Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno decided to keep ownership of the Major League Baseball franchise five months to the day after announcing the exploration of sale.

“During this process, it became clear that we have unfinished business and feel we can make a positive impact on the future of the team and the fan experience,” Moreno’s statement reads.

“This offseason we committed to a franchise record player payroll and still want to accomplish our goal of bringing a World Series Championship back to our fans. We are excited about this next chapter of Angels Baseball.”

Moreno purchased the team for $183.5 million in 2003, a year after the club won its only World Series title. The team was most recently valued at $2.2 billion, according to Forbes.

Moreno’s $320 million deal to purchase Angel Stadium and the surrounding parking lot from the city of Anaheim fell apart amid a federal investigation.

Expectations for the Angels were high heading into 2022 with some key pieces.

• Three-time MVP Mike Trout
• 2021 AL MVP Shohei Ohtani
• Top-10 MLB payroll of $179 million

The Angels finished the season at 73-89, 33 games behind division winner Houston Astros.

One Team Left

Now with the Angels’ reversal, the Washington Nationals are the lone MLB team currently for sale.

In April 2022, Nationals managing principal owner Mark Lerner announced that the team would explore a sale. The team is expected to fetch between $2 billion and $3 billion.

International interest in the Saudi Pro League is spiking following the signing of soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo.

The league inked a deal with Portuguese broadcaster Sport TV, allowing fans in Ronaldo’s home country to watch the star, who signed with Saudi club Al-Nassr on a two-and-a-half-year deal worth a reported $200 million annually in December.

The deal follows several others across Europe, negotiated by agency IMG. 

• The Saudi Pro League also signed a rights deal in Italy, where Ronaldo played from 2018-21, with Sportitalia. The network also features behind-the-scenes content on the player.
• The league also has broadcast deals in France (RMC Sport), Greece (Cosmote), and Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (Sportdigital Fussball).

In Till the End?

Al-Nassr would like to retain Ronaldo for the remainder of his playing career and would be open to extending his contract, according to ESPN. He will be 40 when his current deal expires in June 2025.

In addition to playing for the club, the star is helping Al-Nassr develop better training and practice methods.

Ronaldo’s presence could also aid Saudi Arabia in its bid for the 2030 World Cup. The nation has a “clear path” to hosting, according to New York Times reporter Tariq Panja, which could include underwriting a new African Super League.

Manchester United may not see a complete overhaul of ownership after all.

In November 2022, the Glazer family — owners of the Premier League club — announced plans to explore a sale following public outcry by fans over mismanagement and lack of investment. 

Manchester United has since drawn significant investment interest, including a potential bid by Crystal Palace part-owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer in a deal that would reportedly allow the Glazers to maintain a controlling stake in the club.

An investment in Manchester United by Harris and Blitzer — who also co-own the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils — would require them to offload their stake in Crystal Palace. 

• Manchester United is valued at $4.6 billion — the third-most-valuable soccer team in the world, per Forbes.
• The Glazers, who also own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, reportedly want at least $7.2 billion for the club. 

Last week, 70-year-old British INEOS founder Jim Ratcliffe — who has an estimated net worth of $15.5 billion — started the formal bidding process for Manchester United. The bid could include Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton, who had competed against Ratcliffe to buy Chelsea.

Manchester United has also attracted investor groups from the Middle East, Asia, and the U.S.

Sixth Street Denial

California-based investment firm Sixth Street, which has more than $65 billion in assets under management, has denied reports that it had considered buying a stake in Manchester United.

Sixth Street has previously worked with European soccer clubs on refinancing projects, including Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Two Pac-12 senior executives were fired last week for failing to disclose overpayments by a Pac-12 Networks distribution partner.

The conference announced on Friday that the executives fired were made aware of the overpayments — which date back to 2016— in December 2017 following an audit, but didn’t disclose the findings to the Pac-12 Board of Directors or the conference’s external auditors.

Names of the executives weren’t listed in the announcement, though reports noted that Pac-12 Networks president Mark Shaken and CFO Brent Willman were removed from the staff directory. The Mercury News received confirmation that they were the executives fired.

The distribution partner claimed in October 2022 that it had been overpaying the conference, by a total of more than $50 million.

• The Pac-12 Board of Directors Audit Committee hired Cooley LLP to conduct an independent investigation. 
• Cooley briefed commissioner George Kliavkoff on Jan. 13, 2023, after the investigation’s conclusion.

It’s unclear if the conference will have to pay the distribution partner.

Pac-12 Payments

The overpayments made the Pac-12’s annual revenue appear higher than it actually was — and could reportedly affect the conference’s schools’ athletic department budgets.

For 2020-21, the Pac-12 reported consolidated revenue of $344 million.