File this one under “Peak A-League”: 17 years after the demise of the New Zealand Knights, the city of Auckland finally gets another professional soccer team … only for a row to break out between the nascent club’s left-wing, anti-fascist supporter group and the Trump-voting billionaire whose largesse is the only reason why they have a team to support in the first place.
Meet Bill Foley, the Texan behind the most exciting thing to happen to the A-League for a little while, Auckland FC. The “Black Knights”, as he’s insisted on this new team being nicknamed (more on that later), begin life on Saturday against Brisbane Roar in front of a crowd of around 20,000 at Mount Smart Stadium.
Foley, 79, is worth a reported US$2.1 billion, having made his money in the insurance sector. He is also a lifelong Republican who donated US$255,600 towards Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign. Though he later swore off him after January 6, describing Trump as a “narcissistic egomaniac”, he revealed in an interview with AAP this week that he’s back on board, and has donated to him again because he is “terrified about the alternative”.
And so on Saturday, a small group known as ‘Tamaki AFC’ – who describe themselves as “explicitly and openly de-colonial, anti-capitalist and anti-fascist” – will be there singing protest songs.
The A-League doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to conservative-leaning billionaires. The last one, Clive Palmer, used Gold Coast United as a Trojan horse through which he foisted himself onto the Australian consciousness, and then parliament.
The good news is that, if Foley has it his way, you won’t hear much talking from him about football or politics or anything else, because he feels so much at ease with the people who he has installed to run the club. As opposed to some of the other clubs in his burgeoning multi-club network. He also owns the Premier League’s AFC Bournemouth, plus minority stakes in French club FC Lorient and Scottish club Hibernian, and is closing in on a deal to buy another in Portugal. Maybe one more from Croatia or Serbia will follow.
Bill Foley celebrates the Vegas Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup victory last year.Credit: Getty
“I know that the people we have there are getting the job done,” Foley told this masthead.
“At Lorient, I’ve got to be involved, and I’ve got to be on top of it. At Hibernian, I’ve got to be involved and kind of stay on top of them. I don’t have to worry about Auckland. I can just go to the games and enjoy the games and talk to the players – and that’s what an owner should be doing.”
For some strange reason, A-League expansion teams generally always start well. That should be the case with Auckland FC, for whom Foley has spared no expense. They have appointed two-time title winner Steve Corica as coach, and assembled a squad that should be competing at the top end, headlined by decorated former Japanese international Hiroki Sakai, Alex Paulsen, who was arguably the best goalkeeper in the competition last season, and Jake Brimmer, the 2021-22 Johnny Warren Medallist.
Their entry heralds a potential golden age for New Zealand soccer. Along with the Wellington Phoenix, they now have two professional teams, and the All Whites should be at every World Cup for the forseeable future, since FIFA has given Oceania a direct qualification slot as part of the tournament’s expansion to 48 teams. Where once Kiwi involvement was deemed to be a drag on the A-League’s metrics, all of a sudden they could be giving them a major boost. If their average crowds match the buzz that seems to be building on the other side of the ditch, the competition’s 13th club should be a fantastic addition for its 20th season.
Auckland FC’s Hiroki Sakai and Wellington’s Alex Rufer.Credit: Getty Images
“It’s great for the league. It’s great for New Zealand to have the representation,” Foley said. “And really, the young players, kids, they’re moving away from rugby and they’re moving to football.”
Foley is the majority owner of Auckland FC, paying a rumoured $18 million for the club’s licence fee. But as their debut has crept closer, the ownership group has slowly expanded: Kiwi NBA star Steven Adams has bought a small interest, alongside three former All Whites in Tim Brown, Winston Reid and Noah Hickey, and ex-All Blacks star Ali Williams and his wife, Anna Mowbray, whose family is behind the Zuru toy manufacturing empire and is worth NZ$3 billion. “I’ve only met them virtually, but I’m looking forward to seeing them all on Friday night when I’m over there for dinner. and then Saturday and Sunday,” he said.
The idea is to not only spread the financial load but to localise it, and sprinkle a little bit of celebrity pizzaz on top. Foley did a similar thing when he bought AFC Bournemouth, alongside actor Michael B. Jordan, in late 2022. He became the eighth American owner in the Premier League but unlike some of the others, he is a firm traditionalist, recently speaking out against the prospect of taking matches overseas.
“When I first got involved with the team, ‘Oh, another American’s coming in, he’s gonna do this, he’s gonna do that.’ I believe they’re pretty happy with what we’re doing,” he said.
Foley has faith in the A-Leagues, but is a little dismayed with the Australian Professional Leagues, the body that runs them, and was shocked when he was told that distributions from head office for Auckland FC would drop from the $2 million he was promised to just $530,000 this season.
