Fulham ( NHC )

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Breaking news, maybe wants to get a bid in, lol

 

@SkyNewsBreak: Sky Sources: Mohammed Al Fayed has sold Fulham FC for between ?150-200m to Shahid Khan who also owns NFL team the Jacksonville Jaguars

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Billionaire Shahid Khan Completes Deal For Premier League's Fulham

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On Friday, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan completed his purchase of the soccer club Fulham, according to a source familiar with the deal.

 

Khan becomes the sixth American to buy into the highest level of European soccer, following in the footsteps of fellow multi-team-owning billionaires like Malcolm Glazer, John Henry, and Stanley Kroenke. The purchase price was not immediately known, but it is for 100% of the team, debt-free. The formal announcement is scheduled for 1pm London time.

 

The Daily Mail first reported Khan was negotiating to buy the British Premier League squad earlier this week. The selling owner is fellow billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed, who acquired control of Fulham in 1997.

 

 

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?Fulham is the perfect club at the perfect time for me,? said Khan in a statement. ?My priority is to ensure the club and Craven Cottage each have a viable and sustainable Premier League future that fans of present and future generations can be proud of. We will manage the club?s financial and operational affairs with prudence and care, with youth development and community programs as fundamentally important elements of Fulham?s future.?

 

The move could make strategic sense for Khan, who is already trying to leverage the overseas market for the Jaguars. He committed the American football team to play one NFL home game in London for each of the next four years. However, it?s unlikely that Khan could bank on many cross-sport synergies. For example, Craven Cottage, the Fulham stadium, has a capacity of only 30,000 ? far less than Wembley, the NFL?s current London stadium site.

 

Back in March, Khan told Forbes: ?[American] Football is about as popular as it can be in the US. The upside, the expansion and growth lies overseas? Eventually I think all 32 clubs, their goal is to grow the game overseas and London is the logical place to do it.?

 

Khan will have to avoid the pitfalls of other NFL owners getting into European soccer. Unlike most American sports leagues that have strict salary caps, the Premier League is a free-for-all. Owners who aren?t willing to shell out millions of dollars per year to acquire top talent are often reviled, even if such efforts would cause losses. Just ask Kroenke, owner of the St. Louis Rams and other U.S. sports properties, who has been under fire from fans ever since he bought majority control of the Arsenal club.

 

Fulham finished firmly in the middle of the pack last season, 12th with 11 wins, 10 draws, and 11 losses. However, Fulham already has a built in American fan base Khan can potentially leverage. Former U.S. soccer star Brian McBride and and current national team stand out Clint Dempsey both had stints with the team.

 

Khan made his $2.9 billion fortune founding auto parts manufacturer Flex-N-Gate , which posted 2012 sales of $3.9 billion. The Pakistan-born Khan came to the U.S. for the first time at age 16 for college and earned an engineering degree from the University of Illinois.

 

Fayed, owner of the famed Hotel Ritz in Paris, has an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion. In 2010 the London-based Egyptian sold Harrods to Qatar Holding for a reported $2.4 billion. He?s since shifted his attention to online retail, buying U.K.-based discount fashion website Cocosa in 2011.

 

?Now is the right time for me to retire and spend time playing football with my grandchildren,? Fayed said in a statement. ?I am sad but proud of our achievements. I am very grateful to Fulham?s fans, the most incredible fans in the world. They have given me their support and affection whenever they have seen me at home games. I would never let them down.?