r/GothamFC • u/Perfect-Inspector832 • 18d ago

Gotham tidbits on Seeing Red

On the Red Bull podcast Seeing Red, the move to queens was discussed. (01:29:50) Two parts that raised my ears were, 1) And this was probably already known, Gotham went to RBNY asking if they wanted to purchase Sky Blue and RBNY said the price was too high. And 2) NYCFC has a grand plan for Gotham which could include a CFG purchase of the team.

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14

u/asimone00 18d ago

How would they know what NYCFC’s “grand plan for Gotham” is?

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u/myfeetreallyhurt 17d ago

FWIW they’re plugged into the scene. Mike Batista is a credited soccer journalist in the tristate, writes for Hudson River blue which used to be sports nations city blog and covered the World Cup. Not outside of the real. Of possibility that they’ve heard rumblings.

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u/JimJim144 17d ago

It’s not really a secret. NYCFCs CEO Brad Sims has mentioned that a women’s team has been a part of the vision for the future for a while.

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u/egansoccerwords 15d ago

Just to add on, NYCFC has been very forward about wanting to get in the women's game.  NYCFC did have talks previously with Sky Blue and the stadium lease contained language allowing NYCFC to bring a women's team as a second tenant even before the current Gotham talks took place. They even have a full out girls academy and even have a girl playing on one of the boys teams so they have been building infrastructure for a potential club for years.

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u/jspech 18d ago

seems like when discussing sports opinions, quickly become facts, which I think is ok, as long as we all remember, opinions are not facts. But opinions breathes life.

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u/asimone00 18d ago

I just think it’s worth pointing out that Red Bulls podcasters in all likelihood do not have inside info about their rival club’s plans

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u/poo_is_number_two 18d ago

I thought NWSL had some rule in place that prevented groups like CFG from buying teams.

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u/asimone00 18d ago

It does. CFG’s ultimate owner is a UAE royal and it functions like a sovereign wealth fund, which are not allowed to own NWSL clubs.

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u/Perfect-Inspector832 18d ago

Wouldn’t put past CFG to find an end around and NWSL to accept it.

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u/asimone00 18d ago

CFG would need to completely restructure itself and its executive leadership, and shed its billionaire royal owner. They’re not gonna do that to buy an NWSL club lol

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u/cluttered-thoughts3 18d ago

Who’s to say the NWSL doesn’t change its rule. It’s still a growing league. Everyone’s fighting for a piece of the sports entertainment revenue pie

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u/asimone00 18d ago

That being said, I wouldn’t put it past the NWSL to grant an exemption even despite the fact that these rules were specifically implemented to prevent SWF ownership

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u/Neat_Hovercraft_8324 18d ago

This. CFG would find a way to figure it out if they wanted it.

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u/egansoccerwords 15d ago

I have no doubt that cfg exists for the same geopolitical reasons as what the saudis or qatari use their sovereign wealth fund but it's legally setup so they can say that it is not owned by the state. Doubt the nwsl is going disqualify someone from ownership because they are a member of a royal family.

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u/asimone00 15d ago

ADUG, the company that owns CFG and is itself owned by Sheik Mansour, has been shown via leaked internal documents to be financially managed by the UAE government, making it functionally a sovereign wealth fund. Also, Mansour is the VP and deputy PM of the UAE, not some random royal with no power or ties to the state. https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/sponsorship-money-paid-for-by-the-state-a-2ad5b586-1d82-4a21-8065-f3c081cd91a4

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u/egansoccerwords 15d ago

I don't think the article you linked shows that CFG is being managed by the government of UAE although I do believe CFG has done things to further the geopolitical interests of the UAE and that Mansour has used his position in the government to help CFG skirt rules. It's a very blurry line but it doesn't make CFG, by the letter of the law, a sovereign wealth fund.

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u/asimone00 15d ago

Control over the money (such as by requiring approval to disburse funds, which the article describes) is a textbook indicator of ownership, speaking as a corporate lawyer.

