NEW YORK –
Baseball’s elite are involved with one of Europe’s most famous football clubs.
The New York Yankees become a minority investor in Italian champions AC Milan, the second soccer team partially owned by baseball power after New York City by MLS.
A Los Angeles-based fund that also owns LeBron James will also become a minority investor in the seven-time European champion under RedBird Capital Partners, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. RedBird is about to buy a majority stake in Milan for 1.2 billion euros ($1.2 billion).
Gerry Cardinale, who founded RedBird in 2014 and is a managing partner, announced in June a tentative agreement to buy Milan from American firm Elliott Management. The closing should take place by the end of September.
Yankees Global Enterprises, the baseball team’s parent company run by the Steinbrenner family, will take a roughly 10% stake in Milan, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the final deal has not yet been announced became .
“We are very confident that the Yankee brand is the most recognized sports brand in the world and we believe we can help increase AC Milan’s revenue by being associated with them,” said Yankees President Randy Levine on Tuesday.
Milan declined to comment.
The Yankees agreed in 2013 to acquire a 20% interest in the New York City Major League Soccer team, which was formed in 2015. City Football Group, Manchester City’s parent company, is the controlling owner.
Yankees Global Enterprises also owns interests in YES Network and Legends Hospitality, which formed in 2008 with the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
“It was built on our relationship with Gerry and RedBird, which goes back over 25 years,” Levine said. “The Steinbrenners were one of the original investors in RedBird when Gerry started. We worked very closely with Gerry when he was at Goldman Sachs building the YES Network and Legends Hospitality. He was at RedBird involved in Goldman’s work on the new Yankee Stadium and YES was repurchased by Disney, RedBird became a partner with us and YES.”
The Yankees, 27-time World Series champions, sign a separate marketing agreement with Milan, a 19-time Italian champion, that includes broadcasting replays of games on the YES Network, as does Manchester City. There will also be cross-merchandising between the pinstripes and the Rossoneri.
“We’re a little familiar with football – we’ve learned a little since working with City Football Group,” Levine said. “We think it’s a good investment. As with Man City, we have no intention of interfering in the running of the football team. We leave that to the experts. We’ve got enough to do on the baseball side.”
New York City plays most of its home games at Yankee Stadium, and Levine helps locate a soccer stadium site for the MLS team.
Milan claim their first Italian title in 11 years.
The Main Street Advisors fund, which James supports, counts the rapper Drake among its partners, as well as the English Premier League club Liverpool and the Boston Red Sox.
James and Drake will be passive investors in Milan through the fund and have not taken direct stakes, according to The Financial Times, which first reported on the investments.
RedBird also has a stake in Fenway Sports Group, the parent company of Liverpool and the Red Sox. Champions League rules prohibit two clubs in the competition from being under the same ownership to protect the integrity of matches on the pitch. UEFA will likely have to make a judgment on the extent of RedBird’s influence on decision-making in Liverpool.
RedBird becomes Milan’s fourth owner within five years.
Milan was owned by Silvio Berlusconi from 1986 to 2017. Berlusconi, Italy’s prime minister from 2001-06 and 2008-11, sold control to a company controlled by Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing Co. American hedge fund Elliott provided funding and took control of the team in 2018 when loan payments were defaulted.
Inter Milan, Roma, Fiorentina and Bologna are among other foreign-owned teams in Serie A.
“Italian football is still in a financial contraction,” Inter CEO Giuseppe Marotta said of the Milan transaction. “We’ve gone from a period of patronage by the Morattis and the Berlusconis, who brought (trophies) to Milan and Inter, to a situation where both clubs have foreign ownership. And thank God they came.”
“Most of the foreign owners are American and have adopted a new business model and mentality where economic and financial sustainability are very important.”
After failing to qualify for Europe’s elite competition for seven consecutive years, including a year-long UEFA ban for breaching financial supervision rules, Milan are playing in the Champions League for the second straight year. This competition can add around €100 million (US$100 million) in UEFA prize money and help restore the club’s global brand.
Milan shares one of football’s legendary venues, San Siro, with rivals Inter Milan. The stadium, which opened in 1926 and has a capacity of around 80,000 spectators, was extensively renovated ahead of the 1990 World Cup and is set to host the opening ceremonies of the 2026 Winter Olympics. There are few luxury suites and fan amenities at the venue formerly known as Stadio Giuseppe Meazza and both Milan and Inter have discussed building a new stadium alongside the current arena.
“As we’re helping City Football Group here in New York,” Levine said, “commercially and trying to get through a stadium and a whole bunch of other things, we think there could be synergy between us and Milan in our branding significantly increase the value of Milan.”
Former longtime team captain Paolo Maldini will stay on as Milan’s technical manager despite the change of ownership, a person involved in the negotiations said, adding that Stefano Pioli is secure in his job as Milan’s coach. This person also spoke to AP on condition of anonymity as the final deal has not yet been announced.
The only Italians investing in the deal are media rights manager Riccardo Silva and his brother Saverio Silva, the person said.
Riccardo Silva owns Miami Soccer Club, which plays in the second tier USL championship. He co-founded the Miami team with Maldini, who retired his involvement with Miami when he assumed his current role at Milan.
The deal could include players from Milan’s youth academy spending time in Miami.
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Steam reported from Rome. AP sportswriter Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.