Group purchases majority stake in Houston Dynamo
An ownership group led by Mexican businessman Gabriel Brener has purchased a majority stake in Major League Soccer (MLS) club Houston Dynamo, the Houston Dash National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) side, and both teams' BBVA Compass Stadium, reports, www.sportspromedia.com/.
The group has bought the right to operate the three properties from Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the sports and entertainment company that relocated the Dynamo to Houston in 2006.
Brener, the chief executive of Brener International Group, has held a 50 per cent interest in the Dynamo and BBVA Compass Stadium since 2008, when he teamed up with boxer Oscar De La Hoya and his Golden Boy Promotions company to acquire a portion of AEG's shares.
Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
As well as Brener and De La Hoya, who remains a minority partner in the club, the new ownership group also includes Jake Silverstein and Ben Guill. Silverstein, who heads up an investment platform called Stormlight Expeditions, will sit on the MLS board of governors alongside Brener following the deal.
Guill, a Houston-based businessman and a founder and managing partner of White Deer Energy, also owns a stake in the Houston Astros baseball team.
"I am honoured to become the new managing partner of the Houston Dynamo," Brener said in a team statement.
"I'd like to thank Mr. Phil Anschutz and the AEG organisation for being great partners over the years. Mr. Anschutz has been critical to the development of MLS and the game in the United States, and for that I thank him."
MLS commissioner Don Garber added: "We are thrilled to have Gabriel Brener become the majority owner of the Houston Dynamo.
"Gabriel has been an important member of our board of governors for more than seven years, and is highly respected throughout the soccer community.
"Houston is one of Major League Soccer's cornerstone markets, and we know that Gabriel, Oscar De La Hoya and their new partners – Jake Silverstein and Ben Guill – will continue to build upon the Dynamo's rich heritage."