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MLS D.C. United on the verge of new ownership
USA - 28 June, 2006
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An investment group including ex-Duke University basketball star Brian Davis and Discovery Communications founder John Hendricks is on the verge of a deal to buy D.C. United from Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz, according to reports.
The group has been assembled by D.C. United president Kevin Payne.
Members of the investment group told city officials that a letter of intent has been signed and they expect the deal to be closed soon. The group is expected to raise close to the US 25 million that a different investment group agreed to pay before the January deal collapse.
Payne heads up a property firm and is managing partner of Blue Devil Ventures, a Durham-based company specialising in redeveloping urban properties. Former Duke basketball star Christian Laettner is a partner in the company.
Sources close to the negotiations say more investors may be added.
The pending sale would reduce Anschutz to three football teams - he also has Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles - and bring back Hendricks to football three years after his last soccer-related venture, when he unsuccessfully founded the Women's United Soccer Association and the Washington Freedom.
The new owners are expecting to play an integral part in developing a 27,000-seat stadium specific to football that would be the centerpiece of a more than 100-acre complex. Also planned are a 7,000-seat performance center, a shopping centre, a hotel and park space.
D.C. United, which has played at RFK Stadium since its inception in 1996, is one of a decreasing number of league teams that do not play in their own stadium.
The project, however, faces several obstacles before it can get off the ground, including a federal land transfer plus land deals with the Anacostia Waterfront Corp. and the city.
The group has been assembled by D.C. United president Kevin Payne.
Members of the investment group told city officials that a letter of intent has been signed and they expect the deal to be closed soon. The group is expected to raise close to the US 25 million that a different investment group agreed to pay before the January deal collapse.
Payne heads up a property firm and is managing partner of Blue Devil Ventures, a Durham-based company specialising in redeveloping urban properties. Former Duke basketball star Christian Laettner is a partner in the company.
Sources close to the negotiations say more investors may be added.
The pending sale would reduce Anschutz to three football teams - he also has Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles - and bring back Hendricks to football three years after his last soccer-related venture, when he unsuccessfully founded the Women's United Soccer Association and the Washington Freedom.
The new owners are expecting to play an integral part in developing a 27,000-seat stadium specific to football that would be the centerpiece of a more than 100-acre complex. Also planned are a 7,000-seat performance center, a shopping centre, a hotel and park space.
D.C. United, which has played at RFK Stadium since its inception in 1996, is one of a decreasing number of league teams that do not play in their own stadium.
The project, however, faces several obstacles before it can get off the ground, including a federal land transfer plus land deals with the Anacostia Waterfront Corp. and the city.
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