Goals Soccer Centres "entered into a joint venture" with Man City owner City Football Group to "accelerate the growth of the Goals brand in North America," according to Scott McCulloch of INSIDER.co.uk. The five-a-side football center operator, which currently has two outlets in L.A., said that CFG is providing an initial $16M in expansion capital to the venture. Cash flow from the joint venture will then "self-finance an ambitious program of new site openings in North America." CFG owns Major League Soccer side NYCFC, A-League side Melbourne City, W-League side Melbourne City, J.League side Yokohama F. Marinos and Uruguayan club Atlético Torque. East Kilbride, Scotland-based Goals said that its two existing U.S. sites and its "existing pipeline" of U.S. sites have been transferred to the joint venture, which will be led by a six-member board chaired by Goals Chair Nick Basing (
INSIDER.co.uk, 7/25). In London, Joanna Bourke reported Goals Soccer Centres will continue to invest in its U.K. business, which saw sales rise 2% to £17.3M in the first half of the year. The firm "is enacting a turnaround after a string of profit warnings." Former Inter Milan CEO Michael Bolingbroke "was parachuted on to the board" (
EVENING STANDARD, 7/25). BDAILY's Richard Bell reported the agreement "will see the club team up with Goals to create and run new playing and training sites" across the U.S. and Canada. Each of the facilities will be jointly MCFC- and Goals-branded (
BDAILY, 7/25).
