Premiership Rugby debt climbs to £366m as losses deepen

Premiership Rugby clubs' combined debt reached £366.1m in the 2024-25 season, up from £342.5m a year earlier, according to the third Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report published on Tuesday. The same report shows collective losses widening from £34m to £36.5m — an average of £3.7m per club per year, or roughly £308,000 a month each.

The numbers get worse from there. Revenues across the 10 top-flight clubs fell from £182.2m to £178.9m, while total wage bills rose from £125.9m to £129.8m. That payroll figure equals 80% of revenues — a ratio that leaves almost nothing to cover stadiums, academies and administration. Six of the 10 clubs are balance-sheet insolvent; Northampton, Gloucester, Leicester and Saracens are the only exceptions.

Leonard Curtis, a UK corporate recovery and insolvency firm, compiled the report from publicly available figures for the 2024-25 season. Its findings echo previous editions: a sport overly reliant on owner funding, with real questions about the long-term sustainability of many clubs. All 10 clubs carry debt. Not one is profitable.

What does the report actually say?

Alex Cadwallader, a Leonard Curtis director and former England under-21 international, said major structural change is needed. He did not soften the diagnosis.

"The findings in our latest report should not come as a surprise to anyone who has shown an interest in the financial state of the professional club game in England," Cadwallader said. "The figures show Prem Rugby sides have continued to make a combined loss of over £30m each year and highlight the significant challenges that remain within the game. Without any deep structural or governance changes, why would we expect the results to be any different?"

That is a fair question, and the report's trend line answers it: losses and debt have now risen for a third consecutive edition. The takeaway in plain words is that English club rugby keeps spending more, earning less and borrowing to close the gap.

Will new investors fix the model?

Here is the wrinkle. The 2024-25 figures predate three takeovers: Red Bull at Newcastle, Sir James Dyson at Bath, and the Black Knight group — owners of AFC Bournemouth — at Exeter. The report expects that new investment will increase clubs' losses further in the short term. Fresh capital, in other words, may deepen the red ink before it cures it.

Yet investor appetite persists. Northampton, Gloucester and Leicester have all attracted interest despite the documented cost of the owner-funded model. Simon Danielli, the former Scotland wing who contributed to the report as head of operations at the private equity firm Agathos, said Premiership Rugby's move to a franchise league this season will make clubs more attractive — but he also urged greater spending restraint.

"A closed league gives investors something rugby has never offered before: visibility of revenue and security of earnings," Danielli said. "That is why serious capital is arriving. Investors back what they believe can grow. The challenge now, for everyone in the game, is turning that confidence into a clear path to sustainable profitability."

What happens next?

The Premiership aims to expand from 10 to 12 sides in time for the 2029-30 season and is open to new franchises, on one condition: newcomers must spend at least one season in the second-tier Championship. That four-season runway gives the league time to test whether franchise security can bend the cost curve.

The caveat is obvious. Visibility of revenue only helps if revenue grows, and the 2024-25 season showed it shrinking. Serious capital has arrived; nobody has yet shown the arithmetic that turns it into profit.