Avram Glazer, co-owner of Manchester United and a member of the Glazer family who hold a majority stake in the club, has failed in his bid to become the controlling shareholder of Angel City in the Women’s National Soccer League.
Glazer has sought a stake in Angel City, sources familiar with the discussions, who declined to speak publicly due to the sensitivity of the talks, confirmed.
However, he lost out to Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife Willow Bay, who are now close to buying control of Angel City Football Club. Semaphore First news of Glazer’s interest.
The Glazer family recently benefited after the six siblings diluted their stake equally when they agreed to sell 25 percent of the club to Sir Jim Ratcliffe last year. An SEC filing confirmed that they each sold about 4.6 million Class B shares at a trading price of $33 each, totaling $909 million — or about $152 million in the pockets of each of the Glazers.
The Glazer family already owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL, while Avram Glazer also owns the Desert Vipers, a franchise in the International T20 League competition in the United Arab Emirates.
Investment bank Moelis has been appointed to search for a controlling investor and market the team to potential investors. They declined to comment when contacted. The athlete.
Angel City is currently valued at about $250 million, and Iger and Bey are set to invest more than $50 million to take control of ACFC from Alexis Ohanian, the team’s largest shareholder. Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and husband of Serena Williams, does not control the board.
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The club includes three founding partners — Kara Nortman, Natalie Portman and Julie Orman — and dozens of smaller investors, including celebrities such as Williams, Billie Jean King, Jennifer Garner, Eva Longoria and former U.S. women’s national team stars Mia Hamm, Shannon Boxx and Julie Foudy.
United have previously received significant criticism for their management of their women’s team. The Glazer family did not have a women’s team at the club between 2005 and 2018, but this investment attempt by Avram Glazer, who is acting in an independent capacity, could suggest that at least one member of the United ownership sees potential for growth in women’s football.
Since the team’s relaunch, it has emerged as one of the strongest teams in the Women’s Super League, reaching the FA Cup final in the past two seasons and winning the trophy in May.
Manchester United Women’s team won the FA Cup for the first time in May (Visionhaus/Getty Images)
However, it has also had its share of problems. In the summer of 2021, the team reached out to the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) to ask for support in improving facilities and the seriousness of the club’s approach to the women’s team.
At the time, the team was considering a strike. The players had to struggle to find suitable accommodation, even asking senior United officials if they would be willing to house their relatives in the accommodation they were using.
Players also expressed their dissatisfaction with the quality of facilities at the club’s Carrington training ground, where they changed their kit in portable cabins in the car park, while the pitch used by the women’s team suffered from severe drainage problems.
Since then, the squad has been better paid and better managed, and the club recently opened an £11m building at its Carrington training facility for use by the women’s team and academy.
The Glazers have since handed over the club’s football and commercial operations to INEOS.
Last week, Manchester United came under fire for its decision to return the women’s team to using portable cabins next season, as INEOS is working on a £50m training facility upgrade, meaning the men’s first team building will no longer be used. As such, the men have moved to the women’s building and the women will use portable cabins.
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Manchester United women’s team asked to use ‘mobile cabins’ due to work at Carrington
(Chris Brunskill/Fantasysta/Getty Images)
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