The multi-club model is something which remains relatively new despite it existing in the sport of football for a number of years now. In basic terms, this is where an individual or their organisation will own or have stakes in multiple clubs in the same sport.
In a way, Arsenal are already a part of this. Arsenal owner and owner of Kroenke Sports Entertainment Stan Kroenke also owns the Colorado Rapids in MLS.
Arsenal have seen a recent transfer between the sides with Auston Trusty arriving in January of 2022. A number of youngsters have also come over from the States on trial at the club such as Cole Bassett and Dantouma Toure.
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The Athletic’s senior football writer Oliver Kay writes that these multi-club models should be curbed and not encouraged. The reasons behind this spawn from the idea that for however many success stories there are such as with the Red Bull Group, City Football Group or even Union Saint-Gilloise, whose majority shareholder is Brighton chairman Tony Bloom, there will be a greater number of failures.
Kay claims that "it goes without saying" that the majority of the 82 top-tier UEFA clubs that have a "cross-investment relationship" with one or more clubs "will not be successful".
In the case of KSE and the Colorado Rapids who they have owned since 2002, they’ve had varied success. They won the MLS Cup once in 2010 but also competed well recently, winning the Western Conference in 2021 before being knocked out in the Conference semi-finals by Portland Timbers.
Is that successful? If the target was to win the cup then you could argue it is but there is sure to be another perspective that argues they should and could have won another.
Perspective is what is key here. There are only so many trophies in sport that can be won, especially in football. And so for every winner, there is not an equal number of losers; there is a very long list of them.
Multi-club ownership in its current form sees teams from varying nations owned and so typically only come into contact in continental or international competition. An example of this was when RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg played one another in the UEFA Europa League in 2018.
Despite the Bundesliga side, who’ve benefited from plenty of talent from their Austrian sister club, being seen as the favourites Salzburg won both games in the group stage. Salzburg progressed as group winners and Leipzig finished third and were eliminated.
Under UEFA rules, clubs that are owned by the same entity cannot face one another. However, The Athletic writes that both Red Bull clubs were able to compete because: "The governing body [UEFA] ended up being persuaded that 'several important governance and structural changes' in respect of 'corporate matters, financing, personnel and sponsorship arrangement' had removed any such concern."
Have Salzburg 'failed' from their loss of talent to Leipzig? No, they continue to dominate the Austrian league and perhaps many from the A. Bundesliga would argue the investment in the Salzburg-based club has ruined the competitiveness of the league.
Although some would say it has brought greater attention to Austrian football and benefitted the national team due to the investment in youth development. As with all these things, there are typically two sides to the same coin.
Returning focus to the multi-club angle though and this perspective of success and failure. Union Saint-Gilloise sit in the last eight of the Europa League having ever so recently been 49 years without top-flight Belgian football, incredible.
The argument against the multi-club model looks at 777 Partners who have stakes in a number of clubs such as Sevilla, Hertha Berlin and Standard Liege amongst others. NewCity Capital are referenced as overseeing three relegations last season with Barnsley, Nancy and Esbjerg dropping to the third tiers of their respective leagues.
Lastly is United World’s Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud who owns Sheffield United, who are second in the Championship, Beerschot, Chateauroux and Kerala United. Ultimately, these clubs often see transfers, loans and exchanges of personnel on a regular occasion.
From the leading club’s perspective, youth stars can go and get senior experience at a place the club are familiar with and can perhaps ensure greater assurances over game time. But with that, comes the strong argument that those sent on loan are seen by the parent club to be some of the best talent available and starlets who they believe have big futures.
Take Kaoru Mitoma for example who Brighton bought from Japan and then loaned to Union Saint Gilloise. In the Belgian side’s return to the top tier they finished first in the regular season table before losing out to Club Brugge in the Championship Play-Offs; Mitoma was seen as a huge part of the club’s success.
Is it fair to say that the model will always produce success after success? No, of course not.
There are going to be, as is the case in all of sports, teams that fare better than others. But with this model, there’s evidence of benefits across the relationship and I am yet to be convinced of the greater drawbacks of this approach to club ownership.
Focusing on Arsenal; having further relationships with other clubs through ownership by KSE will be of benefit to the club’s continuation of their impressive youth system. Seeking out the right club will be an important factor and should be in any multi-club owner’s principles to find the correct balance whilst taking on the responsibilities of ensuring their new partner succeeds too.
Until I see that the negatives of the multi-club model outweigh the positives for all involved it is difficult to side with the call to curb the movement. For now, my position remains that KSE should look to expand theirs from the two they currently own.
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