Rugby/ European Cup: The doomsday scenario being peddled mostly across the water toward the end of last season about the future of the Heineken European Cup looks more wide of the mark than ever. Likewise, the admittedly minority view that it is losing some of its zest. No, the cup looks set to keep overflowing.

A new agreement across the six countries to replace the eight-year Paris Accord has still to be finalised, but for all the flexing of their muscles, even the leading agitators from the English and French club games must see that the competition is set to continue growing commercially as well as on the field.

Misgivings amongst the leading English clubs are as much about the way their share is divvied out as the financial returns themselves. They themselves agreed their participation/prize fund is shared out equally amongst all 12 Premiership clubs. The French apply more meritocracy, and an elite has formed at the top end of their game whereas the English Premiership, with its salary caps, is more competitive - witness their domination of the Challenge Cup.

The European Cup is now the Champions League of rugby, not only in challenging the international game for the hearts and minds of players and supporters, but also in providing the greatest source of additional revenue.

It could be greater, it is true. The leading English and French clubs complain the cup's largesse accounts for a relatively small percentage of their income, and Ireland's "federal" system means the extra prize-money which the provinces generate goes directly to their paymasters, the IRFU.

But football is not that much different. A report by Deloitte & Touche into Manchester United's accounts for 2005 showed that £25 million of their £172 million income, or 14 per cent, came from the Champions League.

But how much of their merchandising and ancillary payments are due to their participation in the Champions League? Most of the European Cup's prize fund - 85 per cent - is based on participation and is paid out on a pro-rata basis, which is believed to generate not far short of €1 million per participant from any given nation.

The remaining 15 per cent is based on merit, divided into 12 payments for each of the eight quarter-finalists and four semi-finalists.

The IRFU budget for one province reaching the knock-out stages every season, so last season would have been a relative bonanza given Munster and Leinster reached the semi-finals. This equated to four bonus payments, estimated to be worth between €200,000 to €250,000 apiece, netting the union between €800,000 and €1 million.

Thanks to the tournament's gradual growth under the Paris Accord, any proposed new agreement is sure to see the rewards rise significantly, not least after the reported increase in income from French television alone, in the region of €3 million to €12 million per annum.

With ERC keeping the gate receipts from the semi-final and final, the real money earner, of course, is a home quarter-final. There is simply no more lucrative match for clubs from one end of the season to the next. They are encouraged to move to a bigger neutral venue with a 65 per cent return of the gate receipts as opposed to half.

It is extraordinary to think that many European clubs haven't cottoned on to this. Toulouse, of course, realised quicker than anybody, and have built the best facilities of any club side in the world largely on the back of four lucrative home quarter-finals in a row.

After initial reluctance from clubs, in the last two seasons all four home quarter-finalists moved their quarter-finals to bigger venues. Unfortunately for Leinster, they had already played pool games in Lansdowne Road, so on the premise that their quarter-final yielded about €1.2 million in gate receipts, and up to 20 per cent can be claimed as expenses, they shared around €1,000,000 with Leicester, who did no marketing for the game and, as an aside, won handsomely.

Two seasons ago, moving the four quarter-finals resulted in an additional 106,000 spectators coming through the turnstiles, netting about €2.8 million in gate receipts. Last season, although all four were moved to bigger venues again, the 150,000 paying customers included an additional 92,500 spectators. Yet the returns rose to over €3 million, because ticket prices rose from an average of €27 to €33.

This is still less than half the going rate for autumn tests or Six Nations matches, and which is better value? Put another way, the 80th minute try by David Wallace in Munster's final pool game at home to Gloucester which earned them a bonus point and with it a home quarter-final enabled the province to quadruple their return of less than €250,000 from a tie at Thomond Park to nearer €1 million at Lansdowne Road.

For all the bleatings, flexing of muscles and threats of walking away, the European Cup will grow even bigger. As with the Champions League, eventually it will be everybody's holy grail.