Like many of you, my mind goes blank when business jargon is tossed around in the world of sport.
The new buzzword or words in rugby circles these days are private equity in the game.
From my understanding, these partners would pump a lot of money into our franchises and we would be better equipped to keep our top players in the country.
Yes, that’s it for me in a nutshell.
I mean, look at what happened at the Bulls this year.
While the rest of the world is suffering financially because of the coronavirus pandemic, coach Jake White went on a shopping spree and bought what seems like whoever he wanted.
All of that thanks to businessmen like Patrice Motsepe and Johann Rupert, who both own 37 percent of the company for a majority of 74 percent.
My business is sport, the on-field stuff, and therefore a guy like South African Rugby CEO Jurie Roux is much better equipped to explain what private equity in rugby means - what it will actually mean in terms of rugby decisions in the country.
And with Western Province reportedly in discussion with a Durban-born American lawyer and his trawante to possibly partner with them when it comes to the Stormers, now is the perfect time to have Roux explain to us what this sort of business will mean.
In an online interview with rugby writers last week, Roux explained what these deals would mean for rugby.
He said: “We are at a unique stretch at the moment and so is the rest of the world that most deals that were in place for the next five years are basically off or everyone is in breach.
“Having said that, their [the businesses’] influence normally comes over time in terms of development of your commercial models.
“With all of the equity transactions that I know of and the information I have of those transactions, they have a minority stake in commercial rights.
“Obviously that can influence your commercial decisions.
“But the rugby decisions in almost all of those deals sits with a separate committee.
“The holders are still the unions and federations.
“They make those rugby decisions.
“When you get to those decisions and the commercial value for a six-team Currie Cup is R100m and politically people want to have a 12-team Currie Cup and you get R10m from that, the decision becomes very easy.
“And that’s how commercially they would influence competition decisions.
“But they still don’t have the veto of how you play your competitions or how you run the business of rugby.”
Now in the case of the Stormers and the US lawyer Marco Masotti, it doesn’t look like he and his investors want to stay on the sidelines.
Masotti was quoted by News24 as saying: “They [Western Province] said that according to their constitution, an investor may not own 51 percent. It must be 49 percent. I said, ‘No, I want control’.”
He further wrote on his Twitter page: “I hope that by making a significant investment in the Stormers, we will empower further development at all levels of the South African rugby community and continue to positively promote our beloved sport on the world’s stage.”
Personally, I can’t see this deal happening.
But it’s my opinion that someone will come in with a bid that makes sense for all involved and in my books that means investing enough money for us to keep our best players in South Africa.
Rugby saved?