We want investors with sports acumen rather than just money

Kaizer Motaung has done very well as a soccer entrepreneur by starting and growing Kaizer Chiefs into arguably the biggest soccer brand in the country. The same applies to John Comitis who owns Ajax Cape Town.

He’s built this club into a sustainable long-term business with fantastic infrastructure. Patrice Motsepe is a mining entrepreneur who has not shown any acumen in sports despite his noble and very grand intentions.

For Patrice, Mamelodi Sundowns is like a sideshow which he is not giving the attention it needs to be really financially successful. He is just throwing money at it with very little strategy. Then there is Dieter Bock who bought Moroka Swallows and is only seen once or twice a year at the club’s prize-giving ceremonies.

He has delegated the running of the club to Leon Prins who has failed to get the club’s hordes of supporters to go to the stadium – they watch their team on TV and as a result Swallows are a shadow of their former selves and very far from being a major player. I will give you a few examples of investors who have serious plans and are heavily involved in their very substantial sports investments.

Liverpool co-owners George Gillet and Tom Hicks live and breath their sports assets. Besides Liverpool, Gillet owns a stake in the Montreal Canadians National Hockey League (NHL) ice-hockey franchise which he is planning to sell to refinance his share of Liverpool’s GBP350 million debt. Hicks’ portfolio of sports investments includes the NHL Dallas Stars franchise and Major League Baseball (MLB) Texas Rangers.

These are men who are out to increase their wealth through their ownership of sports teams and are not just doing it as a distraction. Another good example is Malcolm Glazer the owner of Manchester United. This man has a proven record of success in sports investments.

He is famous for buying an under-achieving Tampa Bay Buccaneers National Football League (NFL) franchise in 1995, turning it around and finally leading it to victory in the Super Bowl of 2003. His sports investments have made him a billionaire and in 2004 he became the 278th richest American.

The last example I would like to give you is Vijay Mallya. Although his business empire is founded on alcohol he has become a very serious player in sports. He is the owner of the Force India F1 team; the Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL cricket team, which he bought for US$111,6 million. He is also very big into horse-racing with his United Bloodstock and Breeders Company having some of the best trainers, jockeys and animals in the world.

This is why he is the first owner to have won the prestigious Indian Derby more than 4 times. Although he doesn’t own a soccer team he is very involved in the sport. One of his alcohol brands, Kingfisher, sponsors both East Bengal and Mohun Bagon soccer teams, the two fierce Calcutta-based rivals.

This is a man who takes sports investments seriously and the type of investor we want in South African soccer and sport in general.