The purchase of Angel City FC by Willow Bay and Disney CEO Bob Iger is expected to increase the club’s value to $300 million.
Dean of USC Annenberg School, Willow Bayand her husband Bob IgerDisney CEO Mark Zuckerberg is close to reaching a deal to buy control of Angel City FC, a source familiar with the situation told ESPN.
The couple intend to buy control of the NWSL club from the Reddit founder, Alexis Ohanianthe team’s largest shareholder, was first reported by Semafor.
According to Semaphore, the club’s current valuation is $250 million, and Iger and Bay’s proposal would raise the new valuation to $300 million.
Ohanian, who is the husband of Serena Williamsdoes not have control over the NWSL club’s board of directors.
The source told ESPN that Angel City is looking for an owner, emphasizing Bay’s role in the deal. Dylan Byers of the Bucs was the first to report Bay’s involvement.
In March, Sportico valued the club at $180 million. San Diego Wave FC sold for $120 million in March, setting an NFL record.
In November 2023, the National Women’s Soccer League announced a new four-year broadcast rights deal that will partner the top-tier women’s league in the United States with CBS Sports, ESPN, Prime Video and Scripps Sports in 2024.
Nearly every team in the 14-team NWSL has new owners or major investors who joined in the past four years, leading to an influx of billionaire ownership groups with deep league experience and deeper pockets than the league has ever had access to before.
“We’re not sitting here today saying, ‘Is this going to be around a year from now?’ Which I think is a very different mindset than it was in the past,” the New Jersey/New York Gotham FC principal owner recently told ESPN of the league’s board. Carolyn Tish Blodgett.
In the past four years, all but one team, the North Carolina Courage, have either relinquished majority ownership or joined the league as a new team.
In almost all cases, these additions were eye-catching and high-quality.
“From when we joined the league to previous conversations, to now, the mindset around wanting to invest, wanting to see growth, how to achieve excellence, has changed dramatically,” the Kansas City co-owner recently told ESPN CityCurrent. Chris Longwho serves on the NWSL Expansion Committee and co-founded the movement in late 2020 with his wife, EngyAnd Brittany Mahomes.
“It’s been a sea change and it’s exciting,” he said. “There’s a lot of good, well-capitalized people who have been involved recently over our four seasons, and secondly, there’s a lot of people waiting at the door.”
This NFL season brought the arrival of expansion team Bay FC, backed by private equity firm Sixth Street, which says it manages more than $75 billion in assets, and CEO Alan Waxman.
San Diego Wave FC, which joined the National Soccer League for about $2 million ahead of the 2022 expansion season, is in the middle of a sale to the Levin Lichtman family (also a billionaire) who values the club at between $113 million and $120 million.
Seattle Reign FC was sold to OL Groupe in late 2019 for around $3.5 million. Now that team has been sold again for $58 million.
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