Long before Hollywood actors transform Wrexham into a familiar name, the former president of Disney, Michael Eisner, considered something similar with his own English football team, Portsmouth FC, which he bought in 2017.
At the time, he thought that the idea of ​​a documentary camera that followed him was alienating a passionate fans base. “I didn't want to be a Hollywood stereotype,” he said Sportico Invest the West event at Dome Intuit de Los Angeles on Thursday. “I am not a movie star either.”
But now the 83 -year -old magnate is ready to try.
Eisner was one of the first Americans to make a major purchase in English football, but he will follow the example of the owners of Wrexham AFC Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mcelhenney in the world of content. The actors did not fail their opportunity to return the Welsh club to a low popular division in the world through the FX series, Welcome to WrexhamAfter buying the team in 2021.
Now Portsmouth plans to produce behind the scenes content next season, with six cameras according to the team and its leadership. Eisner takes a Wrexham page, which has a 25 million dollars player budget, he said, largely to the income that the popular series has generated from distribution offers.
“We will copy them to a certain extent,” said Eisner. “It's complicated. … You have to think hard about how you want to invest.”
Football / documentary owners Eisner and Reynolds will soon collide, while Wrexham recently obtained his third consecutive promotion to enter the second division of English football, the EFL championship. Portsmouth, led by the sons of Eisner, Eric and Breck, was promoted to the championship last season. The teams will be played twice next season.
As if the championship was not crowded enough of two threats, the Birmingham City Football Club was also promoted to the championship for the coming season. The club belonging to the Americans, which has Tom Brady as a limited partner, will broadcast a documentary this summer on Amazon Prime.
Eisner, who is president of his investment company and parent company of Portsmouth, Torning Co., learns from his counterparts. Portsmouth, who ended the season with a 16th-Place Finish, five points above relegation, looking for new ways to raise your club using various multimedia platforms.
Portsmouth is not the first Eisner sports property race. He was at the head of Disney when he owned both the Ducks Anaheim and the Anaheim Angels. Although the two teams won championships, he says that having a professional sports franchise as a listed company was the “most stupid thing in the world”.
Even if the two teams were the smallest parts of the company, he said he generated the most criticism of shareholders. He stresses that if you play to win, spending the talents heavily, of course, it will irrexide the shareholders. It is a non -vigure situation, because if you do not spend, fans are upset.
Eisner likes his position which now operates a club under its own private umbrella. “We can lose money for a while, while building an asset, but with a [public] Corporation, you lose quarter-quarter money, “he said.” It is not worth it. “”
With the help of Eben Novy-Williams.
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