Re: New York City
Manchester City, the English Premier League team owned by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is close to being awarded the Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Queens, New York, for a record $100 million, three people with direct knowledge of the talks said.
The team would be known as the New York City Football Club and has contacted former England national team captain David Beckham about a role, two of the people said. Manchester City will explore other leagues around the world, seeking a way to expand its brand, two of the people said.
Manchester City, which won the Premier League last season, will pay more than two times the previous record for an MLS team, said the people, who requested anonymity because team and stadium contracts aren’t signed.
MLS spokesman Dan Courtemanche said via telephone that the league has held discussions with a number of possible ownership groups and that no expansion agreement has been completed.
“Our discussions remain private,” he said.
Simon Heggie, a spokesman for Manchester City, declined via telephone to comment on the team’s possible MLS ownership.
Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, said in a telephone interview that Manchester City’s involvement with MLS “further validates the strength of the American soccer market to the rest of the world.”
“It shows the league hasn’t plateaued,” he said. “To have it happen now, post-Beckham, is great for the league.”
Stadium Plans
MLS Commissioner Don Garber said last month that the league was “at the finish line” in negotiations with New York City officials on the league’s plan to build a 25,000-seat home for a new team based in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, east of Manhattan. Garber said the league was talking to a “wide variety” of potential owners, declining to name them. The park already houses Citi Field, home of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets, and the National Tennis Center, home to the U.S. Open.
The previous high fee for an MLS expansion franchise was $40 million for several teams.
Officials with Manchester City have spoken with representatives of Beckham about having an unspecified role with the team, two of the people said. Manchester City will sell a minority share of the team to local investors, the people said.
Beckham, one of the best-known athletes in the world, capped his MLS playing career this month with a second straight championship as a member of the Los Angeles Galaxy. Beckham declined
Fuck me can you honestly see Beckham in a city role ??
