The former boss of English cricket is poised to modify sports activities by touchdown the plum job of working the business operations of Six Nations rugby.
Sky News has learnt that Tom Harrison, whose departure from the England and Wales Cricket Board was introduced final May, is near being named as chief government of Six Nations Limited, which controls the business rights and actions related to the world’s most essential annual rugby union competitions.
Sources mentioned his appointment was anticipated to be ratified by members of the Six Nations Council at a gathering on Thursday.
It has already been authorised by the business board comprising representatives of the six member unions – England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales – and CVC Capital Partners, the non-public fairness agency which has turn out to be a significant worldwide investor in rugby union.
One rugby insider mentioned Mr Harrison had been picked after a rigorous seek for a candidate with intensive sporting and media rights expertise, and mirrored his monitor file after seven years working the ECB.
Six Nations Ltd manages each the Six Nations match and the collection of autumn internationals that are being recast right into a yearly northern and southern hemisphere competitors known as The Nations Cup.
The Six Nations, which kicks off subsequent month, is basically broadcast on free-to-air tv, whereas the autumn internationals are proven on pay-TV and streaming providers corresponding to Amazon.
Around 120 million viewers watch the Six Nations yearly, equating to a mean of about 8 million for every of the 15 matches.
Six Nations Limited is claimed by folks near the game to be valued at roughly £3bn, and made roughly £150m in revenue final yr.
Mr Harrison will change Ben Morel, whose departure on the finish of the present season was introduced in November.
Under Mr Morel’s stewardship, the Six Nations has struck a partnership with Netflix for a fly-on-the-wall collection and partnerships with manufacturers corresponding to Tik Tok.
Mr Morel has since accepted a job working the business operations of France’s top-flight soccer league – one other CVC-backed enterprise.
CVC has turn out to be essentially the most prolific non-public fairness investor in sport globally, ploughing billions of kilos into soccer, rugby and volleyball.
Its earlier possession of Formula One motor racing was some of the profitable investments within the historical past of the non-public fairness business.
A rugby government described the Six Nations function as one of many prime sports activities business jobs in Europe, and mentioned Mr Harrison was more likely to have been attracted by the prospect of working a league with out the duty of overseeing a collection of nationwide groups.
During his tenure on the ECB, Mr Harrison oversaw a near-tripling of income from £123m in 2014 to an anticipated £320m this yr.
“Tom transformed the reach of English cricket by introducing a hybrid broadcast model across pay-TV and free-to-air,” an insider mentioned.
His work overseeing the creation of The Hundred format – which is itself now drawing curiosity from non-public fairness traders – and creation of a three way partnership car to convey third-party funding into English cricket are understood to have been of specific curiosity to rugby chiefs.
Mr Harrison can also be credited by allies with having helped to supervise a metamorphosis of the ECB’s tradition, whilst components of the game have been engulfed in a historic racism scandal.
If confirmed, Mr Harrison’s appointment at Six Nations Rugby will see him work alongside the previous O2 chief, Ronan Dunne, who was appointed because the business entity’s chairman in late 2021.
None of the events contacted for remark responded on Wednesday afternoon.
Source: information.sky.com”