Exeter Chiefs takeover to ‘take a while’ to bear fruit but Rob Baxter hopeful of ‘fantastically bright’ future
Exeter Chiefs members voted to accept a proposed takeover bid from Cannae Holdings Inc’s ( Black Knight Sports and Entertainment) last week, which sees the club now enter a 60-day due diligence period.
Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter insists the proposed takeover of the club will take time to bear fruit, but could lead to a ‘fantastically bright’ future for them.
Last week, club members voted to accept an expression of interest from American consortium Cannae Holdings Inc’s (Black Knight Sports and Entertainment) to purchase the two-time PREM champions, after months of reported interest.
The investment into the Chiefs is the company’s latest entry into English sport, with them also owning Premier League side Bournemouth. Furthermore, they also own stakes in French football side FC Lorent and New Zealand-based Auckland FC.
‘There’s no done deal yet’
While the decision on Thursday night suggests things are moving in the right direction, Baxter was keen to stress it is not a done deal just yet with the club now entering a 60-day due diligence process.
“What Tony (Rowe) said is the most important thing; there’s no done deal yet,” said the DoR. “All that’s happened off the field is that we’ve taken a step to allow us to move in that direction.
“We’ve only asked to take that step because of significant interest, but all of those decisions still have to be made.”
It is hard to ignore the feel-good factor in the immediate aftermath of the vote. Exeter have been through some trying times since they won a historic PREM and European double back in 2020, with a number of that generation leaving for pastures new.
Since then, Exeter have also slowly fallen down the PREM table. Their last play-off berth came back in 2021, and they endured their worst-ever top-flight season in 2024/25 with just four wins from 22 PREM and Investec Champions Cup matches.
Talk of major investment has quickly led to hopes of an instant return to the top table, but again, Baxter insisted it will more of a long-term project.
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“What everyone has to remember is, I said this at the members’ forum and it’s something Newcastle (Red Bulls) will understand, but when you get significant investment, it takes a while for that to come through.
“When you need a significant investment, it means you’ve underinvested for a few years, so getting that back online, like with a well-funded academy, does take a couple of years. It’s the forward planning.”
But, he did stress that it could lead to a ‘fantastically bright’ future.
“With significant investment, I would think the future moving forward over the next three or four years would be fantastically bright. I know where we can invest to significantly improve things, and we look pretty good now,” he said.
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“It’s endless what we could do with investment.”
‘They threw the first punch’
In the here and now, though, Baxter’s mission will be to take Exeter back to the play-offs for the first time in five seasons, and their win over Bath has gone a long way to doing that.
“On the field, we had a group of men together today who turned up and did a lot of good things,” he said. “They threw the first punch, got themselves in the game and then stayed in it.
“That’s what you’ve got to do, throw the first punch and stay in the fight.”
The Devonians face one of the toughest run-ins of any of the top four hopefuls, with Harlequins at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham up next before they take on Leicester Tigers at Mattioli Woods Welford Road and then in-form Saracens at Sandy Park on the final day of the regular season.
