04/23/24
January 08, 2007
Ownership group buys DC United for $33 million.: This group includes former Duke basketball players Brian Davis and Christian Laettner. The group becomes the third ownership group to own the club.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia to soccer at 05:46 PM - 6 comments
I am glad they decided to buy DC United. Hopefully they can revive the franchise which used to be the dominant force in MLS. They have made some very bad offseason moves and hopefully the new owners will try for a developmental and US base. The old regime wanted to get rid of home grown players to accrue foreign allocations and get average Argentine and Brazilians. Lets see some changes. Congrats to Davis and Laettner. They have been lovers since college and I will support their joint effort as long as they build a winner in DC. Re-sign Carroll and keep building with an american base that will not leave in one or two years.
posted by urall cloolis at 09:42 PM on January 08, 2007
Revive? They won the MLS Cup in 2005 and made the conference finals this season so how can you say the club needs to be revived? Anyway, I'm sure the dispatch of Adu and Eskandarian and the dispatch of Nowack were done with the new owners' approval, seems a lot more like a case of refresh than revive, with the new stadium the bigger challenge. A little more on the operational side, from AP via Yahoo news: "The sale is not expected to affect the day-to-day operations of a flagship franchise that has won a record four MLS titles. Kevin Payne will remain the team's president."
posted by billsaysthis at 10:44 PM on January 08, 2007
Does anyone know why they have to build a new stadium in the "poorest section of the city?" This is great news for the league and DC United. They seem to have a knowledgeable, passionate fan base there and I hope the new owners do well by them. Also, I like this from one of the new owners: "Soccer is the No. 1 sport for people of color all around the world, but not here in the U.S. -- yet," MacFarlane said. "We want to be part of the change that is now on the horizon. We would love to help make soccer the sport that African-Americans and other children of color first look to for recreation and entertainment."
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY at 11:09 PM on January 08, 2007
Yeah, that's not the worst thing to focus on, especially coming from someone in the District of Columbia.
posted by chicobangs at 11:18 PM on January 08, 2007
Sticking with MLS, I wonder where the Wizards will land. It seems like anywhere.
posted by LA_Dude at 07:39 PM on January 14, 2007
Laettner knew his love for wearing soccer scarves was going to socially unacceptable unless he did this. So he did it. All in all, a good purchase in my book. The team, not the scarf.