The consortium look to Germany next
An investment company would like to invest more in the German football market. Paul Conway, co-founder of the Hawaii-based Pacific Media Group, has reached out to a number of German clubs. According to Bloomberg, TSV München von 1860 GmbH & Co. KGaA was also in the focus of the investor group.
The most famous football consortium in the world is the City Football Group. Ismaik's friend and business partner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan pulls the strings there. These include Manchester City, New York City and Melbourne City FC. This year, the Noah Football Group attracted attention. With the multi-club ownership model, the Armenian club FC Noah Erewan and AC Siena have now also acquired shares in KFC Uerdingen. Another football empire should focus on the lions, or still be: the Pacific Media Group from Hawaii showed interest in the Munich team.
The focus should also be on TSV 1860 Munich
The German professional leagues are strategically interesting for the businessman Paul Conway and his Pacific Media Group. According to Bloomberg, the focus should be on clubs such as SC Paderborn 07, VfL Bochum or Eintracht Frankfurt. And TSV 1860 Munich is also said to have been in the focus of the investor group. In 2020 one should have tried to get a majority stake. Negotiations with Ismaik remained fruitless last year, however. TSV München von 1860 GmbH & Co. KGaA did not want to comment. According to Bloomberg, the management of the Löwen refers to shareholder and lender Hasan Ismaik. That in turn remains inaccessible for the New York media company Bloomberg.
Pacific Media Group buys and resells clubs if they make a profit. For example the OGC Nice. In 2016, the investment company bought the French first division club. For 23 million euros. In 2019, the French club was then resold for 100 million euros. To one of Britain's richest men, Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The Belgian club KV Oostende and the Swiss club FC Thun Berner Oberland also have multi-club ownership. The majority stake in the British Barnsley FC went to the Pacific Media Group as early as 2017.
The Pacific Media Group
In addition to Conway, Chien Lee is also part of the Pacific Media Group. The multi-billionaire is a co-founder of the Chinese budget hotel chain "7 Days Inn". Chip Seelig is also probably involved. With “The Seelig Group” he financed hit movies like Independence Day, Wolverine, Der Marsiander and Avatar. As part of the international investor consortium, baseball legend Billy Beane and Indian investor Neerav Parekh are also buying into the clubs. The Pacific Media Group always has an extensive player database with its investments in football clubs.
The advantages of such football investment groups are obvious, explains Conway in a podcast. The global business model is becoming more and more established. You can play the same style of play among the teams in all clubs. They are also very flexible when it comes to recruiting players. Because the clubs in a consortium could loan the players to each other.
Disneyfication of football
In the end it will no longer be Club A versus Club B, but Manchester City Group versus Noah Group or Pacific Media Group. One speaks of a so-called Disneyfication. It's no longer primarily about football, but about entertainment. Football as a franchise in which the audience is met with a certain amount of expectation. What 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures or Warner Bros. are in the film business, the big investment groups of Sheikh Mansour and Co. are in football.
