Exeter chief executive Rowe calls for better central funding for rugby union

Tony Rowe has been at the head of Exeter Chiefs for more than two decades

Exeter chief executive Tony Rowe says more needs to be done on a central basis to get new funds into professional rugby union.

Worcester, London Irish, Wasps and Championship champions Jersey Reds have all gone bust in the last year.

Rowe, whose side were profitable until the Covid-19 pandemic, says better deals need to be stuck within the game.

"We've got to get more money into the sport, that's not just at club level that's at national level," Rowe said.

"If you look centrally we share a central income, and centrally we've not taken on any big sponsors for a number of years.

"We need a better TV deal, that's up for renewal, we need a better deal with the RFU, that's up for renewal, and we need to go out nationally and get bigger sponsors, and ourselves actively at Chiefs are looking for bigger sponsors because the game will only survive and thrive on money unfortunately.

"We're in the sport entertainment business and it costs a lot of money, but I think better times are ahead, I really do."

Global factors affecting national game

Exeter were the last side to play Jersey Reds in the Premiership Rugby Cup before the island side went bust last month

The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent cost of living crisis has hit the sport hard.

Clubs were forced to take out loans to keep going when they were playing matches behind closed doors during the pandemic, and the rise in interest rates in the past 12 months has made the cost of that borrowing more expensive.

Those costs have also hit fans, with Exeter seeing a 10% drop in season ticket sales.

The Premiership's salary cap has been reduced to £5m this season, which has seen a number of high profile players leave Exeter such as Sam Simonds, Jack Nowell, Dave Ewers and Luke Cowan-Dickie.

"We'd had no more than £2m borrowed to this club, now three-and-a-half years afterwards (the Covid-19 pandemic) we had to borrow £12m and we've had three years of losing money," Rowe explained to BBC South West.

"All told it cost us about £25m, and you put that around every club, because we all lost money.

"We've got to make those losses up, you can't just say 'oh we've lost money, move on', so it's caused a big problem.

"We were a bit fragile financially, all the clubs were before Covid.

"The sport's got to be very thankful to the owners of the Premiership clubs because we've all had to dig really, really deep to keep the sport alive."

Rowe predicts bright future for Exeter

Exeter scored 11 tries in their win over Saracens on Saturday`

Rowe, who has overseen Exeter move to a new stadium at Sandy Park and become a force in the Premiership after promotion from the lower leagues, is confident for the club's future.

A new-look side thrashed rivals and reigning champions Saracens 65-10 on Saturday - although Sarris were without many of their World Cup stars.

But Rowe feels the young squad being put together at Exeter, with the likes of Josh Hodge, Tom Wyatt, Christ Tshiunza and Dafydd Jenkins, will go on to emulate the side that won two Premiership titles and the 2020 European Champions Cup.

"If you go back seven or eight years we put a squad together of young men that were capable of winning trophies," he said,

"Most of those young men have become, in rugby terms, old men because they're all around 30 now.

"What we've done now is started again, we've got a young squad again, but the talent there is much, much better than we had seven or eight years ago.

"We've got a really talented bunch of young men, as was shown on Saturday."