US-based private equity firm Ackerley Sports Group (ASG) is looking to resurrect its bid for a stake in the commercial rights of the South Africa men’s national rugby team, the Springboks.
Seattle-based ASG saw an initial submission for a 20% stake in a new commercial vehicle (that would have controlled the Springbok’s rights) voted down by the 13 South African Rugby Union (SA Rugby) in early December.
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Now, ASG has said in a statement (from its founders Chris and Ted Ackerley) that this vote “derailed the efforts that we have made to globalize and commercialize the Springboks … Furthermore, and importantly, this result has placed [SA Rugby] back into financial peril.”
They added, referencing a potential new bid, that “ASG remains confident that its strategic value-creation plan should and will be part of any new proposal.”
Of the 13 SA Rugby member unions with voting rights, seven voted against the proposal, meaning it failed to come close to the necessary 75% approval mark (10 out of 13 votes) to pass. It is understood that three of the major South African rugby union franchises – the Lions, Bulls, and Sharks – all voted against the proposal. Following the vote, an exclusive negotiating period between the two parties came to an end on December 31.
ASG would likely have been willing to invest $75 million in return for a 20% stake in SA Rugby’s commercial rights. The first injection would reportedly have been $35 million, and a new commercial venture would likely have been created. The Seattle firm was confirmed by SA Rugby as its preferred bidder in terms of selecting an investment partner in December 2023.
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By GlobalDataThe statement also cited Gayton McKenzie, South Africa's sports minister, as saying: “We must find ways to actually engage and partner with well-capitalized financial institutions – who know the business of sports – to bring our great teams and athletes to the international sports landscape … The Ackerley Sports Group has shown, in their efforts to partner with SARU and its members, the insight and financial expertise our sports teams and leaders need.”
It has been reported that one of the ways ASG could look to bring about a deal with the South African body is to partner with a local bidding consortium that had up to this point been seen as a rival to ASG in terms of looking to partner with SA Rugby.
In their statement, the Ackerley brothers said they would engage with any “approved South African consortium” to bring the deal back to life.
The SA Rugby-ASG partnership had been proposed with the location of the 2031 Rugby World Cup in mind – with that event taking place in the US, both parties had said that “having an American strategic partner guiding the Springboks into this arena will provide the resources to continue their dominance both on the pitch and off.”
Major SA Rugby commercial partners currently include MTN, Nike, FNB, Castle Lager, Betway, Rhino, Dell, Toyota, Oppo, and Qatar Airways.
The latest set of SA Rugby accounts (for 2023, in which the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup) show a pre-tax loss equivalent to $376,000.
ASG, meanwhile, is an offshoot of the wider Ackerley Partners organization (established in 2002), which already has stakes in multiple professional sports franchises in Seattle – the Seattle Storm, Seattle Seadogs, Seattle Seawolves, and Seattle Kraken.
In early 2022, one of rugby union’s other Southern Hemisphere heavyweights, New Zealand, took a similar step, when New Zealand Rugby (NZR) created the NZR Commercial arm and sold off a minority stake to the Silver Lake investment group.
That firm now holds a 7.5% stake in NZR Commercial. NZR retains the remaining 92.5% equity in the entity.
