Disney CEO Bob Iger Nears Purchase Of Women's Soccer Club, Could Set Record For Priciest Women's Sports Team
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) CEO Bob Iger rejoined the company in the CEO role in November 2022.
In addition to leading Disney, Iger may soon add sports team owner to his list of titles.
What Happened: Disney is no stranger to sports with its ESPN brand and previous ownership of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks (NHL) and Anaheim Angels (MLB). The company's CEO is nearing a deal to acquire a stake in women's soccer team Angel City, which competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).
Angel City would be valued at $300 million in the deal, according to a report from Semafor. This would make the team the most valuable women's sports team in the world.
Iger and his wife Willow Bay would buy the controlling stake of Angel City FC according to the report, which would make the duo have a larger stake than current controlling shareholder Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
Unlike many other sports teams, there is no majority holder of the team. The unique ownership structure may have led to recent squabbles among owners, with several of them upset over increased spending. The team hired Moelis & Co to seek an investor to assume control of the team's board, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
The Bay-Iger group will invest at least $50 million in the team, according to the report. Bay and Iger beat out several interested parties including former Milwaukee Bucks (NBA) owner Marc Lasry and Avie Glazer, who is a member of the Glazer family, who own soccer team Manchester United (NYSE:MANU), and the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
A pitch deck from Bay and Iger shared by Semafor showed the duo highlighting their 25 years of residency in Los Angeles, ability to lead media companies and growth initiatives for the team of expanding international reach and connecting the team to big area events in Los Angeles.
Read Also: Going Out On Top? Boston Celtics For Sale After NBA Title, Large Contracts Handed To Star Players
Why It's Important: Sports teams have consistently achieved record valuations and demonstrated strong performance in recent years.
Angel City counts a handful of celebrities including Natalie Portman, America Ferrera and Eva Longoria as owners along with former soccer players Abby Wambach and Mia Hamm, and other athletes including Serena Williams and Billie Jean King.
Disney is among the media rights partners with the NWSL as part of an overall $240 million three-year deal signed in November 2023 by ESPN, Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA)(NASDAQ:PARAA), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Scripps Company (NASDAQ:SSP). It is currently unclear how Iger's relationship with Disney and the team would impact the rights deal.
A Sportico ranking of NWSL teams listed Angel City with a $180 million valuation in 2023, double the next highest team San Diego Wave, who were listed at $90 million. The Wave were sold for a then-league record $113 million earlier this year.
Angel City has an estimated $31 million in annual revenue in the Sportico ranking, which is nearly double that of San Diego at $16.3 million.
Sports teams continue to attract interest from billionaires and investors, with Jeff Bezos potentially selling Amazon shares to buy an NFL team.
NFL star Patrick Mahomes is a co-owner of NWSL team Kansas City Current.
Investors looking for publicly traded stocks with exposure to sports ownership have limited options. A few soccer related options are Manchester United and Juventus (OTC:JVTSF).
Ares Management Corp (NYSE:ARES) is an investor in Inter Miami, the Major League Soccer (MLS) team that landed soccer superstar Lionel Messi last year.
MLS team Toronto FC counts Rogers Communications (NYSE:RCI) and BCE Inc (NYSE:BCE) each as 37.5% team owners.
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