By Samindra Kunti
August 30 – The former owner of Major League Baseball club the LA Dodgers, Frank McCourt (pictured), is set to become the new owner of French club Olympique de Marseille for a reported $44.68 million. The American has vowed to restore the club to their former glories.
McCourt will take ownership of the club at the end of the year after a deal with Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, the Russian-born chairwoman of Louis Dreyfus Commodities trading house, who controlled the club after the death of her husband Robert in 2009.
Her ownership of Marseille has been a difficult time for the once-great club, finishing 13th last season after the departure of Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa and in the past few seasons rapidly falling behind France’s leading club Paris St-Germain after their injection of Qatari money.
“Margarita and I just executed a contract for us to buy OM, the greatest football club in the French league and one of the best in the world,” McCourt said at a press conference alongside Louis-Dreyfus and Marseille mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin.
“I’m very excited about making Marseille a champion again,” added McCourt. “Football is becoming the most visible sport in the world. We see it through the World Cup, the (English) Premier League, which has created a fantastic business model.”
RMC Sport reported that the club has been sold for $44.68 million in a deal that is to be completed by the end of the year. McCourt said that he wouldn’t use the club solely as an investment to sell on.
Back home, the American has come in for criticism over his handling of the Los Angeles Dodgers. A line from Olympique de Marseille’s press release read: “Mr. McCourt’s leadership helped guide the team to competitive success which returned the team to its rightful place among baseball’s elite organizations, along with tremendous economic success following years of financial challenges under its previous ownership.”
But McCourt drove the Dodgers to bankruptcy. He needed loans to pay the players and was forced to sell the franchise by Major League Baseball. He did so for a staggering $2 billion.
Earlier this year Marseille had flirted with Chinese and Iranians investors. Last February Recon Holding led by Chinese businessman Tony Jiantong Xia, who owns multiple companies in the infrastructure and transport industries, expressed interest in acquiring L’OM. That potential €80 million deal broke down before the Chinese received access to OM’s accounts with Recon instead looking towards England and a €75 million acquisition of Aston Villa.
Iranian investors, with links to airline Iran Air, also wanted to invest in the famous, but controversial, club, according to French sports daily L’Equipe. They were said to be prepared to spend a €100 million to acquire the club with additional money available to revamp facilities and pay the staff and players.
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