April 20 – Premier League Bournemouth’s owners Black Knight Football Club are reportedly close to completing a takeover of Exeter Chiefs Rugby Union club.
It would be Black Knight’s first club acquisition outside of football where it has a stake in FC Lorient (France), and owns Auckland FC (New Zealand), as well as a majority interest in Moreirense FC (Portugal). Until recently Black Knight also had a minority stake in Scottish Premier League side Hibernian.
Exeter Chiefs play 80 miles west of Bournemouth in Devon which does not have a Premier League football club. Exeter Chiefs club members will vote on the sale of the majority stake in May at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) in May.
No figure has been put on the acquisition of the club that reported a £10.3 million loss at the start of the year for the 2024-25 premiership rugby season, saying “significant financial pressure” was being driven by rising operational costs and reduced revenue.
The losses include write-off of a £6.2 million loan associated with Sandy Park Hotel as part of a £7.4 million total impairment.
Club chairman Tony Rowe, who bought a stake in the hotel in December 2022 to help the club pay off debts, hosted Black Knight board member Ryan Caswell at the weekend.
“I’ve effectively run a business for the last 30-odd years for a shareholder who’s got no money,” Rowe told the Guardian last week.
“What I’m looking forward to is an investor who’s got some money. That’ll be a massive difference for me. I think it will put us in a really good place to take advantage of the future.
“Whether you like it or not professional sport is all about money. We need money to survive.”
Exeter Chiefs play at the 20,500 capacity Sandy Park, which is almost twice the capacity of Bournemouth.
American businessman Bill Foley, who is the money behind Black Knight also owns Las Vegas Golden Knights who play in the NHL.
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