American investment companies are turning their targets toward some of England's top rugby clubs amid a structural change in the sport that will establish a U.S.-style franchise system where relegation and promotion are scrapped.
Exeter Chiefs — recently an English and European champion — voted to approve a proposed takeover by Black Knight Sports and Entertainment, an investment group that already counts Premier League team Bournemouth in its expanding
portfolio.
That development comes days after Cornish Pirates, which plays in English rugby's second tier, announced a deal with Pittsburgh-based firm Stonewood Capital Management that marked, according to the team, “the first known U.S. investment into an English professional rugby club.”
With English billionaire James Dyson securing a 50% stake in Bath Rugby in March and energy drink giant Red Bull taking full ownership of Newcastle Falcons last year, money is starting to flood into English rugby after years of financial uncertainty made worse by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In recent years, Wasps, Worcester Warriors and London Irish have been banished from England's top league for financial reasons, reducing it to a 10-team competition. The 2023-24 season was the third straight year that no top-tier club made a profit, according to the Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report.
However, it was announced in February that automatic promotion and relegation between the top two tiers of English rugby would be scrapped and replaced by a criteria-based expansion and demotion model, with a plan to add up to two more clubs to the Prem — the newly named top league — in the 2029-30 season.
English rugby leaders said this development would “create investable, globally competitive leagues,” saying the previous system “was not delivering financial sustainability (and) discouraging long-term investment.”
There is already huge U.S. investment in English soccer, with Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool among the heavyweight teams with American owners. Wrexham is also co-owned by Hollywood celebrities Rob Mac and Canadian-born Ryan Reynolds.
Big-business investors from the United States have also bought stakes in England's newest cricket competition, The Hundred, over the past year.
Black Knight Sports and Entertainment, which is part of American investment company Cannae Holdings, took full control of Bournemouth in 2022 and the team is currently sixth in the Premier League with a chance of qualifying for next season's Champions League.
The Black Knight consortium, fronted by American businessman Bill Foley, owns the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL and has other soccer clubs in its portfolio, in Lorient (France), Moreirense FC (Portugal) and Auckland FC (New Zealand).
Exeter's members voted by a majority to permit the sale of the club, which was European champion in 2020 and English champion in 2017 and '20, and are expecting an offer to follow from Black Knight after financial checks.
The Cornish Pirates said they had positioned themselves “at the forefront of rugby’s globalization” by welcoming U.S. investment, at a time when the country is preparing to host the Rugby World Cup in 2031.
Kenn Moritz, one of the investors in Stonewood Capital Management, said the group saw a "compelling opportunity in Cornish Pirates," adding: "Rugby is entering an exciting global phase, and we believe this investment places us at the heart of that journey.”
Pittsburgh is among the U.S. cities bidding to host matches at the Rugby World Cup in 2031.
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AP Sports Writer Ken Maguire contributed to this story.
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