Bristol Bears CEO, Tom Tainton, has caused a stir through the comments he has made at a sports conference on how he views the marketing of the club.
When speaking about player recruitment made a series of comments about the off-the-field elements that players can offer to the Bristol Bears.
Tainton became CEO of the Prem club in July 2025, but has recently announced a three-year plan after a multi-million-pound loss for the club.
“We don’t call ourselves a rugby club”
Telling any rugby fan that you don’t see yourself primarily as a rugby club is fundamentally against everything the game stands for. Rugby Union is a game that has only been professional for about 30 years. Its roots are still very much planted in the community that clubs belong in and the people have dedicated their lives to supporting that club.
Bristol currently sit fifth in the table, just one place outside the playoffs. From a sporting perspective, the one message that should be coming out of the club is that push towards the top four and everything that entails for supporters and executives.
“A marketing agency that plays rugby”
The Independent shared portions of Tainton’s panel from the SportsPro conference, where they were discussing the “State of the Union”, focusing on the growth of Prem Rugby commercially.
This is the one caveat that Tainton has with some of these comments, as his audience was people involved in sports finance, rather than fans.
The comments came when he was discussing the signings of Louis Rees-Zammit and Ilona Maher to the Bristol Bears. Rees-Zammit signed for the Bears, having moved to the NFL after the 2023 World Cup. Ilona Maher is the most followed rugby player on Instagram. The CEO commented, “Our players have to be competent and able to deliver on the field, but if they are not bringing any value off the field, that genuinely factors into our recruitment conversations.”
“Nobody remembers how Bristol got on against Harlequins two years ago”
This comment caused a lot of offence to fans, who saw that the CEO doesn’t fully care about the results of the team if there is something to show for it.
This Leinster fan account on X pointed out that two years ago, Bristol missed out on the playoffs due to a loss to Harlequins.
The balance of performance and profitability
Rugby Union is a game with lots of room for evolution. As already expressed, the game has evolved lots since its move to professionalism in the 90s. The Prem has struggled in recent years and have been looking to evolve the ‘product’ for profitability. This is something that needs to be balanced with also producing the best game for the fans. Remembering the difference between fans in rugby and other sports, and how to move to new financial models, while keeping the ethics of rugby at the core.
