I come in peace with new information. It is so according to the LA Times. AEG and the Galaxy are on the market as of this afternoon. Along with all the rest of the AEG empire. http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-anschutz-aeg-sale-20120918,0,754304.story
Maybe enough for the Galaxy on their own, but definitely not for AEG's whole portfolio which is estimated to be worth approximately 20 billion.
Does the fact that the Galaxy AND the Kings won it last year play into this sale? This can be great for the Galaxy if we get an INTERESTED owner not an investor. Lots of questions!!!
It's possible that he separates the Galaxy from AEG and keeps the team. His wife is reportedly a huge fan.
Kobe and Becks put your money together and make LA GALAXY even bigger and better! Hey we can all dream right?
Realistically, I don't think we're gonna be getting a big name owner (Becks or someone like Magic Johnson). It's most likely just gonna be an investor as opposed to a real sports fan. But I'm pretty sure that AEG won't be sold for cheap...expect a pretty wealthy (but maybe not famous) new owner.
Does this mean no more David Beckham's, keano's?? No more going after players like Ronaldinho and Fran Lampard? Damn im Bummed out right now!
This is really strange considering the Kings and Galaxy are reigning champs.... They could have let it ride. Also, so much effort was put in trying to get a NFL team and expand down town footprint. Why now? The timing is also not good: one of their businesses is trying to make some more gains by winning more championship and cannot afford any distraction. This sounds like a hasty decision by those who dont care about the sport side of AEG.
Why now? Maybe to raise the moola to buy the NFL team Phil wants to put into his shiny new palace downtown. Face it - the Kings and LAG are small potatoes compared to an NFL team - that's where the big boys play. And with two championship clubs in the portfolio, this is probably the best time for Phil to cash out on AEG at the top of the market.
Considering AEG was buying the team I don't see how selling themselves would raise the capital. This seems more like Phil just plain cashing out this piece of the business since AEG is only a slice of the overall Anschutz empire.
Wasn't there a bunch of talk that Beckham's contract included an option to buy a franchise? If that were to happen, he'd probably be interested in one near where he lives, maybe one he has a relationship with already. I'm not implying this is a good thing. It might take more than an exceptional right foot run a team.
They seem to be shopping AEG to a large buyer like an investment group or a buyout conglomerate that would buy it and sell it off in chunks. So far, no downside. No need to hit the panic button.
Really bizarre news. Completely unexpected. The base case scenario is that the Galaxy and HDC are broken off and sold independently, thus opening the door for a proper owner, not just an investor, b/c let's face it, MLS is still not there yet (to attract simply an investor). This could be a good thing for the team in the long run, but we shall see. It's going to take some time for the dust to settle, I would imagine. Becks? Wouldn't want him owning the team. Wouldn't know the first thing about it. Let's see if he can work his way to that position. Minority owner like Magic? OK.
http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/nfl/post/_/id/857/potential-aeg-sale-raises-questions the writer of this identifies a couple of potential owner options. Would Becks have enough to buy the team?
It's still too early to say, but let's face it... We currently have one of the best owners in MLS. There is a LOT of potential that the new owner will not be as good for the team.
If I remember correctly, that provision was included in his original contract (not sure if it carried over to his new one). But assuming it did, I thought that it said he could buy/start a franchise...just not LA though. I have no sources...just what I thought the whole time.
Is it just me and a few others on here that see this as NOT A GOOD THING for Soccer in the USA? Mr. Hunt passed away years ago..If Papa Phil departs that only leaves Bob "F%$#en" Kraft as the sole investor left from the time when there were 3.... Considering how plain awful, disgusting and irrelevant MLS is in the eyes of Soccer fans and non-soccer fans here in New England, I'm in true panic mode. The one guy who probably could have forced Kraft to $hit or get off the pot and join at the very least MLS 2.0 was Phil... If ever there was a time for GLOOM and DOOM, it's now..!! IMO
I think for the league and Soccer in general..if Phil completely detaches himself from it..It's very very bad.