Who should buy the LA Sol?

Grahame Jones’ recent interview with Phil Anschutz Tim Leiweke may have many Bay Area soccer fans surprised by the brutal honesty coming from AEG, and to that – well, I can respect that. But it also brings to light the very real problem WPS will face when AEG sell off/give away/walk away/lose in a bad poker game, their portion of the LA Sol and leave the remaining investors, Blue Star LLC, scrambling to find new partners to pay Marta’s paycheck. And since Marta is the clear star of the league and the league is based in glitzy glamorous Los Angeles (yeah yeah I’ve been to LA tons of times and “glitzy glamorous” is always the last thing on my mind), perhaps some benevolent famous actor or singer will step up and keep this team afloat. So I’d like to take the opportunity to throw out a few names. Names of people who have money and are futbol fans and have a little bit of that pizzaz notoriety so when they do show up to games, people take notice. Right? Like how when what’s his face who owns the Dallas Mavericks used to run up and down the court yelling at his players (does he still do that?). WPS really needs that guy to spice up these games! And the WPS Discipline Committee decided to punish Tony DiCiccio for *ghasp* complaining about the referees after Sunday’s Washington/Boston game. Totally ridiculous. Let the guy speak his mind. God forbid you give fans and casual observers something to talk about. Anyways, here is my list of potential LA Sol owners, not in order of important stuff like the likeliness they will actually buy, but really in order of their own awesomeness…

Jon Stewart Nevermind the guy lives in New York. But he’s a long-time soccer fan and any Daily Show fanatic knows he’ll talk about the sport pretty much any chance he gets on his show. Not to mention his hilarious interview with Clint Mathis from back in the day. And I read somewhere or someone told me or maybe I just made it up that he has season tickets for the NY Red Bulls. Either way the guy is on that Steve Nash level of cool credibility and since Nash isn’t doing much right now to help promote the league (too busy hanging out with FC Barcelona I guess), WPS really needs someone out there to – err – remind potential fans that the little league that could is still trying. Also, Stewart has kids and if WPS marketing gets anything right, its the ability to market to pre-teens.

Julia Stiles Ok, so she probably doesn’t have the money although maybe she does have some of that Bourne dough burning a hole in her pocket. She used to (maybe she still does) play in amateur leagues in New York and her indie credibility might help gain WPS more of that elusive and fickle full-of-disposable-income fanbase stuck between Miley Cyrus and the soccer mom. But at the same time, her uber literary slant may turn away some of the more hardcore supporters. I mean, who wants to be sitting next to a woman when she’s marking up pages of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar?

Anthony LaPaglia This guy is already all over LA soccer with Hollywood United. And since Hollywood United recently joined USL’s Premiere Development League, I can’t see why LaPaglia or even United wouldn’t be interested in getting a little piece of WPS. I even read on a Riot Squad message board months ago that he was already rumored to be investing in the Sol. And the guy already owns a portion of Sydney FC of Australia’s A-League. And he has a daughter. I swear this stuff writes itself. But I’ve still never seen his show. I’m sure it’s great. Just… keep… forgetting… to… watch.

(I’ve just been informed that LaPaglia already owns half of the Sol – whoops!)

Robbie Williams Me and about 50,000 other people are TOTALLY friends with Robbie Williams on Facebook. But seriously, has he completely retired? Is he just holed up in some mansion on LA? And if I have my story straight, he invested in his old hometown football club, Port Vale, and he set up an amateur team in LA which he captains. And then there’s the bit where he turned a bunch of tennis courts at his house into a soccer field. If he just took a teeny tiny portion of that energy and applied it to the women’s game, WPS will probably dedicate some effin statue or something to him.

Ok, some friends just called and want me to come over and eat their food so I’m leaving it at that. I’m sure I forgot some potential investors (and Eva Longoria does NOT count – girlfriend can’t say she’s a Chivas USA fan then switch teams as soon as the Beckham circus comes to town!) so do feel free to suggest anyone I’ve missed.

Category: Los Angeles Sol

Tags: Los Angeles Sol

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