Angel City football club sold to Disney CEO for record breaking $250 million
A women’s football club in the USA has acquired new ownership.
NWSL team Angel City FC are the subject of a massive $250 million (£190 million) takeover from Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger and TV journalist Willow Bay.
This is the highest amount that has been paid to takeover a women’s football club in history - furthermore, it is over double the amount of the previous record, which came when San Diego Wave was sold in March for around $113 million (£86 million). The takeover has been ‘unanimously approved’ by the NWSL’s board of governors
The club was founded just four years ago in 2020 by a consortium that included Black Swan and Star Wars actor Natalie Portman, alongside venture capitalists Kara Nortman and Alexis Ohanian. Portman was the face of the takeover, saying she wished to ‘rapidly shift culture’ by ‘amplifying female athletes’.
Iger has been CEO of Disney since 2022. He initially retired in 2021 at the age of 73, but returned to the company upon request from Disney’s board of directors. Previously, he has served as President and chief executive of the corporation.
Meanwhile, Bay is a former Ford fashion model who became a news correspondent and anchor in the 1990s. Additionally, she has been the executive producer of Lifetime Television's Spotlight 25 and was also a senior editor of the Huffington Post for a period. She has been married to Iger since 1995 - together, they have two sons and two step daughters (Iger’s daughters from a previous marriage).
Upon acquiring the club, Bay said in an interview [via The Guardian]: “We are incredibly excited to join ACFC as owners at this historic juncture for the team and for women’s sports locally and globally. As fans since the club’s founding season, we have long admired ACFC’s impact as a sports franchise and a force for social good, particularly here in our Los Angeles community.”
Iger is not the first former Disney CEO to move into football ownership. His predecessor Michael Eisner bought Portsmouth FC for almost £6m in August 2017 with his Tornante company, and still owns it. Portsmouth are playing Championship football this season for the first time since being relegated in 2012.