It looks like Disney CEO Bob Iger will have to clean up some mess again after he and his wife, Willow Bay, acquired majority control of the Los Angeles women’s soccer team.
The couple, who reportedly agreed to buy a majority stake in Angel City FC for $50 million, will take over a team rife with infighting among its founders and executives, including allegations of racist microaggressions and nepotism. The Wall Street Journal.
The club was founded in 2020 by a group of leading, successful women, including Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman, and funded by Alexis Ohanian, husband of tennis legend Serena Williams and founder of Reddit.
Investors included fellow actors Jennifer Garner, Jessica Chastain and Gabrielle Union, as well as star athletes Mia Hamm and Candace Parker. Angel City’s 2022 National Women’s Soccer League debut is Documentary series On HBO.
“We intended to take an innovative approach in hopes of promoting equity and creating positive momentum for the league, women’s soccer and the business of women’s sports,” the board told The Wall Street Journal.
“As with many businesses, decisions have been made that have required vigorous discussion.”
The team, valued at $250 million, is reportedly planning to sell a controlling stake to Iger, who is helping turn around Disney, and Bay, who is dean of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism.
The deal, which would make Angel City FC the most valuable women’s sports team in the world, is expected to close soon, sources told the Los Angeles Times last week.
According to the Wall Street Journal, part of ACFC’s dysfunction is due to an unusual arrangement by majority owner Ohanian to cede control to other members of the company’s six-person board, creating a power vacuum.
A power struggle over leadership was reportedly soon brewing between the team’s co-founders, venture capitalist Kara Nortman and team president Julie Ehrman, and Ohanian, Portman and Ehrman are all directors of the company.
According to the paper, he accused Ahman of overspending to make the team more competitive, while she argued that women’s sports should receive equal funding as men’s sports.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Arman also allegedly hired his twin sister as chief marketing officer without consulting anyone, then continued to pay her on the payroll for months after firing her.
During a performance review, Arman reportedly yelled at Ohanian after he criticized her work ethic.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Ohanian has tried to remove Aermann from her role as team president, but Nortman continues to support her.
The internal feud intensified last month when a law firm representing Angel City’s board of directors sent a letter to Messrs. Nortman and Arman accusing Mr. Nortman of violating a confidentiality agreement by contacting bidders directly about the terms of a takeover bid, according to internal documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Ehrman told The Wall Street Journal that neither she nor Norton could comment on ongoing negotiations.
The documents also say Ahman, who is white, clashed with athletic director Eniola Aluko, a Black woman.
In 2021, Aluko expressed a desire to hire a male coach, but her decision sparked backlash online, with fans accusing the club of deviating from its female-led philosophy.
The club reversed course and decided to hire a female coach, but she was eventually fired after less than two seasons.
Aluko also accused Arman of repeatedly berating him and raised concerns about Arman’s “microaggressions” during a one-on-one meeting with Ohanian in London in 2022, according to the internal documents.
Later that day, Arman allegedly interrupted Aluko on an internal phone call and suggested he “amicably resign” before the end of his contract, an action Aluko believed was retaliatory, the documents said.
Aluko left the team in 2023.
Ohanian, meanwhile, said he plans to stay involved with the team following the reported sale to Iger and Bay.
He said the lack of board authority was “one of the many hard lessons I learned as a first-time sports team owner.” X’s Recent Posts.
Despite the internal drama, Angel FC is on track to make $33 million in revenue in 2023, Arman told The Wall Street Journal.
