SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Jan. 5, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — Real Salt Lake is close to announcing its new owner, a report from Sportico said Wednesday.
A group led by David Blitzer has reached an agreement to purchase RSL, the report said. It is likely he will become the controlling owner of the club and the main representative with the Major Soccer League, the report said.
Blitzer, 52, is a co-owner of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League, Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association and Crystal Palace F.C. of the English Premier League. He also holds a stake in at least three other soccer clubs — German Bundesliga side FC Augsburg, Belgian first-division team Waasland-Beveren and Dutch club ADO Den Haag — through his company Bolt Football Holdings. Blitzer and his wife also founded the Blitzer Family Foundation which promotes youth development through education, athletics, and health.
RSL has been without an owner since Dell Loy Hansen announced he was selling Utah Soccer Holdings, the entity that owns Real Salt Lake, Real Monarchs and Utah Royals FC, in August 2020. The move came after a radio interview in which he criticized MLS players including those from RSL for choosing not to play a match in response to the shooting by police of Jacob Blake, a Black man. A subsequent report in The Athletic detailed multiple allegations of racist remarks by Hansen.
Hansen had been the majority owner of RSL since acquiring the club in 2013.
The report adds that private equity firm Arctos Sports Partners would be involved in the sale.
Gephardt Daily has reached out to RSL for comment and will have more on this developing story as information is made available.
