U.S. Investors To Win Their Spurs?

The man behind the £1.3 billion purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers is one of a group of U.S. businessmen trying to buy English soccer team Tottenham Hotspur.

Photo: Tottenham Hotspur
Rendering of the team's new stadium

Both sides fessed up that they were in preliminary talks after the Daily Telegraph revealed Cain Hoy Enterprises had launched a bid for the English Premier League soccer club.

“There can be no certainty that any offer will ultimately be made or at what price any offer might be made,” the would-be purchaser said in a statement. It’s subsequently emerged that one of the three named men behind the Cain Hoy bid is Todd Boehly, who for the two years since the buyout has been a co-owner of the Dodgers.

Before the Dodgers deal, £520 million was the previous record for a baseball franchise, which the Ricketts family paid for the Chicago Cubs in 2009. Leading the Cain Hoy bid for Tottenham is its European head of investment Jonathan Goldstein, a Londoner who’s said to be a lifelong fan of the team and a season ticket holder.

Cain Hoy’s chief exec is Henry Silverman, who also worked with Goldstein at Guggenheim Capital, which has a minority investment in Cain Hoy.

Guggenheim Baseball Management is the registered owner of the Dodgers. Tottenham, commonly known as Spurs, is currently owned by British billionaire Joe Lewis, via his private investment firm ENIC International Ltd. Lewis is believed to value Tottenham at £1billion ($1.63 billion). The club is financially solid and has been given the green light to build a new stadium adjacent to its current home at White Hart Lane, north London.

The U.S. investors may see the new building as a perfect home for any London NFL franchise that could be set up in the next few years. If the American bid for Tottenham should succeed, the club would be the sixth Premier League team with U.S. ownership.