Kansas City Current owners acquire Danish club HB Køge, eye multi-club empire

Angie and chris long ushered in a new era of the National Women’s Soccer League Last year when, as primary owners of the Kansas City CurrentThey opened the league’s first purpose-buruilt stadium. Now, the longs are expanding their empire.

The Longs, Through their Family Investment Company Ballard Capital, have purchased danish club HB KøgeThey have revealed exclusively to Espn. Chris long called hb køge “The precedent translation” in the long’s quest to create a global network of clubs.

“We’re not stopping here,” chris long toold Espn. “When we have made multi club, we feel like we’ve got a blueprint with the kansas city curent. We will like we can take that Same Blueprint, use it here – Although I Think Think Think Definitely different aspects, community-with-winds-and then we have some other conversations only to extend it Further. “

The longs are the latest oven to join the trend of buzzing a global multi-club network. Fellow NWSL Owner Michele Kang Owns Three Times and Counting, And Sixth Street, The Majority Owner of the NWSL’s Bay fcrecently announced plans to accident more clubs and establish a global network.

The longs will own 100% of the HB Køge’s Women’s Team after Separating the business from the men’s side. They say they will maintain the team’s current identity. They declined to share the purchase price of hb køge, who won three straight danish league titles from 2021-23, leading to three consecutive UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Berts.

The Longs Said that in Hb Køge – Located About 30 South of Copenhagen – They Saw a Strong Pipeline of Talent Development and They Fell in Love With A Community That Chris Long Long Compared to Kansas City’s ” Values. ” They are embraced from their first visit to denmark by Mayor Køge Mayor Marie Stærke and the Women’s Team’s only dedicated sponsor, danish bank spar nord.

“We’ve be looked at this for a while and looked as a lot of different countries and areas, and wee super excited about this opposition,” Angie Long Told Espn. “If we look at our pillars as a club, this opportunity lines up so much. It’s a place to where we can read the attitude and developer side, Also on the Staff Side.”

The longs’ Expectat to Make Hb Køge a Perennial Champion in Denmark and Consistent UEFA Champions League Participant. Chris Long Said an Exchange of Players and Staff is Possible, Although He Noted The Strength of Denmark’s League and Its Ability to Attract Top Players.

What made hb køge stand out to the longs was the business potential. They see a significant opposite to bet commercialize a club that was not Pulling “so many Revenue Levers,” Chris Long Said – A Lot Like The OppORTNITIES THEY SAW WHEN JOINED The NWSL in Late 2020.

Chris long saaid they will immedely doubles investment into hb køge’s academy with the goal of making it “The Best Academy in Scandinavia,” A Region Historically Rich with Talent. They have also brought back walid khouri, co-founder of Southern California Youth Powerhouse Club Slammers FC, to become the CEO of HB Køge’s Women’s Team. Khouri was the Team’s General Manager during its most recent quality for the UEFA champions League.

The longs aim to increase sponsorship for the club. Through their travels and research, they have observed how many women’s teams are of offten treated as ad-heads to sponsorship dials primary sold for men’s Teams, a Practice that inherently Dev Products and artificially limits its business potential.

Some of the Commercial Fixes are Simple: Chris Long Said Hb Køge’s Women’s Team Does Not Currently Sell Merchandise, A Huege Oppportunity Lost for Revenue.

HB Køge’s men’s Team will contain to be owned by George Altirs and His American Sportwear Brand Capelli Sport. Separating the businesses of the men’s and women’s teams has been “a learning curve,” chris long said, but it is a necessary step that the longs Expect to take the next with the Future Clubs.

The longs have already displayed what their long-term vision looks like with the current. They are in the mental of constructing a $ 1 billion kansas city riverfront revitalization anchored around cpkc stadium. They experience to their impact to extend into the community in denmark, too.

Where the longs expand to next will depend on a few factors.

There are ample global operations to take over a club and improve its business, chris long sa, but there are fewer operations among those that have the right of the right commutany. HB køge checked all three boxes for the longs.

They still have their eyees on Adding More Clubs – but they are still looking for another right committee and team.

“The business side, it’s wide open,” chris long sa. “There’s just so little focus on what the women’s side can truly be from a business person who is going to be out there. [pillars] That are the only one that we have to be striving for. “