Premiership clubs decide against selling of league's majority stake

Premiership member clubs have unanimously decided against selling the majority share of the league to a private equity firm.

Former owners of F1 CVC Capital Partners had expressed their willingness to buy 51% stake in the league for £275 million but the 12 Gallagher Premiership clubs along with London Irish converged for a meeting on Tuesday and decided against the takeover.

Premiership chiarman Ian Ritchie stated that the clubs have expressed their interest to bring in an investor for expansion but are not in favour of handing the majority control to a private firm.

"The good thing for us is clearly there's a great interest in a fantastic product," Ritchie told BBC Sport.

"We're very interested to explore areas of investment to grow the game and the league even further.

"It's fair to say the majority control is not the preferred option but we would look at a variety of investment opportunities."

The decision also meant the club had effectively turned down an opportunity of £17 million flowing into each of them despite most of them reported considerable financial loss recently.