.

Players need to be heavily compensated and lured out of the well-established clubs because the costs involved in setting up and transporting the roadshow model are prohibitive.

R360 were offering a third more than players could earn in the Prem, according to Sale Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson.

For a launch in 2028, that premium may need to be raised after one false start.

A regular broadcast slot being impossible due to the various time zones, it is believed that R360 are betting on ticket sales and upcoming franchise sales to make money. However, a start-up event in untrained territories needs to break through.