By FRANCO PANIZO
It appears we have a winner in the Chivas USA sweepstakes.
According to a report from SI.com, MLS will soon announce the new owners of the Los Angeles-based team that will replace Chivas USA in the league. The ownership group believed to have to landed the franchise for a fee in excess of $100 million is comprised of four investors: Vincent Tan, Peter Guber, Tom Penn and Henry Nguyen.
Tan is the Malaysian owner of Welsh club Cardiff City, Guber is a Hollywood producer who co-owns MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers and NBA’s Golden State Warriors, Penn is a former NBA executive and analytics guru who has also worked at ESPN, and Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American capitalist.
The group has reportedly committed to building a soccer stadium in Los Angeles. While MLS has talked about a potential location near the current LA Sports Arena in the past, the investors are reportedly looking at sites in downtown LA near the Staples Center and near the Hollywood Park racetrack.
The new LA team would not be expected to start play until 2017. It would be considered an expansion team in MLS, and Chivas USA would be terminated.
A formal announcement could some as soon as next week following the MLS Board of Governors meeting in LA on Monday.
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What do you make of this development? Think the ownership group has extreme potential? Bummed to hear that the club will likely not take to the field until 2017?
Share your thoughts below.