- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
All Blacks legend Andrew Mehrtens has teamed up with Formula 1 entrepreneur Eddie Jordan and ex-South Africa star Bobby Skinstad in a consortium with ambitions of replicating football’s City Group ownership model by buying multiple teams across different countries.
The City Football Group owns Manchester and Melbourne City plus other clubs in different leagues. There is no equivalent group in rugby – and Skinstaad has flagged they could target a purchase of an Australian franchise.
Mehrtens, Jordan and Skinstaad completed the takeover of French second division club Beziers last month – backed by Irish private equity firm Strangford Capital.
Mehrtens told the Daily Mail that Beziers was the group’s main area of focus but they were exploring further acquisitions.
London Irish, one of three victims of English rugby’s financial crisis in 2022, remain of interest to the consortium as do Worcester and Wasps, who also went out of business but are eyeing a revamped second tier below the Premiership
“Strangford have been in contact with Irish and discussions are continuing, as they are across a number of clubs who have recently been in the Premiership,” Mehrtens said.
“Most of that centres around financial viability. If there comes a time when there’s an opportunity to do something, I’d love to be involved. But I’m letting that play its course.
“Our focus is definitely Beziers. It’s really important we state that. Any other club acquisitions by Strangford will not be to the detriment of Beziers.
“But if you can get a model where you can get some good efficiencies by having one owner of multiple clubs and Strangford see those opportunities, then we’ll look at it. If it can be of benefit to Beziers for us to have a network of clubs, then that’s a good thing.
“I’m certainly curious about the City Group model, particularly how they ring-fence their support between different clubs.”
The City Football Group has major stakes in multiple clubs, including Man City, Melbourne City, Mumbai City, New York City, Troyes and Palermo.
“When we went into Beziers, our financial advisors were determined to prove there was no sustainable or financially viable rugby asset there,” Mehrtens said.
“Then they looked at the French market, how it’s thriving, the television revenue that goes with it, and they changed their minds! I’ve enjoyed this ownership group coming together because it has very much been like a rugby team – different people, different skills.
Stan Rugby commentator and former All Black Andrew Mehrtens. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
“We have finance specialists as well as those who know sport from a different perspective – particularly Eddie and Dan McKeown who set-up Strangford. They obviously know F1 very well which is one of the biggest global sports. Rugby is very different to F1, but hopefully, we can tap into that expertise.
“We’ve had to get the right people in the right roles. I guess that’s where me being a former fly-half comes in. As a No 10, you have to use the resource around you on the field.
“That’s what I’ve tried to bring to ownership. I’m not the one who is going to run a rugby club day-to-day. We’ve got experts to do that. But what I do have is global rugby knowledge and a network I can use to help us be successful. With club ownership, I feel like I can make use of the 20 years I had in the game.
“We’ve got some grunt behind us in terms of our investment. But firstly, these are passionate rugby people who don’t consider a return from a solely financial perspective. We’re in it for the right reasons.”
Skinstad has claimed clubs are available to buy in England as well as in America, South Africa and Australia.
“Look at the second tier in European rugby – Germany, Georgia, Portugal and Spain have all got clubs,” Mehrtens said.
“There’s Tel Aviv Heat in Israel. You have to think they would all benefit from playing in an expanded United Rugby Championship.
“As those franchises develop, you’re going to get multiple club ownerships. It doesn’t have to be majority ownership, but there could be shared intellectual property around players and systems and efficiencies gained from centralised functions in areas such as ticketing, sponsorship and social media. I can certainly see that happening.”