Disney CEO Robert Iger and his wife Willow Bay are reportedly close to a deal to buy a controlling stake in a Los Angeles women’s professional soccer team for $50 million, a sum that would quickly make the team the most valuable women’s sports club in the world.
The power couple will take over control of Angel City FC from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who valued the team at roughly $250 million before cashing out, according to Puck News.
Two people familiar with the negotiations He told the Los Angeles Times on Monday. The transaction is expected to close in a short period of time.
Sources contacted by The Washington Post confirmed that a deal was imminent.
The Post has reached out to Angel City FC, Iger and Bay for comment.
Iger and Bay beat off competition from financier Marc Lasry, dean of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism, and Manchester United owner Abby Glaser. According to Semaphore.
Angel City FC officials and shareholders were reportedly keen to add a woman to the ownership group.
As owners, the couple hope to “accelerate the growth of this uniquely positioned team and league,” “inspire higher expectations” for the club, and[ing] According to a presentation obtained by Semaphore, the goal is “equality for female athletes and women-owned businesses.”
Other shareholders in the team include actresses Natalie Portman and Eva Longoria, and soccer players Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach.
Ohanian, who is married to tennis legend Serena Williams, is Angel City’s largest investor and one of the team’s four principal owners. He voiced his dissatisfaction last year with the team’s finances, particularly its tendency to spend profligately.
He clashed with the club’s other owners, leading the board to hire Manhattan-based boutique investment bank Moelis & Co. to manage the sale of the team.
Angel City is one of 14 teams competing in the National Women’s Soccer League, the highest level of professional women’s soccer in the United States.
Just over a decade after its founding, the NWSL has become one of the fastest growing sports leagues in the country.
Since 2022, attendance at games nationwide has increased by 26%.
Last year, the NWSL signed lucrative media rights deals with CBS Sports, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video and Scripps Sports worth $240 million over four years.
The NWSL became the first professional sports league to allow institutional investors to fully own teams as part of an effort to attract capital.
San Francisco-based investment firm Sixth Street Partners has backed local NWSL club Bay FC, while Manhattan-based Levine Leichtman Capital Partners acquired the San Diego Wave for a then-record $120 million.
Laura Ricketts, co-owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, bought the Chicago Red Stars last summer for $60 million.
