LONG READ ‘It is inevitable that new owners will bring new ideas that English rugby may not be comfortable with’

These are defining times at Exeter Chiefs with a resurgent team vying for a place in the Prem play-offs, a European semi-final – albeit of the second-tier variety – looming this weekend and a buyout by American investors in the offing.

It is item number three which will have the most far-reaching consequences – and not just for the Chiefs.

The club’s members will vote next Thursday on whether to wave through the proposed buyout by the Black Knight Sports and Entertainment company, who own Premier League football club Bournemouth.

It represents, on the surface, a vote of confidence both in the Chiefs as an attractive proposition and the Prem as an entity too. It is exactly the sort of outside investment spin-off the clubs were hoping for from the pulling up of the relegation drawbridge and the move towards a franchise system.

Black Knight have a fistful of dollars and a good track record with their sports teams. Despite grumblings over above-inflation season ticket-price increases from fans, their stewardship of Bournemouth over the past four years has been a huge success. Currently sitting one place above Chelsea in seventh, they are arguably the biggest over-achievers this season in English football top tier.

Adding an English rugby club to an existing sporting stable which also includes football clubs in France (Lorient), Portugal (Moreirense) and New Zealand (Auckland FC) plus the NHL ice hockey side the Vegas Golden Knights would represent an interesting widening of their portfolio.

Top-level English rugby union has overwhelmingly been kept afloat by rich patrons who were fans of their clubs – or, if not, then the sport itself anyway.

The number of rich individuals willing to pour their money into what has been, up to this point in the professional game’s evolution, a financial black hole, is finite.

The most recent arrivals on the scene, Sir James Dyson at Bath and Steve Zander at Northampton, both fit the traditional brief.

The Exeter proposal, like Red Bull’s purchase of Newcastle, expands the ownership profile considerably.

This is important to English rugby because the number of rich individuals willing to pour their money into what has been, up to this point in the professional game’s evolution, a financial black hole, is finite.

Tony Rowe, Exeter’s long-time benefactor, is 77 and, after 28 years, he has had enough of writing the cheques that sustain pro rugby.

Semore Kurdi, after 14 years at Newcastle, grew similarly weary.

As outsiders, Black Knight, fronted by the financial services billionaire Bill Foley (who is 81), offer a welcome new investment stream for the league.

This is the point though where English rugby might also want to pause and consider where this new path may take it.

Exeter’s immediate situation as a loss-making club – £10.3m in the last financial year – with an owner wanting out is straightforward. It needs Black Knight’s money.

The Prem has voted in a salary floor from next season with a minimum squad spend of £5.4m. John Lockyer, one of the four shareholders’ trustees of Exeter, has publicly warned the Chiefs could go back to being a community club again if the members turn down the buyout.

Why not move the Chiefs to Bournemouth and house both the football and the rugby team under one roof at the Vitality Stadium?

For a club that won the Champions Cup in 2020, that would be quite a descent and one that the Prem – with only 10 teams as it is – could ill afford.

The Chiefs’ members are being recommended by the club to accept the American bid and for obvious reasons, but at the back of their minds some might have a tinge of unease over where selling out might lead then.

What would be stopping, for instance, Black Knight from deciding that it would make financial sense to consolidate their English sporting operations once it takes control. Why not move the Chiefs to Bournemouth and house both the football and the rugby team under one roof at the Vitality Stadium?

Bournemouth are investing around £50m in a ground upgrade which will see work start this summer on an expansion that will see capacity rise from 11,000 to 20,000. That is a lot of money. So why not squeeze the asset?

There is no evidence whatsoever that this is Black Knight’s plan. It is merely a case of thinking aloud, putting on a business suit and joining the dots.

If any owner did want to move a Prem club, they would need clearance from the Men’s Professional Game Partnership. If it was a move to another constituent body, then it would need the permission of the RFU too.

But it is not a situation without precedent. Wasps’ move from Wycombe to Coventry in 2014 was one which proved disastrous ultimately, with Wasps overstretching themselves servicing the bond to buy the Ricoh Arena and going bust, but the club on castors may yet re-appear from the ashes in Kent.

The hope must be that potential owners coming into English rugby from the outside are doing so with pure motives. That they see a league and a sport with untapped potential and space to grow and want to play their part in that. That they want to share in the fun mix of rivalry and fraternity that is the Prem scene.

The new wave from the outside, though, is not going to be made up of local guys made good who are in it to support their community club, and that will have consequences.

Is English rugby a show to be sold or a story to be protected? Let us be optimistic and say it can be both but striking that balance may not always be straightforward.

The game has traditions which supporters steeped in rugby take for granted. The likes of Black Knight, coming as they do from an ice hockey and football background, and Red Bull – with their adrenaline sports heritage – may not cherish them quite as much.

When Todd Boehly bought Chelsea, he suggested a Premier League North v South All Star Match, four-club relegation leagues and taking regular season matches off-shore. His ideas have been resisted thus far.

But it is inevitable that new owners will bring new ideas from other sporting spheres that English rugby may not be used to or comfortable with.

If it wants to invite in the outside world then it may have to be prepared to embrace some degree of change.

Is English rugby a show to be sold or a story to be protected? Let us be optimistic and say it can be both but striking that balance may not always be straightforward.