Why Brighton can be proud of their local owner and local sponsor
With Newcastle United’s new owners the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund completing their £305 million deal with Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley, many fans on Tyneside are celebrating.
It is the end of a dark period in the illustrious club’s history, but many are asking questions about the new foreign owners, the human rights record of the government to which PIF is linked and whether more sportswashing is welcome in the Premier League.
The Toon of course, are not the only Premier League club to have overseas owners and sponsors – in their case Chinese betting brand Fun88 – with little or no connection to the city their club is based in.
Liverpool are owned by the US-based Fenway Sports Group, named after the legendary home stadium of the Boston Red Sox, who they also own. Sponsor Standard Chartered are an Edinburgh based property and banking group.
Famously Manchester United are owned by the six American billionaire Glazer siblings, a source of much woe amongst fans of the Red Devils. Their new sponsor is Team Viewer, a relatively obscure German tech company who this season replaced Chevrolet cars.
Their neighbours Manchester City are owned by Sheikh Mansour from Abu Dhabi, as are their sponsors Etihad Airways. Everton owner Farhad Moshiri is an Iranian-born, Monaco-based shareholder of USM, a Russian mining/telecoms/internet giant. Their sponsors this season are Cazoo, the London-based internet car sales company.
Although most think Daniel Levy owns Spurs, he is in fact only a minority shareholder in ENIC International, a Bahamas registered company that owns the club. AIA, their shirt sponsors, are a pan-Asian insurance giant.
Arsenal are another club owned by a much-disliked US family, in this case Kroenke Sports and Entertainment. Another Middle Eastern airline Emirates sponsor their shirt and of course stadium.
The Premier League was worth £5.2 billion pre-pandemic, so it is understandable that wealthy Arab interests, Chinese companies and US billionaires want to buy into the lucrative world of top-tier English football.
And it is why our owner Tony Bloom stands out – in his case literally standing out – as a fan, on the terraces with ordinary supporters at some away games – most recently the 1-0 win over Brentford.
Of course, getting a return on the tens of millions of pounds of his own money from Premier League success is an aim, but he is that very rare thing, a fan owner.
There has been a member of his family on the board of the club for the best part of six decades. Yes, our stadium and shirt sponsor is an American company, but it is one with its European headquarters in the city, making it Brighton and Hove’s biggest private sector employer with a huge stake in the local economy.
In the Premier League table of charitable foundations, Albion In The Community sit eighth, above Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal, according to Third Sector magazine.
We have a local fan owner, a sponsor rooted in the city and a charitable organisation that outperforms many of the financially bigger clubs in the Premier League.
As we celebrate our current dizzy heights in the table, let us not forget or take for granted our owner is not someone in Boston or Abu Dhabi with more of an eye on the balance sheet that the league table, but a fan.
One that has been prepared to invest for the long term, one that builds lasting partnerships with locally-based sponsors not international betting companies, and one who instils values in a club that gives a huge amount back to the community.
Then again, no-one who lived through the Archer years will ever take this club’s ownership for granted ever again.
