[KHOU] Group Led By De La Hoya Interested in Buying Dynamo

halfbreed · Nov 22, 2007

http://www.khou.com/sports/stories/khou071121_cc_dynamoforsale.27cf1261.html

Dynamo are for sale

By Carleton Cole/11 Sports Executive Producer

With the growing support for Major League Soccer across the United States, the league is asking the group which owns both the LA Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo to put one of the clubs up for sale.

11 Sports has learned since the Galaxy which is headquared in LA and has signed British soccer star David Beckham, the Los Angeles based company, AEG, is looking to divest itself of the Dynamo.

It is not uncommon for a new league to have teams with multiple owners. Kansas City Wizards owner Lamar Hunt who has been a long time supporter of Soccer in the US, has been one of the owners who helped bankroll the league at its inception.

But now that the league is more than 10 years old, the MLS is looking to have owners with only one team. The Dynamo is believed to be worth $35-40 million, so long as it has a stadium deal is worked out. The club continues to negotiate with the City of Houston, and an announcement on a new stadium is expected shortly.

AEG made the decision to move the Dynamo from San Jose two years ago when the club was called the Earthquakes because a stadium deal could not be worked out in California.

Ironically, San Jose is coming back into the league with a new franchise called the Earthquakes next season.

Boxer Oscar De La Hoya is interested in buying the Dynamo with his company Golden Boy Productions. Representatives of the company have visited Houston, attended games and are very impressed with the way the franchise is operated along with how the team has played.

Mango · Nov 22, 2007

halfbreed said:

http://www.khou.com/sports/stories/khou071121_cc_dynamoforsale.27cf1261.html

.........the league is asking the group which owns both the LA Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo to put one of the clubs up for sale.

11 Sports has learned since the Galaxy which is headquared in LA and has signed British soccer star David Beckham, the Los Angeles based company, AEG, is looking to divest itself of the Dynamo.

It is not uncommon for a new league to have teams with multiple owners. Kansas City Wizards owner Lamar Hunt who has been a long time supporter of Soccer in the US, has been one of the owners who helped bankroll the league at its inception.

But now that the league is more than 10 years old, the MLS is looking to have owners with only one team...............
Click to expand...

It is not uncommon for a new league to have teams with multiple owners.

That doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the story.

leroy · Nov 22, 2007

MLS wants AEG to sell Dynamo
League frowns on current owner also controlling Los Angeles team

By BILL MURPHY and BERNARDO FALLAS
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Major League Soccer is urging Anschutz Entertainment Group to sell the Dynamo because it also owns the Los Angeles Galaxy, another MLS team.

Such a sale would not alter AEG's plan to form a private-public partnership within weeks with the city to build a downtown soccer stadium because the deal would include an agreement that the team wouldn't move, said city and Dynamo officials.

The non-relocation provision would spell out that an owner would pay a steep financial penalty for moving the team before a lease had expired, said Dynamo President Oliver Luck.

"We are not oblivious to this situation," said Andy Icken, the city's deputy chief of public works, who is heading negotiations on a stadium deal. "We will put protective language into any agreement."

But the bid by AEG — the nation's second-biggest concert promoter — to build a stadium faces a potential legal hurdle. Houston Rockets Chief Executive Tad Brown said the team's lease at Toyota Center prohibits the city from promoting or helping build a rival venue that would stage concerts.

But the provision expires in 2013, three years after the soccer stadium likely would open, giving AEG the option of waiting out the Rockets if they do not agree to waive it.

Icken said the city understands that AEG intends to stage concerts at the stadium, but the city's lawyers have assured him that the proposed stadium deal would not violate the Rockets' lease.

AEG hopes to build a 22,000-seat, open-air stadium that would cost $70 million to $80 million. The team's preferred location is between the George R. Brown Convention Center and Minute Maid Park on the other side of U.S. 59.

The Dynamo won a second straight MLS championship Sunday. Rumors about the team's sale spread after MLS Commissioner Don Garber weighed in on the issue days before the championship match. "Houston will soon have a new owner," he told the New York Times.

Garber, during an interview with the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday, said his comment to the Times was merely another instance of his urging owners to own only one team. It would be "very speculative and inappropriate," he said, for anybody to suggest that a sale of the Dynamo is imminent.

Luck said he had heard nothing about a sale of the Dynamo, though he wouldn't be surprised if the team had a new owner in a year or two.

"We see no reason to speculate or comment on any potential changes in franchise ownership," AEG spokesman Michael Roth said.

AEG's deal in Houston calls for the company to bear the "preponderance" of stadium construction costs, but the company has pressed the city to pay for millions of dollars in needed infrastructure improvements, Luck said.

AEG once owned six MLS teams. But it sold the Colorado Rapids in 2003 and over the last two years, it has sold three of them — the Chicago Fire, D.C. United and New York MetroStars, who became the Red Bulls — because the league wants owners to own only one team.

AEG will keep the Galaxy, not the Dynamo, because the mammoth entertainment company is based in Los Angeles and the Galaxy is viewed as the most valuable MLS franchise. The league's top attraction, English soccer star David Beckham, plays for the Galaxy.
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It makes sense that the league wants to evolve to single team local ownership. AEG was absolutely instrumental in getting the league to where it is. It's time for them to concentrate on the Galaxy and let the Dynamo find local ownership. My only hope is that any new owner does not come in and try to fix what is obviously the best run team in the league.

Nashvegas · Nov 22, 2007

can't wait for drag queen night. it should be a big hit.

Yaozer · Nov 22, 2007

Isn't Beckham rich enough to buy a soccer team? He should buy it and move to Houston.

halfbreed · Nov 22, 2007

Mango said:

It is not uncommon for a new league to have teams with multiple owners.

That doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the story.
Click to expand...

How so?

conquistador#11 · Nov 22, 2007

the vatican was interested in buying a pro team, they should consider the dynamo. It would be a great investment
as for de la hoya, i would rather see juan gabriel running things.

Grandpappy · Nov 22, 2007

halfbreed said:

How so?
Click to expand...

I don't know about that part, but the bit right after it about the Kansas City owner has absolutely nothing to do with anything. It sounds like he was about to say Lamar Hunt owned more than one team, but he didn't get that far. Not to mention that Lamar Hunt doesn't even own a team because he's dead.

DrLudicrous · Nov 22, 2007

Grandpappy said:

I don't know about that part, but the bit right after it about the Kansas City owner has absolutely nothing to do with anything. It sounds like he was about to say Lamar Hunt owned more than one team, but he didn't get that far. Not to mention that Lamar Hunt doesn't even own a team because he's dead.
Click to expand...

Hunt Sporting Group still owns two teams (Dallas and Columbus), they sold the Wizards last year though. That seems like it was just poor researching/writing by the author.

Mango · Nov 22, 2007

halfbreed said:

How so?
Click to expand...

In the story, it mentions that the Dynamo and Galaxy are owned by the same ownership group.

The sentence that I am curious about mentions teams with multiple owners.

Their version:

It is not uncommon for a new league to have teams with multiple owners.

Wouldn't it be more appropriate if it had been written like this:

It is not uncommon for a new league to have owners with multiple teams.

halfbreed · Nov 22, 2007

Mango said:

In the story, it mentions that the Dynamo and Galaxy are owned by the same ownership group.

The sentence that I am curious about mentions teams with multiple owners.

Their version:

It is not uncommon for a new league to have teams with multiple owners.

Wouldn't it be more appropriate if it had been written like this:

It is not uncommon for a new league to have owners with multiple teams.
Click to expand...

Ahhhh. I gotcha. You are correct.

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