Newcastle Red Bulls can be model for Prem Rugby franchising
This week Steve Diamond joked that Newcastle Red Bulls – formerly Newcastle Falcons – would not have a motorbike jumping off the roof of one of their stands… yet.
But in a week where a major sports player has chosen to invest in Prem Rugby, clubs should be champing at the bit to get their fair share of the “wiiings” Red Bull can inject into the sport in England.
There must be a willingness from the league to listen to Red Bull and adapt what they’re going to do at Newcastle to the entire league – is there any other owner in rugby at the moment which has been so successful across so many sports?
I would love to know what exactly Red Bull saw in Newcastle; whether it was a club on the edge with an easy-to-create success story with little financial investment compared to some of their other projects in Formula 1 and in continental football, or whether in fact it is the fragmentation of rugby that makes the investment a no-brainer.
Newcastle Red Bulls investment
Their long-term investment into Formula 1 saw two golden spells over 20 years, with their investments in football producing great moments for a number of fanbases. Further minority investment in Premier League club Leeds adds to a northern footprint the brand is building in the UK – albeit the Formula 1 base is down in Milton Keynes.
The investment is absolutely vital for the North too, as long as there’s a willingness from the energy drinks titan to invest beyond the Newcastle first team and make the most of such a huge sporting catchment area; Diamond mentioned this week how the club’s stretch of land invades Cumbria, Sunderland and everything in between.
But it sets a good trend for Prem Rugby as they chase their tails in the wake of rumours surrounding R360. It has been reported that the type of franchising Prem Rugby is chasing has come off the back of other leagues making progress with various ownership models.
A model
But with talk of the likes of Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group sending out rugby franchise feelers, what Red Bull do in Newcastle – and whether it can have any early commercial successes – could be a litmus test for major brands looking to enter the space.
I loved my time at Newcastle on the whole and it would have been depressing to see them become the fourth Prem club to fall to the wayside, and in that vein they should be commended for cutting their cloth and making through the bumpy years. Because the reward could be absolutely priceless to them, the North and rugby as a whole.
Rugby at Kingston Park already had wings with the Falcons but now under Red Bull they’ve got “wiiings”, and with that comes the pressure to turn investment off the pitch into results on it.
At the end of the day other clubs with mega funding packages haven’t always delivered. I for one hope Newcastle Red Bulls do.
Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance. Follow Ollie @OlliePhillips11