Ricoh Rugby Change Series: Professionalism video launched
05.04.2017

Ricoh Rugby Change Series: Professionalism video launched

Global technology company, Ricoh today launches the fifth film in their Rugby Change Series; which identifies and analyses the major changes in rugby that have occurred since the onset of professionalism.

Ricoh’s latest film, featuring a number of key Premiership Rugby stakeholders, investigates the impact ‘professionalism’ has had, not just on the game as a whole but on the players, coaches and fans alike as well as exploring its increasing commercial value and how this will inevitably affect the game going forward.

Rugby, alongside many other sports, has undoubtedly undergone  a tremendous amount of development and change over  the past 15-20 years, most of which would not have occurred without the influx of investment, which came from and was facilitated by the formation of Premiership Rugby in 1997.  Premiership Rugby represents its shareholder clubs in all major commercial and strategic negotiations, and under their management, the league has seen the growth of 25% in TV audiences between 2010/2011 – 2015/2016. Furthermore, a record 1.06 million people watched Aviva Premiership Rugby on the first weekend of the 2016/17 season on BT Sport and ITV Sport, and more fans are now watching live matches at stadiums than ever before; the average stadium attendance having doubled to over 13,000 per match since the millennium.
 
So where does the future of rugby lie? Ricoh ambassador Ben Kay believes that ‘the game needs to globalise more’, and Premiership Rugby see the US market as their next target for expansion. In March 2016, a landmark multi-year partnership between Premiership Rugby and NBC Sports Group was announced, securing Aviva Premiership Rugby coverage in the USA as well as  the first ever match on US soil at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey between Saracens and London Irish. According to Dominic Hayes, Commercial Director at Premiership Rugby, their ambition is to continue growing the game in the US market, where rugby is the fastest growing team sport, by   playing a match in the USA every season.

In terms of the future of domestic rugby, Premiership Rugby’s CEO Mark McCafferty says that the ongoing focus will continue to be on improving the competition and making it more appealing to wider audiences – working with broadcasters, commercial partners and fans will continue to be  of the utmost importance.

Please visit www.ricoh.co.uk/rugbychange to watch the Professionalism video and learn more.
 
Chas Moloney, Marketing Director for Ricoh UK & Ireland, commented: ‘Understanding and embracing change is essential for success in business as well as in sport, and therefore at the forefront of what we do as a company. I am pleased to see this proposition brought to life through Ricoh Rugby Change Series and specifically the latest video focused on understanding how the business aspect of rugby has shaped the modern game.’
| About Ricoh Rugby |
At Ricoh, we believe that inspiring new ideas and embracing change are crucial to success in both business and sport. The Ricoh Rugby Change Series aims to bring this home by identifying and analysing the major changes that have occurred in rugby since the onset of professionalism.

This new era of the game and the continuous development of technology have caused significant shifts in the strategy behind the game, the size and the skills of the players, how the sport is played on the pitch and how we as spectators consume it.

The study highlights what these major trends affecting the game are, and analyses each key area of change in more detail in a series of exclusive insights across the Aviva Premiership Rugby season.

Visit www.ricoh.co.uk/rugbychange and follow us on Twitter (@ImagineChangeUK) & Facebook (Imagine Change UK) for more information.
For further information, please contact:   
Ricoh UK Ltd     
Kathryn Evans
Tel: +44 7795224426
E-mail: Kathryn.evans@ricoh.co.uk   
Homepage: www.ricoh.co.uk   
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ricohuk   
Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ricoh-uk
| About Premiership Rugby |
Premiership Rugby is the organisation which manages the top league in English club rugby – Aviva Premiership Rugby.   

It acts for its shareholder clubs in all major commercial and strategic negotiations with media and sponsorship partners of the league, as well as with other rugby governing bodies.
Premiership Rugby is also responsible for key areas of governance of the top flight competitions, including the Salary Cap Framework, Minimum Standards Criteria and Code of Conduct, as well as managing the Aviva Premiership Rugby competition, the Singha Premiership Rugby 7s and the Anglo-Welsh Cup, all of which are televised live exclusively by BT Sport.
Partners for the 2016-17 season are: Aviva, BT Sport, Ricoh, Citizen, Gilbert, ITV Sport, Land Rover and Singha Beer.
   
Premiership Rugby runs more than 90 local and national community rugby programmes. Each season Premiership Rugby and its clubs, working together with our players, coaches and impressive list of private, public and third sector partners, invest over £3.3million in a variety of community programmes under the Play and BreakThru campaigns which aim to grow grassroots participation and tackle core issues.

|About Ricoh|

Ricoh is a leading provider of integrated digital services and print and imaging solutions designed to support digital transformation of workplaces, workspaces and optimize business performance.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh’s global operation reaches customers in approximately 200 countries and regions, supported by cultivated knowledge, technologies, and organizational capabilities nurtured over its 85-year history. In the financial year ended March 2023, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,134 billion yen (approx. 16.0 billion USD).

It is Ricoh’s mission and vision to empower individuals to find Fulfillment through Work by understanding and transforming how people work so we can unleash their potential and creativity to realize a sustainable future. 

For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com

For further information, please contact: 

Ricoh UK
Monika Orolinova
Tel: +44 20 7655 0100
Email: press@ricoh.co.uk


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