By Mike Henson

Copyright bbc

Never mind billion-dollar claims, this is the million-dollar question.

Andrew Georgiou, president of broadcasting big-hitter Discovery’s European sports division, is sceptical. At best.

“I’ve been involved in sport for 25 years. I can’t tell you how many of these PowerPoint presentations have come across my desk with people who were absolutely certain that what they had on that page was going to be the new ‘thing’,” he said in June.

“If these folks believe that they are going to grow the revenue by putting this thing on, I think they’re delusional. I really do.”

He might not be the first broadcaster to cause R360 problems, either.

R360 officials will have to convince media bosses that a new series spread over many time zones, with fluctuating start times, will not get lost in the schedules.

Georgiou has an interest in the situation. The TNT Sports channel he controls broadcasts England’s Prem Rugby, one of the leagues that would be damaged by R360’s success.

But he can point to precedent.

The World 12s website, external is still online.

It intended a similar drastic shake-up to rugby, poaching top talent for a global short-form tournament.

It attracted heavyweight names, with former New Zealand captain Kieran Read and Springbok legend Schalk Burger enlisted as ambassadors, and promised hundreds of thousands of pounds and a lighter fixture schedule for its stars.

And it was supposed to begin in August 2022.

Despite defiant words from the World 12s in the aftermath, World Rugby’s October 2021 decision not to ratify the event torpedoed its plans.

Back in 1995, the professionalism of the men’s game was sped along by Australian mogul Kerry Packer’s World Rugby Corporation, which – like R360 – got players to commit, in theory, to a breakaway league.

That venture crumbled as Springbok stars backed out, saying their agreements with the WRC were unenforceable letters of intent, rather than contracts.

“We are moving ahead with full steam and we expect to be in a position to make important announcements favourable to WRC in the immediate future,” said Ross Turnbull, the man behind the start-up, reacting to the news.

It, like the World 12s, sunk without trace.

R360, with considerable money and momentum, may be different.

But turning promises into product is a difficult final step.