In this week’s Ahead of the Game: Brighton owner Tony Bloom, football films, The Hundred sale, rugby rights and the National League.
Brighton owner Tony Bloom is exploring a potential investment in a French club after completing his purchase of a 29 per cent stake in Scottish Premier League side Heart of Midlothian this week.
Bloom’s £10m investment at Tynecastle Park was put to a vote of fans’ group Foundation of Hearts, the club’s majority owners, whose members responded with an emphatic 98.5 per cent in favour.
Bloom on the hunt
Bloom’s purchase of Hearts is his second personal football investment in the last three months after he bought 19.1 per cent of Australian A-League club Melbourne Victory in March, and he may not be finished yet.
City AM has been told that Bloom is actively looking at the French market for potential investment opportunities, with many clubs looking for new partners following the collapse of Ligue 1’s domestic broadcast deal with Dazn, which will be replaced by a club-run, direct-to-consumer streaming platform next season.
Ineos have instructed New York-based bank Lazard to find a buyer for OGC Nice, while Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group held talks with Bordeaux and Toulouse about investing last year without completing a deal.
Bloom’s interest in France is a personal matter and does not involve Brighton, as is the case with Hearts and Melbourne. Brighton are part of a multi-club group with Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise, although they both were permitted to compete in the Europa League two years ago after Uefa’s Club Finance Control Board ruled that Bloom did not not a controlling influence at both clubs
Football films
Netflix wants to make a documentary about next season’s EFL promotion play-offs. The streaming company had a major hit with the infamous Sunderland ‘Til I Die series, which ran for four seasons, and have begun discussions about charting the drama of the EFL promotion battle in all three divisions.
The EFL have already secured a production company for the project, with Workerbee coming through a formal process to win the contract. Workerbee have been given a mandate to negotiate with broadcasters, with Netflix one of several companies to have expressed an interest.
Hundred not out
Reliance Industries, the huge conglomerate owned by the Ambani family who have agreed to pay £61.5m for 49 per cent of Oval Invincibles, are holding out as the ECB seek to complete the sale of the eight Hundred franchises that will raise £520m for English cricket.
The other seven investors are ready to sign the participation agreement after the ECB made concessions regarding reduced voting rights on the Hundred Board and the unbundling of the TV contract from the rest of their media rights process after 2032.
But Reliance has yet to agree to the terms. While all parties are confident that an agreement will be reached eventually the ECB may choose to complete the other sales first, as some of the other host venues are eager to receive the first installment of the proceeds.
24/7 rugby?
Premier Sports are planning to increase their rugby union coverage next season with bids expected for live rights for matches in both the English and French second divisions.
A rebranded second tier called Champ Rugby, a league featuring 14 clubs culminating in top six play-offs to determine the champions who will then play the bottom side in the Gallagher Premiership for the right to replace them, will launch this summer.
Premier are understood to be interested in showing some regular season games and the play-offs, as well as France’s Rugby ProD2, as they seek to become the UK’s biggest rugby broadcaster.
The ProD2 will be shown on YouTube channel FR-UK Rugby but this deal only covers Thursday games and the play-offs.
Premier already have exclusive rights to the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup, as well as the United Rugby Championship, but TNT Sports have extended their rights for the Gallagher Premiership until the end of the 2030-2031 season.
Doing a Wrexham
American investors are increasingly targeting National League clubs for takeovers in the hope of “doing a Wrexham,” particularly with the price of EFL clubs rising.
Media entrepreneur David Gandler paid £19m for League One Leyton Orient last month despite the fact that the club do not own their ground, whereas most clubs in the National League are valued at little over £1m depending on the size of their stadium.
An Australian consortium paid a notional £1 to Southend United owner Ron Martin last summer, as well as agreeing to a phased purchase of Roots Hall for £4.5m, and have been rewarded with a place in Sunday’s National League play-off final against Oldham with the winners returning to League Two.
