The Guinness Premiership club owners will discuss on Wednesday a range of measures designed to minimise the impact of the economic downturn, starting with a reduction in the size of the salary cap and taking in squad sizes and the number of sides in the top flight.
The Northampton owner, Keith Barwell, and his Worcester counterpart, Cecil Duckworth, will argue for an increase in the number of teams in the Premiership from 12 to 14. While that would mean an average reduction in central funds, the move would lead to relegation being suspended, saving £3m a year in the parachute payment given to the demoted club.
"Each team would have two extra home fixtures and I think 14 is a better way to go than 10, which some have proposed," said Duckworth. "A reduction would create the need for a new competition to generate income and I am not sure where that would fit in."
Leicester and Northampton have argued that the salary cap should be abolished, to allow sides to compete with the free-spending French, but there will be more support for the suggestion that the cap be reduced from a basic £4m to £3.5m with sides concerned that otherwise wages will be in danger of rising to some 70% of turnover.
"Consistency and common sense must be applied to some of the changes being considered by Premier Rugby over the cap, squad sizes, wage cuts and format option," said the Bath chief executive, Bob Calleja. "Each club should be allowed to manage its affairs within an agreed and regulated structure. By all means set the salary cap, which is a very sensible controlling measure, but allow each club sufficient flexibility to operate as it wants within that figure.
"We cut our cloth based on what we can afford within a business budget and, if there is an economic downturn, we respond accordingly. I have just been through a very painful cost-cutting process of staff redundancies and cost-cutting measures to keep the club on an even keel."
The issue of squad sizes is concerning the Professional Rugby Players' Association. A reduction to between 35 and 40 players would lead to a loss of jobs but existing contracts mean that any move could not be implemented for a couple of years.
"You can't ask the players to take the rap by themselves," said the PRPA chief executive, Damian Hopley. "A number of contracts are already locked in and it is very hard for players, with families to feed and mortgages to support, to be told that they might have to re-negotiate. Some clubs are not happy with the proposals, either. They have made agreements with their players in good faith and want to honour them."
The Premier Rugby chief executive, Mark McCafferty, said firm decisions were unlikely to be made . "We will probably need a follow-up meeting because of the detail involved," McCafferty said. "We will be looking at a range of options but we also have to keep banging the drum that the club game continues to offer very good value for money."
Meanwhile the Wales centre Gavin Henson is available for the Ospreys, who travel to Perpignan in the Heineken Cup this weekend, after his partner, Charlotte Church, gave birth to their second child. The New Zealand outside-half, Daniel Carter, will miss the game for the home side after being told to rest an injured achilles tendon for a week.
The Ospreys coach, Sean Holley, admitted the region had held talks with the Wasps and England flanker, James Haskell, who is out of contract at the end of the season. "He has been to the Liberty Stadium to look at the facilities and I am sure he would fit well into our squad," said Holley. "It is down to the hierarchy here and I am sure negotiations will be ongoing."
