Red Bull set to complete Newcastle Falcons takeover

Newcastle Falcons will likely be renamed Newcastle Red Bulls starting next season, with Red Bull’s takeover expected to be finalized in the coming days.

The energy drink company will add Newcastle to a sporting portfolio that includes a Formula 1 team, as well as German football team RB Leipzig and New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer in a move that could have a significant impact on Gallagher Prem and rugby union in the north-east of England.

For the most part of the past decade, Newcastle have struggled on and off the field, finishing last in the league three seasons.

The club will enter a new era with the acquisition set to be confirmed next week, though the investment won’t be for the club.

Jaguar Racing was purchased by Red Bull in 2004 from Ford, and the team has since become a dominant force in Formula One, winning six constructors’ championships and eight drivers’ championships.

In their first season in the German top flight, RB Leipzig was established in 2009 as a fifth-tier football team that rose to the fifth-tier of the league as soon as 2015, earning them a place in the Champions League.

One of the factors that led Red Bull’s interest is thought to be the opportunity to revive Newcastle’s fortunes and restore them as a force in the English and European club games.

The other league shareholders are prepared to intervene to prevent the club from going bust and further reduce the league to nine teams, just months after Newcastle manager Steve Diamond revealed the club needed an urgent cash injection in order to compete in the league next season.

After Wasps, London Irish, and Worcester all shut down in a 12-month period between 2022 and 2023, English rugby’s top flight has a 10-team division.

You want a financier who won’t just invest a few million dollars to get us through the year. In March, Diamond remarked, “We need to look bigger than that.”

With Newcastle’s squad already in place for the following season, Red Bull’s investment should stop the club’s exodus of top talent.