Saudi Arabia in talks to buy stake in Tigers

[shanghaitiger]

From The Telegraph, “ Saudi Arabian investors are in discussions to invest millions into four of England’s top-flight rugby clubs.

Telegraph Sport can reveal that associates of the Saudi sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF), which took an 80 per cent stake of the Premier League’s Newcastle United in 2021, have held discussions with Gloucester, Leicester Tigers, Northampton Saints and Newcastle Falcons about proposed seven-figure investments.”

[Terracetiger4]

Might be in the minority with this but I don’t mind this. It would secure our future in a time where every penny counts would rather have tigers around than end up like wasps London Irish and Worcester. I know we’re not in an immediate danger but you never know what might happen.

[baz1664]

Seems like where sport is going across the board to the Saudi pennies, will the wealth of riches make English rugby better I am not sure. But it will secure its short term future I guess!!

[Postiger2]

Absolutely not. I'm dead against this.

[RagingBull]

If it's just for naming rights and an academy in Saudi Arabia I can live with it

It is understood that the group are seeking control of stadium naming rights and the establishment of a rugby academy in Saudi Arabia as part of any potential stake in the four clubs, an investment which could be worth as much as a combined £60 million to the clubs involved.

I would hope we would get more for our naming rights given it's already sponsored.
But 15-20 million for the naming rights is crazy to turn down if true.

[ads]

I was hoping this would never come to a I support. I'm torn. I don't like, it but I'd love to see Tigers at the top of Europe again and English club rugby having a future.

If it is as RB says, it would be hard to turn down and hard to be properly against.

[fentiger]

We've fuelled our cars with oil from Saudi and filled their coffers so my view is we may as well grab anything coming our way with both hands!
We're always saying Rugby's profile needs raising, serious investment should help nicely

[Rugbygramps]

If it's just for naming rights and an academy in Saudi Arabia I can live with it

It is understood that the group are seeking control of stadium naming rights and the establishment of a rugby academy in Saudi Arabia as part of any potential stake in the four clubs, an investment which could be worth as much as a combined £60 million to the clubs involved.

I would hope we would get more for our naming rights given it's already sponsored.
But 15-20 million for the naming rights is crazy to turn down if true.

If that’s what it’s for then don’t really see a downside. Want the game to survive at club level? We need a cash injection and that isn’t going to come in sufficient amount from either increased attendance or tv revenue

[TigerReggie]

Sports washing. Dead against this.

[Rugbygramps]

Again if it doesn’t affect the product on the field I don’t see a downside

[Old Hob]

Interesting and difficult puzzle to solve. The Saudi's have clearly done some homework and picked 4 sensible clubs to invest in and the money would be handy; I assume that the salary cap would stay in place and be enforced otherwise it would be mayhem with those clubs being the top four for ever.
Having said all that, Saudi is an unsavoury regime. I know the govt does a lot of business with them but, for the more discerning ministers, there is a lot of nose holding to avoid the smell.
I assume, too, that we would have to visit and support the academy; what restrictions would there be? What, for instance, would happen to Tigers' ladies team?

Their intervention in golf hasn't gone well and has caused rifts as far as I can see (I don't follow golf, so I'm hazy on detail).
What is the ultimate aim? There is well established cricket in the UAE because a crown prince likes cricket and had enough money to bring his favourite game home with him, rather like those old country house pitches (J P Getty had one in Surrey or Sussex) favoured by aristocrats between the wars. This however, seems different.

[ay2oh]

I would welcome this dependant on the detail

[Tigersunited]

This will clearly polarise debate, some excellent comments made already on this thread. If we can secure Tigers and English rugby it would be madness not to take the investment - in my opinion. We all see things differently, which is great and I hope we don’t trample on each others views just because they don’t match our own.

[Rugbygramps]

The golf LIV is different as it has involved the setting up of a separate tour, more like Kerry Packer for those of a certain age.
I do take your point about some of the goings on in the kingdom, but there are examples of money coming from less than ideal governments all over the world.
As I say as long as it helps the league to stay at a minimum of 10 clubs and has no impact on the laws of the game, without knowing further information, I can’t see a problem.

IMO fans need to be careful of saying no just because it is new or different

[loretta]

After the CVC money, the floodgates are wide open.