Exeter boss makes extraordinary vow after US takeover

Tony Rowe has never been shy about his ambitions for Exeter Chiefs, and he says that he wants to help new owners Black Knight Rugby make them the best club side in the world.

Black Knight Rugby completed their £45m takeover of the Gallagher Prem finalists on Tuesday, and Rowe, who has bankrolled the club for 25 years, is staying on for the next two years as chief executive.

After the club were promoted to the top flight of English rugby, Rowe said that he wanted the club to become Premiership and European champions, and people scoffed at the thought.

Then, six years ago, they won the Premiership and Investec Champions Cup double, but now Rowe has his sights set much higher, with the first Rugby Club World Cup planned for 2028. He wants world domination.

“We have been in the PREM for the last 20 years, and I consider we are in the top echelon of rugby in Europe, but we need to move on to the next phase, and the membership has not got the money to put on the table and pay the bills.

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“It’s a shame really, but I haven’t sold the club out. What we have done is find a partner who is prepared to let us continue and fund us along the way. We want to be in the world club competition.

“I have got no doubts that we will get back to being in the finals of the European competitions in the next two to four years. And that’s our target. We want to be the best club in the world,” said Rowe.

Rowe says that when the Chiefs first launched their search for investment, it soon became clear that Cannae Holding’s vice-chairman Bill Foley and chief executive Ryan Caswell, who own AFC Bournemouth and NHL side Las Vegas Black Knights, stood out from the crowd.

“The 2024-2025 season was a disaster for us, and by roughly this time last year we were aware that we needed to look for a financial partner, and we started to look around then. It came as no surprise; we could see it coming down the track.

“We hoped that the supporters would come back and we could trade our way out of problems, but it didn’t happen. The agents that we appointed went out to the marketplace, and there were something like 86 interested parties around the world.

“And I think they were whittled down to about 11 or 12 who were seriously interested. But when you looked at who they were and what they could offer and what involvement they had with sport, there were only two or three that you would contemplate.

“Black Knight stood out. Three or four years ago, they took over AFC Bournemouth, and they appear to have done a fantastic job there,” added Rowe.