KYLE MARTINO is a studio analyst for NBC Sports’ coverage of the Premier League and an investor in Spanish second division side Mallorca. Martino and fellow U.S. int'l-turned-broadcaster STUART HOLDEN are part of a group of U.S. investors that own the club on the picturesque Balearic island. NBA Phoenix Suns Owner ROBERT SARVER led the takeover in Jan. '16, with a group under the name Liga ACQ Legacy Partners acquiring Mallorca via a capital investment of just over €20M. Sarver had previously attempted to acquire Scottish Premiership side Rangers and Spanish second division side Levante. The Sarver-led group that owns Mallorca includes Suns Vice-Chair ANDY KOHLBERG and former NBA MVP STEVE NASH, and the three currently fill out the board of directors listed on the club's website. Martino and Holden got involved in what became the ownership group of Mallorca thanks largely to their friendships with Nash, with whom they regularly played pickup football. Martino said that the idea for the three lifelong football fans -- Nash, too, grew up playing the sport -- to become owners of a team was first kicked around in '15. Nash caught them by surprise by asking about their interest in club ownership during a conversation following one of what they called their "Venice Premier League" games. Martino spoke to SBD Global about his lifelong dream of team ownership, acquiring Mallorca and what the U.S. hosting the World Cup in '26 would do to grow the game in the States.
On being asked to form an ownership group with Nash ...
Kyle Martino: One day [after a pickup game], we’re sitting there, beautiful day, drinking coffee. And Steve asked Stu and I if we’d be interested in being part of an ownership group and buying a soccer team. We sort of laughed at first, and then quickly realized Steve was serious. He got to explaining that Robert Sarver had come to him and mentioned that he was looking to get involved in owning a soccer team. Nothing was really decided at that point, which league it would be in, which type of club ... Really at that point, it was just an idea. Stu and I sat for all of five seconds before we decided, "Yeah, we want to be involved in this." It’s every kid’s dream when you’re playing Football Manager and all these computer games and you’re pretending to own a team. The idea that we would get to turn fantasy into reality was something that we jumped on immediately.
On the process leading up to the acquisition of Mallorca ...
Martino: After talking through some of the finer points and working through the details of the deal and making sure it was something that Stu and I thought we could bring value to and that we could be a part of, then it was about figuring out where to go, where to look. We hadn’t really identified the league or club. ... We had the analysts look at many different clubs in many different leagues. We landed in Spain and
took a shot at a team [Levante] before Mallorca. It was really close. You can appreciate, coming from the outside, how protective the people who have to make these big decisions are of their club. We were really disappointed, but completely understood, and then just didn’t get discouraged and moved on. We identified Mallorca as obviously a historic club, a club that has a successful past and amazing brand. We got involved there, put the bid in, and this time got it accepted. We were so excited to start the journey of trying to revive this incredible club.
On the Int'l Champions Cup ...
Martino: For someone who's been a part of this game for as long as I have, and seen the battles and the difficulty to gain interest and gain respect, you see something like that [the sellout crowd for the ManU-Real Madrid ICC match at Michigan Stadium in '14], it just fills you with the biggest pride you can imagine, because you know it's here. To see the biggest clubs around the world wanting to come to this market to play those games in the summer -- they could go absolutely anywhere -- it's a testament to how much they enjoy coming here and how important they see this market. And filling those stadiums shows how much we love them back. Every year it becomes bigger. That's when I really fell madly in love with the game, the 1994 World Cup, when I got to see some of these stars from all over the world, right there in the flesh.
On what the U.S. hosting the World Cup in 2026 could mean for the sport's popularity in the States ...
Martino: I want to see another World Cup here, of course I do. Anything we can do to make sure that happens, we have to. That World Cup in 1994 created such a buzz. It just came, I think, a little prematurely, for where the game was [in the U.S.]. It was kind of like the circus coming to town. Many people went to go enjoy it, and then went back to life without soccer. With how far the game has come at this point and the success of Major League Soccer and the access that every kid out there has -- and by kid, I mean the 40-year-olds that are at the pubs watching the Premier League on the weekends -- every major league at their fingertips, every single game in the Premier League on all their devices, a World Cup coming at this point would be ... a sporting event unlike any this country has ever seen.
On the U.S., Mexico and Canada possibly co-hosting the 2026 World Cup ...
Martino: That'd be a great thing. Mexico, Canada and the U.S., we are so intertwined in our love for the game. It's something that I think will show how inclusive, multi-cultural and beautiful North America is, to bring the biggest sporting tournament in the world and share it with our neighbors, and share it in a loving way that shows what it means to all get behind something so special.
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