Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown insists “nothing is imminent” regarding any potential sale or extra investment into the Championship club, but has confessed he’s open to the idea of selling the entire Bristol Sport portfolio, including Bristol Bears.
Lansdown first publicly mooted the idea of exploring external investment opportunities for City in April 2021, following the financial impact of the pandemic and as he was approaching his 70th birthday, while he reinforced those claims in August last year during an interview with BBC Radio Bristol where he said he was looking for the “right deal,” adding: "I'm looking for people to come in and invest, but some people might want to come in and do the whole thing and then it would be another discussion.”
Previously he’s spoken only in the context of City, with Lansdown having personally invested around £240m into the club without being able to reach the Premier League. But, in an interview with The Bristol Magazine, the Guernsey-based billionaire has indicated all his sporting clubs, the Bears plus British Basketball League team the Flyers, could also be up for sale.
That chimes with a report in The Athletic earlier this week which referenced City’s availability on the open market for around £100m and the promise of also taking over the rugby and basketball teams, representing an interesting opportunity for investors unlike other football clubs in the UK.
Bristol Live has been aware of a number of American consortiums who have declared an interest in purchasing City, as money from that side of the Atlantic continues to explore opportunities in English football, but those talks have never advanced past the preliminary stage.
Based on Lansdown’s quotes the 70-year-old will also be selective in exactly who he chooses to pass the Robins and the rest of his sporting empire onto, wanting “the right people to take it forward,” having been involved with City for more than 25 years and the Bears for around 15 years, in their current guise and previously as simply just Bristol.
“I would sell yes,” Lansdown told The Bristol Magazine. “I’ve got to an age now where I’ve got to look at succession but what I’ve done is to have a look at the overall package and if someone wants to come in and invest in all of it, or part of it, we can look at that. There is nothing imminent but we have talked to a number of people over the past year and we are always looking at how things can be better and how we can improve things.
“We have a Championship club, which is well respected and well run. It can be very expensive at times but effectively is debt-free. We have the Bears and the Ashton Gate development, the hotel and the sports and convention centre and the community aspects. There’s a significant asset there, or group of assets.”
In October, plans for the Ashton Gate Sporting Quarter were approved which will see a new indoor arena and 510 homes built on the site just to the west of the stadium.
Bristol City have recorded losses of £38.4m and £28.5m in their last two published accounts, in part due to the pandemic and the impact on the transfer market, which had previously been a major source of revenue for the Robins’ business model, but also because the Championship, and the dream of reaching the Premier League, is increasingly an unsustainable business model.
The Bears, by comparison, have published losses of £3.3m and £3.5m for the last two financial years and although their debt is around £50m, effectively that is nearly all owed to Lansdown, so conceivably would be written off by the owner in the event of a sale.
The Premiership is experiencing something of a financial crisis and uncertain future following the liquidation and expulsion from the league of Wasps and Worcester Warriors after they went into administration, while a number of other clubs are said to be struggling financially.
A Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee report ruled in January that club finances are "clearly unsustainable", with Damien Green MP adding that elite club rugby "is in disarray".
A Government White Paper finally published earlier this month mapped out plans for an independent watchdog to oversee greater and fairer governance in the game as the disparity between the Premier League and EFL widens, something that has remained a source of frustration for Lansdown.
Effectively, all of Lansdown's sporting portfolio, which he shares with wife Maggie - Bristol City Holdings, which covers Bristol City and Ashton Gate, Bristol Rugby Club Limited and Bristol Sport - falls under Pula Sport Ltd, registered in the Channel Islands.
