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Martha Stewart was in attendance for Swansea City’s 2-1 victory last week over Wrexham, but she wasn’t there just for kicks.
The business mogul has taken a minority stake in the Wales-based soccer club, following in the footsteps of her frequent entertainment collaborator Snoop Dogg, who bought into the team in July. Stewart and Snoop Dogg have a long history of working together, including on TV shows like Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party, Super Bowl advertisements, commentating at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and a gig co-hosting the 2022 Puppy Bowl.
Swansea plays in the EFL Championship, the second-highest tier of the English soccer league system, just below the Premier League.
The club’s controlling owners Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen confirmed Stewart’s involvement, writing in a post on the club’s website “we are delighted to confirm Martha, who has built a long and successful career as America’s leading homemaking and lifestyle expert, has followed Snoop and Luka Modric in becoming a minority owner of our football club.”
Adam Lassner, a former Citi executive who left in September to launch his own sports consultancy, 575 Partners, thinks Stewart can do more than bring attention to Swansea.
“That is the easy part,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “The better play is operational: Stewart built an integrated media engine, mastered licensing, and knows how to protect a brand through reputational noise.”
“If I am Swansea, she is involved in product, retail, and content from day one,” he added.
Stewart buys in as Swansea is on a bit of a hot streak—the team is 3-1 in its last four matches. Overall, however, the club has struggled this season; with seven wins, five draws, and 10 losses, Swansea currently sits in 19th place out of 24 teams.
Her investment comes a few months after Bloomberg reported in September that Swansea was seeking to raise $67 million (£50 million) in equity at a potential valuation of $216 million (£160 million).
The size stake Stewart is buying was not disclosed, and representatives for Stewart and Swansea did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Stewart and Snoop Dogg might be the most recent celebrity soccer owners, but they are not nearly the only ones. The team she watched Swansea play against, Wrexham, famously counts Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” creator Rob Mac as owners. Elsewhere, Tom Brady owns a stake in EFL Championship team Birmingham City, former MLB All-Star and World Series Champion Dexter Fowler is part of the ownership group of Premier League club AFC Bournemouth, and Kevin Durant is invested in reigning Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain.
Other non-athlete celebrities who have bought into soccer clubs include Eva Longoria with Mexican soccer club Necaxa, which plays in the country’s top tier, Liga MX, as well as Will Ferrell, who owns a piece of Premier League team Leeds United.
U.S. athletes and celebrities have been particularly drawn to investing in international soccer clubs—especially in Europe—because there are so many teams to choose from, and, for the most part, the entry prices are lower.
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