{"id":8638,"date":"2026-02-27T19:40:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/27\/prem-relegation-scrapped-from-2026-27-season\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T19:40:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:10:05","slug":"prem-relegation-scrapped-from-2026-27-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/27\/prem-relegation-scrapped-from-2026-27-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Prem relegation scrapped from 2026-27 season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/topics\/c8ep7j8w1xkt\">Mike Henson<\/a>BBC Sport rugby union news reporter<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published41 minutes ago<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#comments\">195 Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Traditional promotion and relegation to and from the top-tier Prem will be scrapped from the start of the 2026-27 season after landmark changes to English rugby were voted through.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of earning a play-off shot at replacing the Prem&#x27;s bottom side by finishing top of the second-tier Championship and meeting the top flight&#x27;s minimum standards, ambitious clubs will instead apply to join and be judged across a range of criteria.<\/p>\n<p>Bids will be assessed on standard of play, finances, investment potential, infrastructure and how their geographical base could help spread the Prem&#x27;s appeal.<\/p>\n<p>The league hopes to expand to 12 teams, from its current 10, for the 2029-30 season.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It&#x27;s long been clear that the previous system was not delivering the financial sustainability or long-term confidence the professional game needs,&quot; said Mike McTighe, the chair of the Men&#x27;s Professional Rugby Board.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;We know there will be scrutiny, and rightly so. The proof will be in delivery: in improved stability, in renewed investor confidence, in tangible benefits to the women&#x27;s game and in sustained support for community rugby.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>More to follow.<\/p>\n<h2>Related topics<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\">Rugby Union<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>More on this story<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sounds\/series\/p0kwktkp\">\n<p>Listen: Sport&#x27;s Strangest Crimes &#8211; Bloodgate<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sounds\/brand\/p04q5p2n\">\n<p>Listen to the latest Rugby Union Weekly podcast<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prem relegation scrapped from 2026-27 seasonByMike HensonBBC Sport rugby union news reporterPublished41 minutes ago195 CommentsTraditional promotion and relegation to and from the top-tier Prem will b&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}