Sunderland AFC owners launch Rugby 7s league, backed by £18m funding

SUNDERLAND Multi Sports Portfolio Grows - NOW includes Rugby 7s League *Sunderland AFC’s owners Kyril Louis-Dreyfus & Juan Sartori have pivoted into rugby sevens, spearheading a privately funded franchise-based global league, scheduled for Aug 2026. *Operating through their investment vehicle Bia Sports Group (BSG) Holdings and newly formed Ultimate Rugby7s UK Ltd / SPV owning Project 7s IP & UK operations *Bia Sports have already closed an eight-figure seed round (Estimated £18m) and begun marketing seven men’s and women’s franchises. *35% of Year 1 gross revenues to a central prize and welfare fund. Proposed Format: *Seven Rugby7s Franchises (Male & Female), Names TBC, 7 rounds of fixtures to play in 7 European Cities, stadium size 20,000.  *Games to be played Mid-week (Thursday evenings) games will be one half with one timeout per team. *Non-exclusive contracts offered to current SVNS players *Season scheduled August-Sept to avoid SVNS calendar Long Term Funding  *Series A (2027) Expansion franchises and digital-product R&D, target strategic media investors, planned to raise £25-30m *Debt Layer (2028) Revolving credit facility secured against multi-year media-rights contracts once league attains EBITDA positive status. *Liquidity Event (2030+) Options include SPAC merger or minority sale to private equity, Sunderland AFC *64% Kyril Louis-Dreyfus *36% Juan Sartori Kyril Louis-Dreyfus (Swiss) *Kyril is one three siblings whose father is the late Robert Louis-Dreyfus. *Louis-Dreyfus Group turned over £50.6bn in 2024, Kyril net worth is around £2bn. *Louis Dreyfus Company owns a 5% stake in Olympique de Marseille *Kyril and his twin brother Maurice own swiss based esports Ovation *2023 Kyril & Juan invested in SX Global an organisation responsible for promotion, development and organising world-class Super-cross events that attract top athletes. *2022 Mubadala Capital invested n SX Global, Mubadala Capital is a subsidiary of Mubadala Investments which is the sovereign wealth fund of UAE Juan Sartori (Uruguay) * Juan is the founder of Union Group which has investments in agriculture, energy & real estate. Through Agriculture Kyril and Juan met. *Juan is a politician for the National Party and in 2019 came runner up in the party primary elections securing 23% of the votes. As a result became a member of the chamber of senators in Uruguay. *Juan Sartori father-in-law is Dmitry Rybolovlev who owns 67% of AS Monaco  *Juan owns 20% of Dmitry Rybolovlev stake in AS Monaco and has a place on the main board. *Dmitry Rybolovlev has a majority stake in Belgian pro league club Cercle Brugge Football League Club Owners & Other Sports is a growing trend *Todd Beheld & Trent Rockets *Marinakos & Netball Super League Side Nottingham Forest *Wagner Knighthead Capital owns stakes in both Hundred franchise Birmingham Phoenix & netball Super league team Birmingham Panthers #multiclubownership #footballbusiness #footballfinance #SunderlandAFC #R7s