Mark McCafferty to step down as Premiership Rugby chief executive with UKTV CEO Darren Childs announced as replacement

Mark McCafferty will step down as the chief executive of Premiership Rugby at the end of the season in order to take up a new role with CVC Capital Partners, the equity firm that recently bought nearly a third of the domestic top flight for a £230m investment.

McCafferty has been at the helm of the Premiership since 2005, but will end his 14-year reign in June and will be succeeded by media business executive Darren Childs, who is stepping down from his current role as chief executive of UKTV and has a track record of “expanding audiences and growing digital platforms”.

“Gallagher Premiership Rugby has become a brilliant and captivating competition for our fans, as the closeness of this season fully demonstrates, and it does what we believe professional sport should always do - demand excellence, create intense rivalry but mutual respect, and inspire people of all ages to become part of it,” said McCafferty upon announcing his planned exit.

“I am looking forward to ensuring an effective transition with Darren and to my continued involvement in rugby, working from a new vantage point alongside CVC."

Former Rugby Football Union chief executive Ian Ritchie, who returned to the sport last year to take up the role as Premiership Rugby chairman, hailed the role of McCafferty in growing the professional club game since replacing Howard Thomas in 2005, and welcomed the arrival of Childs as his successor.

"Mark has played a pivotal leadership role in the development of Premiership Rugby since 2005. The growth of the Club game in England and Europe during that time has been tremendous.

"As the game evolves under new ownership, we are excited about the expertise and insight that Darren will bring from his experience leading fast-growing media businesses. The Board looks forward to working with Darren to further develop the Premiership Rugby brand, product, digital and media execution."

McCafferty will remain a representative of Premiership Rugby on the Professional Game Board alongside Ritchie and Bath owner Bruce Craig, having helped set it up 11 years ago along with the RFU, Rugby Players’ Association (RPA) and Championship.

Childs, 53, has more than 25 years of experience within media and broadcasting, having held senior executive roles at BBC Worldwide, Sony Pictures and Asian network Star TV before taking up the position as chief executive of UKTV, Britain’s largest multichannel broadcaster, in 2010. He announced in February this year that he would be stepping down from the broadcaster in June.

With Childs to start his role in June immediately after McCafferty’s departure, he believes the unprecedented investment from CVC into the club game will result in a “transformation” for the English game, and the announcement of his appointment makes it clear that his No 1 priority will be to grow the sport’s audience to maximise financial profit.

open image in gallery

"I am excited about the challenge that working in a new industry brings, especially one on the cusp of a transformation like rugby,” Childs said. “I have always admired the values rugby demonstrates on the pitch and in the community and it will be a fantastic opportunity to work with the clubs, and the board to create even more fans of the sport. Premiership Rugby and European Professional Club Rugby are full of thrills and the future will certainly provide many more."

The problem for Childs is how that is achieved, given that the average attendance across the Premiership last season was 14,165 – some way short of the self-imposed target of challenging football’s second-tier Championship which registered an average of 20,496 fans per match.

But that expansion may well prove to be beyond these shores, with CVC set to try and continue the league’s growth across the globe and, in particular, in the United States.