1
Pennies on the dollar
$20M upfront to purchase a Premier League club? Count me in (well, maybe for a 0.1% share!). Matt Slater for The Athletic reports that ALK Capital’s takeover of Burnley included only that relatively insignificant amount of cash investment, the rest coming from leveraged debt and Burnley’s own cash balance. This has raised eyebrows across the investor world and the story itself has generated a fair amount of heat and controversy.
According to several well-placed sources, ALK paid about £150 million for 84 per cent of Burnley’s shares but has put in only around £15 million of its own money up front. The rest has come from MSD Capital, the private equity firm set up in 1998 to manage the Dell family fortune — and approximately £55 million from Burnley’s own bank account.
Digging into this, Ornstein & Chapman’s podcast features a fantastic conversation including Slater and American investor Jordan Gardner, who has stakes in FC Helsingør, Swansea City AFC and Dundalk FC. Gardner’s insight into the realities and risk of investment in European soccer from an American perspective shines through, his knowledge stemming from a rare commitment by an overseas-based owner - he spends (in a normal year!) two weeks every month in Europe.
2
Legacy
When Daryl Grove, one of the most beloved commentators in the American soccer community, passed away last year he left many legacies - but a collaboration between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Black Arrow FC might be his most unexpected. Mundial explains:
This week, Wolves announced an extremely exciting new partnership with California-based @blackarrow_fc. Headed-up by Aaron Dolores, Black Arrow is a collective that gives black footballers and fans an opportunity to tell their own stories, craft their own narratives, and provides an accessible platform that focuses on the intersection of soccer and black culture. Their work already includes collaborations with AS Roma, films like “Why Black Folks Love Arsenal”, and an upcoming documentary with a Kenyan football hero.
Black Arrow is doing the good stuff, and the collaboration with @wolves goes much deeper than club and collective.
In 2018, Aaron started following Wolves. Properly. His interest in the club led to the recording of a pilot podcast that told the history of the club through an interview with Daryl Grove. Daryl was a Wolverhampton-born fan who moved to the States and co-hosted the @totalsoccershow—a show with a cult-like following that opened a lot of Stateside eyes not just to Wolves, but to football too. It was with great sadness to the community that Daryl died in October 2020.
3
Playing for change
Almost ten years ago, I was at one of the earliest Independent Supporters Council meetings, and it was all energy and enthusiasm - North American soccer fans joining together to discuss how to collectively share best practices, communicate with leagues and front offices, and work together on positives causes in the community. Plus, plenty of “getting to know you” sessions conveniently held in Portland’s plethora of brilliant brewpubs. This January, after a year of challenges nobody saw coming, that community comes together in a different way online to plot the path forward - including webinars open to the public, such as “Playing for Change” on January 19.
We are honored to be joined by members of the Black Players for Change MLS, Black Players Association of the USL, and Black Women's Player Collective in a special panel moderated by Kyle Carr from Featherstone Flamingos and The Flock. Join us as they share their stories, information about their organizations, and how supporters across North American can help amplify their work and messages.
4
Fleeting rule
Gone, it seems, are the days of generational ownership in the top flight of English football. In fact, the league’s average ownership tenure is now significantly shorter than major American league teams, down to only 8.7 years.
5
Hoosier dreams
I have to be honest and admit this writer had not pegged Mishawaka, Indiana, to be the likely home of the International Soccer Academy of America - or that this high school dedicated to developing soccer players would be run by a 23-year-old. But that’s exactly what has happened:
Founder Ethan Hunt, a 23-year-old graduate of Marian High School and Bethel University, says he expects the International Soccer Academy of America to open for classes this fall in the former Edison Lakes YMCA building.
Hunt modeled the school on European-style football academies, affiliated with professional clubs, where students go to school while developing as soccer prospects. He said the United States has soccer development academies linked with pro teams, but there are few, if any, that combine academics and soccer under one roof.
Hunt “has known for a long time that the American soccer system is not aligned with the rest of the world,” according to the school’s website, “and he has made it his goal to fix it.”
6
Stitch in time
If you’re thinking it’s been a while since we last heard about host city selection in the United States for the 2026 World Cup, you wouldn’t be wrong. There’s still plenty of time, of course; but Sportico makes the point that this tournament has the opportunity to help move the game to the next level across North America, one that shouldn’t be squandered by a process moving slower than expected.
But there is an argument to be made that the legacy WC26 leaves on the three countries, the relationships developed among them and the growth of the game on the continent are all more important than the tournament itself. As Kristick said, “There has never been a time in U.S. history when you have had this sport, at this level, with so many stakeholders (think: MLS teams/owners, politicians, Convention & Visitors Bureau leadership, youth sports leaders) aligned, excited about and willing to invest in the game. It’s a special opportunity–one of those once-in-a-generation type of things. So, the longer [FIFA] waits [to announce the cities], that’s opportunity lost which [the stakeholders] won’t be able to get back.”
7
In darkness
Not a light listen, but a very worthwhile one: Outside Write’s podcast featuring Kevin E. Simpson, author of Soccer Under the Swastika: Stories of Survival and Resistance During the Holocaust, offers poignant insight into the game in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. Simpson is well-balanced enough not to oversell what the game ultimately meant in camps where so many lives were cut dearly short; but there’s no doubt from his research that even in the face of devastating evil, football did provide a welcome spark of light.
8
The Engineer
Now this truly is the global game in action.
9
Holistic management
There has been plenty of talk about how Angel City FC will upend the usual way of doing business in the NWSL. What that actually means - beyond the resounding significance of their majority female ownership group - is now starting to clarify, the Los Angeles Times explains. It means 401(k) plans for players who, outside of the elite, have lacked them; and providing tools for players to develop off the pitch, including lessons on financial literacy, product development and social media skills, along with a coaching staff that will focus on wellness and mental health as well as performance on the pitch.
“We’re not just building a soccer club. We want to build an organization that has impact,” said entrepreneur Julie Uhrman, the team’s president and one of its three founding owners. “We want to set higher expectations for ourselves, for the players, for the league.”
So the coaching staff, which has yet to be hired, will focus on wellness and mental health in addition to the players’ performance on the pitch, Uhrman said, and there will be a staff position dedicated to handling “player needs.” Neither idea has been widely tried in women’s sports in the U.S. and Angel City’s decision to adopt them reflects the influence former players have had on the fledgling franchise’s development.
10
Insert Icarus reference
Champions League finalists in 2014, but just weeks later relegated to the fourth tier of the Swedish pyramid - the story of the rise and fall of Tyresö FF, who overspent to success on stars like Marta, is concisely but compellingly told in this Giant episode.
11
The grass is greener
It’s been too long since I last saw a ball skip off the grass in a stadium - seeing this fresh new turf laid down in Cincinnati isn’t making the wait to return safely to watch a game any easier . . .