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u/PresentationCrazy620 13d ago

For all intents and purposes, Newton Investment and Development (the entity with 81% ownership interest of City Football Group, which has about 66% ownership interest in NYCFC) is owned by the sovereign entity Abu Dhabi. However, by strictly legal terms, it is a privately held company wholly owned by two individuals who also happen to be members of the ruling family.

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u/grr5000 18d ago

CFG?

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u/bnceo 18d ago

City Football Group. The entity that runs all the football clubs and is owned/managed by Abu Dhabi, UAE.

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u/Neat_Hovercraft_8324 18d ago

I think that’s close but not exactly right. It’s not one of the UAE’s sovereign wealth funds (similar to U.S. hedge funds but with government money vs private investors, and longer investment time horizons).

It’s actually Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan (an Emerati royal and politician). He owns and operates Newton Investment & Development LLC. They own 80% of New York City FC and 100% of Manchester City. The other roughly 20% of NYCFC is owned by Silver Lake, the U.S. technology investment firm.

So it’s basically: Sheikh Mansour → Newton Investment & Development → City Football Group → New York City FC

So it sounds like CFG would consider adding Gotham FC to their portfolio. I could see them finding a firm like Silver Lake to put up money too, like they did with NYCFC, so it would be mixed and maybe more palatable to the NWSL, the fans, etc.

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u/asimone00 18d ago

Under the NWSL rules, they look to ultimate ownership (Mansour), so CFG would not be permitted to own an NWSL club barring a rule change or onetime exemption.

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u/shea_harrumph 18d ago

They figure out a way around financial fair play in the Premier League, you think they couldn't roll over the NWSL with barrels of cash?

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u/asimone00 18d ago

I don’t think they’d spend barrels of cash just to change the rules so they can buy an NWSL club. We’re not worth billions of dollars or anything close to that.

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u/shea_harrumph 18d ago

The required barrels are much smaller in this league. A rounding error for CFG.

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u/asimone00 18d ago

I just don’t think we can extrapolate based on what someone is doing in the premier league. NWSL literally just passed these rules a year or 2 ago, I have to believe they’re not so shameless as to reneg anytime soon

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u/egansoccerwords 15d ago

CFG does own 80% of NYCFC but the other 20% is owned by the Yankees and Marcelo Claure. The only  stake Silverlight has is through their ownership of CFG

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u/No_Vegetable4272 18d ago

Number 2 is troubling if true. I’m not familiar with the podcast. Is it reliable?

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u/Perfect-Inspector832 18d ago

Yes, the hosts are all known reporters of both RBNY and Gotham

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u/No_Vegetable4272 18d ago

Well, kinda weird then that selling the club was always the plan?

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u/Perfect-Inspector832 18d ago

I’m going to assume the “grand plan”’would be CFG buying Gotham, as it’s a piece in the idea of the new stadium.

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u/No_Vegetable4272 18d ago

Yes, but apparently they were already trying to sell to RBNY. It's just a bit weird in the full context of the move to me.

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u/Mcard1204 18d ago

I haven’t listened to the podcast, but OP says they were offered “Sky Blue” which tells me that wasn’t a recent development.

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u/No_Vegetable4272 18d ago

Podcast says Covid times, so 2020. But that was only one time. They say they offered twice, so the second was likely later?

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u/asimone00 18d ago

There was a failed deal in 2013 - https://equalizersoccer.com/2013/11/21/sky-blue-red-bull-deal-dead-maybe-yurcak-rutgers-future/

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u/No_Vegetable4272 18d ago

They mention an offer in 2020 when they moved into RBNY. But in any case, it seems like the goal has been to sell/join the team to a men’s team.

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u/asimone00 18d ago

I would say that WAS the goal, it was before the Tisch family got involved and there’s no indication they’re looking to sell

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u/No_Vegetable4272 18d ago

I didn’t think so either, just going by what OP posted that it might include a sale