Always a Wasp

If I understand one of the options football is considering is getting all the players and necessary staff for all the teams together somewhere (probably offshore), wait for a couple of weeks to train and ensure everyone is virus free and then finishing the season off in a tournament format with 3 games a day, all televised.  It sounds a little far fetched from a practicality point of view to me, but at least they are thinking of creative solutions. I don't think that would work for rugby as it relies on short turn arounds (3 days for each team apparently).

That makes sense for the football Premier League because the vast amount of their money comes from TV and shirt sponsorship and relatively little through match day receipts. (I'd guess that clubs like Bournemouth run close to a loss on match day because of their small grounds). There's also talk of Sky and other TV companies invoking clauses that allow them to claim some of the money back.

AIUI its a bit different for rugby because they make a larger proportion of their money from match day receipts so the incentives to play behind closed doors aren't as high. I'm not sure if BT has clauses that allow them to claim money back and if they're being invoked.

Thomas Young (27, back row)

Bloody hell, where did the years go? It seem like only yesterday we were watching him start his first tea, career and there were snipes about him being the bosses son. Those were soon shut down and he's shown great talent. We couldn't blame him if chased a few more international caps, but I'd love to see him stay.

They will stay up, but presumably still ahve the points deducted. Doesn't help Newcastle though.

But what if they get under the salary cap for the new season, which is effectively the old season if it was abandoned?

What's the French policy on international players?

If they need to be in France and Tibo has international aspirations I suppose no amount of money will keep him and fair enough, all sportsmen (and women) want to play at the highest level and to that end I'd wish him well as a home RWC must be very enticing.

I don't think his experience and how he works with Jabob should be underestimated in how well Jacob has come on this year. Jacob has been learning his trade from a former All Black, and that, coupled with how well Fekitoa is playing compared to his time at Toulon, shows that Sopoaga's influence isn't just what he does in the 80mins.
Some of his play in recent weeks has been at the level we have been hoping he would play at and I for one am glad he seems to have found his place in the team and is enjoying Rugby at Wasps as that can only be good for the team.

(my emphasis)

Isn't that why you bring in these stars and pay them big bucks, not just for their on-field play but also to help with development of young players? The foreign stars are there for 2-3 years, your home-grown talent should be there for 10+ years if you look after them.

Sky now reporting Sports leaders and TV companies called to a government meeting on Monday to seek a way forward as the virus escalates.

Cancelling or closed doors ??

I don't think closed doors will make much difference to the top soccer clubs, AIUI the vast majority of their money comes through TV, sponsorship and merchandising. The cost of running a game is quite high because of policing costs which reduces profits from the gate receipts.

A different story for everyone else as they make a higher proportion of their revenues through the gate and match day sales, so they'd probably want to postpone.

I'm always confused about what the "out" could be for Wasps/Richardson. How does the Bond situation go away? There seems to be restrictions on cash injections from a rich benefactor that all other clubs rely on, and that makes the figures look worse.

When the bond comes due can Richardson (or another benefactor) just pay it all off and we'll go back to being like the other clubs - relying on a wealthy benefactor? Not where we want to be but better than the bond holders selling the stadium out from under us. That's a two part question I suppose. Is it legally/functionally allowed but also can Richardson afford it?

I should start by saying IANAL nor am I a fancier, I just take a passing interest in these things.

Without getting access to all the details of the bond I'd be surprised if there wasn't the ability for DR or any other benefactor to pay it off, the club still owns the stadium though, unless there's some other deal alongside the repayment.

I'd also be very surprised if the bond holders tried to sell of the stadium from under Wasps rather than refinance. With money so cheap things would have to be really bad at the club for that to happen because the bond holders would be unlikely to get back the full capital, unless the council indicate they'd allow change of usage ie knocking down and building houses and that ain't likely to happen.

My futurology, fwiw and that's not much above nowt, is that is that as long as they've always made the payments and the day to day operations look sound they'll get their refinancing.

I notice that the bond is trading at ~£75 but has been as low as ~£67. One concern would be covenants that kick-in if it drops below a certain price, these could lead to an increase in interest rate or allow the bond holders to step in early. However if that didn't happen at £67 it looks like there aren't too many onerous ones.

Do we have lumpy sources of revenue that have yet to arrive and so are not recorded? If that’s the case then the full year may look better. Alternatively, have these revenues been brought forward in expectation of them materialising them in future?

There's a comment in them that revenues are down on the same period last year because the season started later and IIRC its 3 games light.