Champions Cup not the promised cash cow

Officials from England and France sold visions of a bright new order, when they took a wrecking ball to the Heineken Cup, writes Brendan O’Brien

BY the end of June, the organisers of rugby’s European competitions will have packed the last of their boxes and closed the door behind them in their Neuchâtel HQ. Come July 1, they will be trading out of new offices on Boulevard de Grancy in Lausanne. Or, the ‘home of international sport’, as the local grandees like to call it.

Lausanne already has 57 sporting organisations that call the place home and it’s a hub for business, science, and academia besides. That’s lots of scope for networking over some of the regional delicacy of sausage stuffed with cauliflower. The proximity of a major international airport only adds to the draw.