Report: D.C. United is being shopped around
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Jul 31, 2017
The move came as the club owners sought to sell the minority interest in the club they bought back from investor Will Chang last fall. Chang had been an investor in D.C. United since 2007 and sold all but 35 percent in the club to managing partners Erick Thohir and Jason Levien in 2012.
UPDATE:
Thohir, D.C. United’s general partner, told the Washington Post the
MLS club is open to finding a "good partner" but denying the Times report that the club's owners were looking to sell their majority interest.
The Indonesia-born Thohir sold his majority
stake in Inter Milan to a Chinese conglomerate in 2016. Levien is a former Washington attorney who has a background in basketball but used his D.C. connections to get the new D.C. soccer stadium
project off the ground after many years of stalled efforts. He became co-owner of Swansea City in 2016, later hiring and firing Bob Bradley as manager in a space of months.
D.C.
United will open the new $300 million Audi Field in Buzzard Point with a target date for its opening in June 2018.
No surprise. DC United have been raking in season ticket money on the basis of priority for seats in the new stadium, stuffing the money in the bank rather than finding players. A real scam. Now the owners sell the team for what it is worth in the new stadium, walk away with all the money they have collected from prospective ticket buyers for the new stadium -- a "commitment" against which present season ticket holders have no claim. The new owners can then “resell” the “rights” to tickets in the new stadium.