The Agreement follows a long period of negotiation between the RFU and PRL covering all aspects of Professional Rugby in England with the aim of building on England’s position as one of the leaders of the game at both club and country level while creating a long term structure for continued success.

The Agreement covers the following core areas:

Season Structure

Elite Player Squads and the Player Management Programme

Academies

An England Qualified Players compensation scheme

The PRA & Player Welfare

EPS Player Agreement, Match Fees & IP Rights

First Division Rugby

Governance

Commercial

The European Rugby Cup

Finance and Funding matters

The Agreement will come into full force and effect from July 2008 and will replace the current “Long Form Agreement” (LFA), which governs the game until the end of the 2007-8 season.

The Agreement provides for the creation of 3 Elite Player Squads (EPS); Senior, Saxons and U20 each of 32 players.  

A Medical Protocol has been agreed for the Senior EPS to ensure that each player is in optimal physical condition and health at all times.

To improve the preparation for England matches, all Senior EPS players will be released 13 or 14 days before the start of the autumn internationals and RBS 6 Nations and for the duration of both international windows. There will also be a minimum 2 weeks preparation for the Senior EPS players prior to each summer tour on which England will take their strongest available squad.

The agreement has detailed provisions for the Saxons EPS, U20 EPS and the operation of the Regional Academies.

In return, the RFU has agreed to pay PRL clubs £102 million over the course of the agreement plus a share of the net revenues from a fourth Autumn International every other year which should take the total RFU payment for PRL Clubs to around £110m over the period of the agreement. Clubs will only receive payment under the Agreement by having players in one or more of the 3 EPS squads and/or through compensation payments under the EQP scheme and/or by running an RFU licensed Academy.

As part of the Agreement, PRL shall be solely responsible for negotiating the sale of their own TV, media & Sponsorship rights and giving directions to ERC in respect of England’s position on the sale of the TV, media and sponsorship rights related to the European Rugby Cup and European Challenge Cup.

The deal sees the creation of a Professional Game Board (PGB) to oversee the new Agreement. The PGB has detailed terms of reference and decision-making powers. The PRA has two representatives sitting on this decision making Board.