Bill Foley with AFC Bournemouth coach Andoni Iraola.Credit: Getty
“We’re disappointed at the way it’s been handled and managed,” he said. “I mean, no one wants to see distributions go down, when we were told distributions were going to be at a certain level, and they’re 25 per cent of that level. That puts a little pressure on everybody, not just us. In our case, we raised more money than we needed. I wanted to make sure that we had plenty of money in the bank. It’s all raised, it’s all funded – so, we’re fine, we’re in good shape. But, you know, it’s disappointing.”
There are two main reasons why Foley has put his money into the A-League. The first is his personal attachment to Auckland, which has been his family’s getaway for the past 24 years. He has become a significant player in the local wine scene and owns a number of restaurants and bars in the city, and now he can look forward to popping in on his way to a match.
The second is that he sees the club, and the league, as the “perfect” next step for his multi-club ownership project, known as “Black Knight Sports & Entertainment”. The name comes from the nickname of the sporting teams at the US Military Academy in West Point, New York, which he attended. That’s why the other sporting team he owns, the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, are called that, and why Auckland’s official nickname is the “Black Knights”, although it remains to be seen if it will be actually embraced by the people.
Bill Foley’s sporting empire has expanded into Auckland.Credit: Getty
“The Black Knight is actually the good knight,” Foley said. “He’s the knight that protected the unprotected. The original Black Knight was a count in Poland … they were fighting the Ottoman Turks, and he was in Budapest, he crossed the river. He and his king were cut off, and this [other] king said, ‘You’ve got to retreat.’ And he wouldn’t retreat. Of course, he got killed, unfortunately. But I’m a big Black Knight fan.”
Foley is aware that for some fans – particularly the types who might populate Tamaki AFC’s bay on Saturday – the idea of multi-club networks is wildly unpopular, because of the way it enforces subordinance. Under this structure, Auckland FC is really there to serve Bournemouth, who sit at the top of the pecking order. As an example, winger Dango Ouattara emerged at Lorient, became a star, and then transferred to Bournemouth last January, with Foley paying the transfer fee to … himself.
“I get this a lot – particularly from our French team, as you can imagine,” Foley said of the disquiet over multi-club arrangements.
“I think it’s a beautiful strategy. I think it’s great. And it’s the only way we’re gonna be able to compete with Man City, Arsenal and so on, they’re so big and dominant … the sovereign wealth funds and the financial sponsors that have unlimited chequebooks. We have to be more intelligent about the way we spend money, we have to be smart, and we have to be careful in how we invest. So, for me, the multi-club strategy is just a reflection of developing talent. Players who may want to move on to another level in another league, in another country, I can move them up.
“The A-League is a perfect league for us to start developing players, and those players can move to a Portuguese team that we’re perhaps going to invest in shortly, or to Hibernian, which is a natural landing spot – same language, easy entry in terms of on the immigration side.
“We’re not going to be like Man City and their group. We’re not going to own 13 or 14 teams and so on. We’re just going to stick with four or five teams – could be about five, really, if we buy the Portuguese team. And that’ll kind of fill it out for us, unless something really interesting comes along. I’m not competing with the Saudi wealth funds and so on. I’m competing with more local people that are a little more frugal in the way they spend their money.”
As the man who bankrolled Las Vegas’ first major sporting team – the Golden Knights won the NHL’s Stanley Cup in just their fourth season – it would be remiss of us not to test his rugby league awareness.
Did he know the NRL launched their season there earlier this year?
Yes and no.
“I didn’t know it was happening,” he said. “But one of my best friends, a classmate, was the captain of our rugby team at West Point, and so he keeps me informed, and I’ve gone to games with him. So yeah, I like rugby … [but it made] very little splash.”
Vegas now has an NFL team and a baseball franchise is coming soon, with the Oakland Athletics set to relocate there. The NBA, Foley reckons, will eventually follow. But what about Major League Soccer, which seems to be booming? Could he set up a team there?
“I don’t like the financial structure of MLS,” he said.
“We are going to do a partnership – Bournemouth is gonna do a partnership with an MLS club, probably gonna own a small minority interest, and they may own a minority interest in our multi-club model. But in terms of owning an MLS team, that just isn’t on the cards for me.
“It’s ridiculous. In Vegas, you would have to build a domed stadium. Well, that’s a billion dollars. That’s not particularly attractive. Now they’ve got the franchise fees up to four or $500 million. The franchise fee I paid for our NHL team was $500 million, which I thought was outrageous. I tried to negotiate it down, but our commissioner wouldn’t have any part of it. But I just think MLS is really, really expensive. I bought Bournemouth for £120 million, and it came with a stadium. Not a great one, but it came with a stadium.”
Foley is happy enough to do things his way. With Auckland FC, he’s convinced success will follow. “We’re going to surprise people,” he said. “We’ll be better than people think we’re going to be.”
