Paris (AFP)
The National Rugby League will contract a loan of 15 million euros to help clubs face the crisis of the new coronavirus, AFP learned on Thursday, confirming information from the daily L'Equipe.
According to an audit by the National Directorate for Aid and Management Control (DNACG), sixteen of the thirty professional clubs in France, including nine in the Top 14, are on the brink of economic collapse due to the pandemic.
Pau, Castres or La Rochelle would be among the most affected, but also Toulouse, the defending French champion, or Bordeaux-Bègles and Lyon, the first two in the ranking before the end of the championship on March 13.
Faced with these losses and in order to help the clubs, the LNR will therefore contract a loan of 15 million euros to compensate for the shortfall in the turnover of the League.
This is an amount similar to the last due date from Canal +, the championship broadcaster. But the two sums are not directly linked. The Top 14, suspended since March 13, could end in a final phase in August, just before the start of the 2020-2021 season.
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