Major League Soccer continued its push last week to diversify its investor base as Anschutz Entertainment Group sold its MetroStars organization to Austria-based energy drink maker Red Bull.
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Team exec Alexi Lalas shows off the Red Bull
brand, already worn by an Austrian team (above). |
AEG, the league’s largest and most important investor, now owns four of the 12 MLS clubs.
“Phil [Anschutz] has been the backbone of this league for 10 years,” Commissioner Don Garber said. “But that ownership of multiple teams was not out of desire but rather out of necessity.”
Garber said that AEG, which still owns the Chicago Fire, Los Angeles Galaxy, Houston Dynamo and D.C. United, remains as “committed as ever” and that it is the league’s desire to slowly reduce each owner to one team. Beyond AEG’s four teams, Lamar Hunt and his Hunt Sports Group are the investor-operators of the Kansas City Wizards, Columbus Crew and FC Dallas.
“We’ve got a ways to go,” Garber said.
Terms of last week’s deal were not released, but industry insiders said Red Bull is likely paying at least $30 million for the team. Red Bull’s total commitment, including naming rights and 50 percent ownership of AEG’s new soccer-specific stadium in Harrison, N.J., approaches nine figures, sources said.
Garber called it a record transaction for MLS and Soccer United Marketing, the league marketing arm. Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of AEG, could not be reached for comment.
Dietrich Mateschitz, founder of Red Bull, said in an e-mail that the company’s marketing focus is ownership rather than sponsorship.
“Since the beginning, it has been our philosophy that we don’t simply appear as a sponsor but take full responsibility for a team by becoming the owner,” Mateschitz said, referring to the company’s ownership stakes in two Formula One teams and an Austrian soccer club. “This is mainly because being responsible for our own team, we can influence its performance, quality, etc.”
The sale to Red Bull “shows the popularity of the league,” Garber said. “It’s a league where a very smart, experienced brand marketer has chosen to go.”
AEG also has put D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo, formerly the San Jose Earthquakes, on the market in the past 12 months. Virginia-based Global Development Partners had agreed to buy D.C. United for a reported $26 million, but the deal collapsed in January.
The league continues to struggle finding an ownership group for Hunt’s Kansas City Wizards, which were first put up for sale in December 2004.
