The club rugby landscape in England could be about to drastically change with the English Premiership considering selling ownership to a private equity for about $540m.

The Times reports the executive committee of Premier Rugby Ltd (PRL) have been negotiating for about a year with CVC Capital Partners, a company based in Luxembourg which made a fortune from their decade-long ownership of Formula 1 motorsport.

PRL is owned by 13 clubs – the 12 current Premiership teams and second division London Irish – who will hold a special meeting this week to discuss the deal.

The Times understands the majority of the clubs are understood to be in favour of the deal though some consider their product is worth more.

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The Premiership is a struggling financial model with high wages and small crowds. Collectively the clubs lose about $59m a year, around $4.5m on average each.

England rugby's governing body, the RFU, are apparently powerless to stop the deal going through.

The RFU can veto new owners of individual clubs but have no right of veto to ownership of the actual league.

Without a central contract system like New Zealand operates with their players, the RFU and clubs are often at loggerheads over club versus country player commitments.

A cash injection could also signal concerns for other countries with wealthy England clubs already targeting star internationals from the likes of the All Balcks and Springboks, though The Times reported "the deal will not instigate another sharp rise of the salary cap".