Golden Knights owner in talks to buy Premier League club
Golden Knights owner Bill Foley might be trying to expand his sports portfolio overseas.
Foley is in talks to buy Premier League club AFC Bournemouth, according to multiple U.K.-based reports. Bournemouth, located by the English south coast, is in its first season back in the top flight after spending the previous two years in the second-tier Championship.
The club is owned by businessman Maxim Demin, who first came aboard in 2011. Sky Sports News, Sportsmail and The Guardian reported the talks between him and Foley.
The Knights declined to comment. Bournemouth did not respond to a request for comment.
The club, nicknamed “The Cherries,” was founded in 1899. It plays in the Premier League’s smallest venue, Vitality Stadium, which can hold about 11,000 fans. The largest venue in the league, Manchester United’s Old Trafford, can support crowds of more than 74,000.
Bournemouth has had recent success. It has spent six of the past eight seasons in the Premier League, including a ninth-place finish out of 20 teams in 2016-17. The club was relegated to the Championship in 2020 but was promoted back up in two years.
Bournemouth started the season with two wins, three losses and one draw. It sits 14th in the standings with seven points and a league-worst minus-13 goal differential entering Saturday’s matchup with Newcastle.
The teams that finish 18th, 19th and 20th are relegated to the Championship each Premier League season.
Foley, 77, has showed interest in soccer before. He pursued a Major League Soccer team in Las Vegas before bowing out last year. Billionaires Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris, who co-own the Premier League club Aston Villa, entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement in January with MLS to bring a team to the valley.
One of Bournemouth’s two wins were against Aston Villa.
Foley became the first owner to bring a major league team to Las Vegas by paying a $500 million expansion fee to create the Golden Knights. The team is 216-125-32 in five seasons, the NHL’s seventh-best record in that span, and has made the playoffs four times. The Knights reached the Stanley Cup Final in their first season and the NHL semifinals two other times. Their 38 playoff wins trail only Tampa Bay and Colorado since they entered the league.
Foley would join a growing list of American owners in the Premier League if his purchase is completed. Along with Aston Villa, Arsenal, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Liverpool and Manchester United are primarily owned by businessmen from the United States. Americans also have minority stakes in Leeds and Manchester City.
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.