English rugby union’s RFU governing body has announced a major revamp to its club pyramid, separating the top-flight Prem Rugby competition from the lower tiers.
At a council meeting today, the RFU “overwhelmingly” voted to enact the proposal from the 2026-27 campaign onwards,
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This move effectively eliminates promotion and relegation between the Prem and the second-tier Champ Rugby, establishing the top-flight as a standalone 10-team division, with the goal of adding as many as two expansion teams by the 2029-30 campaign.
In order to attain expansion status, these teams will need to meet a stringent set of criteria based on both on-field performance and off-field commercial sustainability, echoing rugby league's Super League competition.
The latter of those is a significant barrier, one that has meant that current Champ leaders Ealing Trailfinders, winner of three of the last four editions of the Championship (and runner up in the other), have been rejected Premiership entry at every turn.
Another requirement will be that all Prem teams must either operate an associated women’s team in the Premiership Women’s Rugby competition, or invest in top-level regional women’s rugby to an adequate level.
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By GlobalDataAn expansion review group will be established to manage the prospect of future expansion teams and review applications.
Crucially, teams may be demoted from the competition, should their compliance with the legislation waver.
Speaking on the new format, RFU men’s professional rugby board chair Mike McTighe said: "This is an important step forward for professional rugby in England. It's long been clear that the previous system was not delivering the financial sustainability or long-term confidence the professional game needs.
“This agreement therefore represents a collective responsibility to change that, with all of the stakeholders involved coming together to design a model that provides greater certainty for investors, a clearer pathway for ambitious clubs, and stronger foundations for the whole rugby ecosystem.
"We know there will be scrutiny, and rightly so. The proof will be in delivery: in improved stability, in renewed investor confidence, in tangible benefits to the women’s game, and in sustained support for community rugby. This is the beginning of a new approach with lots of hard work ahead."
Currently, the Prem operates on a semi-closed system, where promotion and relegation will only take place if the top Championship side meets the minimum promotion criteria. The last team to do so was Saracens in 2021.
However, a proposal by financial services consultant Deloitte (which contributed to the RFU’s recent Governance and Representation Review) to increase the minimum seated venue capacity in the top-flight to 15,000 was struck down.
Currently, the regulations stipulate a minimum capacity of 10,000, which teams can meet within four seasons of entry, but no team has been able to meet even that.
This has made the current system of promotion and relegation regulations controversial, and this new format even more so, as it effectively locks out less-upwardly mobile second-tier teams from promotion regardless of on-field play, while insulating the worst top-flight teams from negative effects.
Discussing the new format, GlobalData Sport analyst Tom Subak-Sharpe commented: “The RFU’s new framework may look more attractive to investors, but it could widen the gap between well-funded clubs and everyone else. Criteria-based expansion may unlock new capital through tender processes and investor-led entrants, but it also shifts the game away from sporting merit as the primary route to the top. In a sector where most clubs are already financially fragile – loss-making, debt-heavy and sustained by benefactors – raising compliance standards could become a barrier rather than a pathway.
“Champ Rugby clubs are the pressure point. They face reduced certainty of promotion just as the cost of eligibility rises (facilities, governance, women’s game commitments, community investment). That combination weakens the investment proposition for many second-tier clubs and could trigger consolidation, withdrawals, or club closures unless the funding mechanisms provide meaningful support.”
Worcester Warriors – the former Premiership stalwarts that reformed in 2025 after disbanding in 2023 due to bankruptcy – are the only Champ team that currently meet the stadium criteria, and would likely be directly in line to be one of the two expansion teams entering the Prem over the coming years (the side is currently second in the Champ after 18 games).
Other parties likely interested are London Irish and Wasps, both reforming after disbanding due to bankruptcy in recent years, but in the past were long-time Premiership teams.
Knighthead Capital, the multi-sport ownership group that most notably controls English soccer side Birmingham City, is also reportedly interested in entering a team into the competition, with these new rules effectively protecting media rights income for the 10+ teams by eliminating the possibility of relegation.
Subak-Sharpe continued: “The new model creates strategic optionality by replacing automatic promotion and relegation with a criteria-based expansion and demotion system starting in the 2026–27 season. This framework provides a clear pathway for the re-entry of clubs like Wasps, Worcester Warriors, and London Irish (targeting a 2026 "rebirth"), provided they meet strict new benchmarks for capital, governance, and infrastructure.
“The shift toward a franchise-style league could also influence the wider European landscape; the United Rugby Championship (URC) has already granted the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) permission to reduce its funded regions from four to three, potentially opening the door for an English presence in the URC or for Welsh sides to eventually explore alignment with an expanded Premiership.
“For geographic growth, Birmingham is the primary target. Knighthead Capital, owners of Birmingham City FC, are reportedly preparing a bid to launch a top-flight rugby franchise in the city. Backed by Tom Brady, the group's "multi-sport ecosystem" and planned 62,000-seat "Powerhouse" stadium offer a commercial scale and sponsorship reach that traditional clubs cannot match.
“While proponents argue this "franchise and finance" model ensures long-term sustainability, critics fear the traditional "pyramid and performance" structure is being sacrificed, leaving the Championship as a "proving ground" rather than a competitive gateway to the elite tier.”
