Rob Baxter sheds light on Exeter Chiefs' talks with Red Bull

Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter admits it won’t be a case of green-eyed envy, thinking what might have been when he takes his side to Kingston Park to face Newcastle Red Bulls on Friday evening.

It will be the first time that the Chiefs have visited the North East since they were taken over by the Austrian energy drinks giants in the summer, but in the back of his mind, he will be aware that it could have been the Chiefs they invested in.

It was five or six years ago that the Chiefs discussed with Red Bull, then with their winger Jack Nowell as a brand ambassador, investing in the club that was winning the Premiership and European titles, but in the end, the discussions fell through.

“The Red Bull thing that was here would never have ended just at that conversation. Our conversations with Red Bull were always open-ended.

“The scenario that’s different is how much control Red Bull could get at Newcastle for the cost. If you see what I mean. So it never became much further than that here.

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Gallagher Premiership

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12:45

27 Mar 26

Exeter Chiefs

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“Do I look at it enviously? Well, in some ways, you’ve got to, because it’s huge potential with an absolutely massive company. But I don’t think it was an opportunity we missed. I think we pursued the opportunity, and it didn’t come off,” he said.

Tony Rowe has been making noises about American investors coming into Sandy Park, which would be another boost to the Gallagher PREM after Red Bull buying Newcastle and one of the richest men in the land, Sir James Dyson, hoovering up 50 per cent of Bath.

“I’ve got a board meeting later today, so no doubt, that will be on the agenda, and I’ll know more about it. It’s fantastic, isn’t it? This is exactly what you want to see. This is what the competition has been crying out for a period.

“When other companies, other businesses, other people, see people genuinely investing in the PREM, without doubt, it raises interest and makes other people more likely to do it.

“And it’s a great scenario where you’ve seen James Dyson going in at the top end for the team that’s the current PREM champions, but you see Red Bull going at the other end. And I think that’s exactly what you want to see.

“You want to see a spread across the league. It makes it look like it’s a good competition, that there’s a value investing long term, because that’s what we were crying out for,” he adds.

Two games this weekend are being moved to Premier League football grounds, with another at the Principality Stadium, and the Chiefs will be taking part in Harlequins’ Big Summer Kick-Off at Twickenham in May.

And Baxter says that the Chiefs need to focus on selling out Sandy Park rather than moving games, partly because of their geographical location, as there aren’t any substantially bigger grounds within a stone’s throw.

“Everyone likes to be involved in big games. But we also want to try and create big games here at Sandy Park. You know, Sandy Park, when it’s got a big crowd in it, is a pretty special place as well.

“So, I think we’re focused on getting our own ground sold out before we worry about trying to make a big game somewhere else. It’s pretty impossible for us to create that kind of a big game anyway. Certainly, locally to us.

“We’re quite happy doing the old one away from home. We’re a little way off, feeling we’d not quite sell enough tickets at the moment to make it viable. The population itself makes it difficult for us to talk about selling 40,000, 50,000, or 60,000 tickets for a game.”