Tony Rowe: Exeter Chiefs chairman targets new investment as club makes £10.3m loss

Rowe hopes that the proposed new franchise model for English Rugby League will increase interest in investing in club rugby.

The 77-year-old businessman has been chairman of the Sandy Park club since 1998 and the funding, thanks in part to his commercial success, has helped Exeter rise from the lower leagues to the top of the local game.

The club moved to Sandy Park in 2006 and subsequently expanded the stadium as Chiefs won two Premier League titles and lifted the 2020 European Champions Cup.

But after selling several of his other business interests, Rowe says it’s time for someone else to take the reins.

Rowe said: “I enjoyed 30 years of running the club and I did what I did and I didn’t hesitate to do it. I used my partnership with Exeter Chiefs to promote my business and that’s how I could put money into the club.”

“But now we are at a stage where we have to move forward, the club has to move forward, and we are looking for an investor.

“If I had been 20 or 30 years younger and given the opportunity I would have taken it.

“It will need a little bit of money over the next two or three years until we get to franchising, which will probably be in the next four years, and you will still need financial support.

“I talk to people and we have a company in London that handles it for us.

“We’re just taking a look with a number of people who are interested and then hopefully in the first or second quarter we can make some decisions about where we’re going to go.”