BREAKING for @ESPNFC: Industry sources tell me #USMNT legend @landondonovan is soon to join the new American ownership group at Swansea City— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 9, 2016 Swansea City announced Sunday that an American ownership team led by Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan has completed its purchase of the Welsh club, subject to final approval from the Premier League. Levien and Kaplan are leading an investment group that now controls a 60% stake of the club, which is currently valued at around $145 million. The rest of the shares will be retain by the Swansea City Supporters’ Trust and a number of part owners, likely where Donovan fits into the puzzle. http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2016/06/09/landon-donovan-swansea-city-ownership
http://www.espnfc.us/swansea-city/s...van-set-to-become-swansea-shareholder-sources Sources told ESPN that Donovan is set to become a minority shareholder and partner in the group led by Memphis Grizzlies vice chairman Steve Kaplan and D.C. United managing general partner Jason Levien that recently struck a deal to secure a controlling interest in Swansea City. Sources say Donovan will become an adviser to Kaplan and Levien on soccer decision-making as well as the club's commercial matters as part of the arrangement, which represents his first post-playing foray into management. --------- What intrigues me is the soccer decision-making part. Is Landon setting himself up to be a type of sporting director?
3% would be around $5M (£100 value). I doubt he invested that much. I reckon a small piece, plus some PR involvement. Maybe he'll teach Jefferson Montero how to cross with his left foot.
That's why MLS' business model ain't changing. Swansea's revenue dwarfs EVERY MLS teams'. But its value wouldn't stand out in a graph of MLS franchise values, and that's because the English system is not profitable. In the old days, yeah, ask some fan or bigshot to subsidy your English club. The money was so small then it was a way to give back to the community. Nowadays, the math doesn't work.
One might as well toss it in here. "A fool and his money are soon partying" (Steven Wright) https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/common-bankrupt-pro-athletes-103013763.html
Is there different math for the value of an English club? TV revenue next year is at least £110m, add their rather poor rights and marketing (£10m, about) and even their tiny gate revenue in the Prem to that, and you've got to be somewhere near the total valuation of £140m. And that's for one year. Isn't the standard three years? Seems like a good deal, and like it would very much be worth spending a bit more, buying and expanding the stadium, for instance. but this has to be wrong, because owning a sports team is supposed to be a bad investment, so what am I not seeing?
Hypothetically speaking, an established business can be worth its net income x 10 (depending whether the business is growing or declining), which gives a 10% capitalization rate. An EPL club, however, can be a net loser (thank Roman and the sheiks for it) due to both high salaries and high transfers. So, the net formula in sports is out of the window. Then, you're probably stuck with the "going rate", which is basically, "What are other people paying for it?" These other people would have presumably hired some very experienced folks with a bunch of degrees from the top business analytics/accounting firms, who ran their formulas through a whole bunch of variables to come up with the definite number. Which is probably the same number that one could get from the Sun or the Daily Mail because someone else just paid this amount for a similar club and because no one else wants to overpay for the same type of an enterprise.
That's been under consideration for a few years. The previous owners are very shrewd and they weren't willing to put their own money into a stadium expansion (because they didn't have that kind of $$$) and they weren't willing to put the club into tons of debts for it either (prudent given Swansea's near-death-experience history). Whatever the details of the financial models, with this investment the club will no longer be an under-capitalized entity for undergoing that kind of long-term investment.
Yep, but if the deal turns sour - Swansea are relegated & don't bounce back - the foreign investors will look at the losses and cut them by selling up at a stonking great loss. Meantime, the (expanded) stadium will still be there, the EPL-standard training facilities will be in place (since 2013), and the fan base will definitely still be there - all to be picked up for 30-40 cents on the dollar by a consortium of local businessmen. Which is how Huw Jenkins & Co. got control Swansea in the first place.
¿LO SACAN DEL RETIRO?#LaFieraxFOX A falta del anuncio oficial, Landon Donovan, fichará con León(vía @PacoMontesD7)https://t.co/Q3mLyUMWLT— FOX Sports MX (@FOXSportsMX) January 10, 2018
#LIGABancomerMX 🇺🇸 Landon Donovan es nuevo jugador del Club León. Su último equipo fue LA Galaxy #CONFIRMADO pic.twitter.com/ncDnklm8Q3— MX Draft (@MXDraft) January 10, 2018
BREAKING: In a surprise move, United States legend Landon Donovan has come out retirement to join Club Leon of Liga MX. No details yet but FOX Sports is reporting that an official announcement is imminent. Donovan last played with the LA Galaxy in 2016 pic.twitter.com/RY99uRd4fS— Premier Rumours (@PremierRumors) January 10, 2018