What We're Reading
Anschutz Not Interested in EPL Investment
- Los Angeles Times, Monday, May 18, 2009 3:15 PM
Philip Anschutz and his AEG empire will not invest in any one European soccer club because the company has working relationships with several high-powered clubs that it doesn't
want to jeapordize.
"We've had many opportunities to jump into the Premier League," Tim Leiweke, Anschutz' right-hand man at the company, said in an
interview with The Los Angeles Times. "We've also had teams in Germany and Italy and Spain that have been offered to us. I would not be lying if I told you that we've probably had 40
different clubs approach us in the last 10 years to invest.
"We've just never felt that that was a core [business interest for AEG] because, one, we were busy here trying to build
soccer in the U.S., and, two, we have a pretty good relationship with all the teams over there. If we suddenly jumped in and were competing with Arsenal or competing with Barcelona or competing with
AC Milan, then a lot of the things we do with them now would probably be more difficult because they would feel territorial."
Instead, the company that serves as one of the
world's leading presenters of sports and entertainment programming will focus on domestic holdings. AEG was instrumental in booking high-powered European clubs like AC Milan, Barcelona and Chelsea
to play exhibition games in the U.S. this summer.
