New CEO explains how Scottish rugby can be a 'sustainable business'

New chief executive Alex Williamson is adamant Scottish Rugby is firmly on course for long-term sustainability after some concerning financial results in recent years. The governing body posted a loss of £11.3million for the year up to the end of June 2024 following a reported loss of £10.5m for 2023.

Englishman Williamson recently began his new role and sees grounds for optimism. “There is a very clear path to a long-term sustainable business,” he said as he faced the media for the first time at Murrayfield on Wednesday. “Clearly there have been some challenges.

“My review over my very early part of the role is to say that there is plenty of reasons to be positive about the financial state of Scottish rugby and our ability to get after the projects that we need to get after, but we have to do it in a pragmatic way.

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“So we won’t be charging all guns blazing. We will be doing elements in priority order and allowing them to mature into revenue-generating concepts that will then facilitate some of perhaps the more hard-to-reach areas.

“The basic dynamics of the way we generate revenue are going to remain reasonably consistent, so media and broadcast income is going to be very important, tickets, hospitality, partnership incomes. But also how we build on having the largest stadium in Scotland and ensure that this site is used as often as possible.”

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Williamson has taken the reins at Murrayfield eight months after the departure of his long-serving predecessor Mark Dodson. Asked what his priorities are, the new incumbent said: “There has been a long period without a chief exec, and so in the first instance just to get hold of the senior team, build a really clear, simple plan, a sort of believable path if you like.

“That will be the sort of blood that pumps into all the things that we really need to get after. So investing in Murrayfield, putting additional resource into high performance, and of course supporting the community game as best we can too.”

Murrayfield’s facilities have been criticised and Williamson revealed the upgrading of the stadium – which has new hospitality boxes opening for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations – will be done in gradual phases. “There is a huge opportunity here, and I suppose some of the noise that is so loud at Murrayfield is that it hasn’t been gone after,” he said.

“We are sitting in renewed boxes here, there is eight spaces that have just been completed for the Six Nations. There is a whole weight of work that has been done to improve some of the basics, and I know that things like loos are really important in that context, and also then to add revenue-generating opportunities as well.

“But it’s not going to be done in one go, it will be in phases, and on the assumption those phases go well, that will give us the wherewithal to do more.”

Williamson addressed recent reports that the Six Nations may not be available on free-to-air television when the current TV deal, which sees live coverage shared between ITV and the BBC, expires after this year’s championship.

“I haven’t got that close to it in truth over these few days but I am aware that there are lots of conversations ongoing,” he said. “I don’t think any commitments have been made and as far as I’m aware, at least for the time being, free-to-air is still very much an option and anything that suggests otherwise isn’t actually based on the circumstances.

“I’m really looking forward to getting involved with those conversations with the rest of the Six Nations and the British and Irish Lions and all those guys, and I guess I could give you a better view once I’ve seen it.”