NBA greats Steve Kerr, Steve Nash among US owners hoping for Spain's Mallorca to win Copa del Rey
Andy Kohlberg is one of the American owners of Spanish club Mallorca along with NBA greats Steve Kerr and Steve Nash
Ask Andy Kohlberg, one of the American owners of Spanish club Mallorca along with NBA greats Steve Kerr and Steve Nash, if he recommends soccer club-ownership in Europe, and he’ll give you a straight answer.
“Not to anyone sane,” Kohlberg says with a chuckle.
“It’s very hard. It’s very different than running a normal business, and especially in another country, dealing with the difference in culture and language and customs,” says Kohlberg, a former professional tennis player who is Mallorca’s main shareholder and its president.
In fact, the former vice chairman of the Phoenix Suns will tell you that people would be better off taking an NBA team or another franchise in American sports, where there’s no need to deal with the “ups and downs” of relegations and promotions that are inherent to soccer leagues and that can ruin clubs’ finances.
“It’s totally different with American sports,” he says. “If you have a bad season, it’s just one season, there’s not a lot of change. I think we are the only club in Spain that’s been in six years in six divisions. It’s not a record I’m proud of, but I think very few people have suffered like us.”
Come this weekend, though, Kohlberg and minority owners Kerr and Nash will be enjoying the fun part of the soccer club-ownership experience. They will be watching Mallorca share center stage with Athletic Bilbao on Saturday in Seville in the final of the Copa del Rey.
The “historic and surprising” trip to the final, as Kohlberg puts it, helps validate the work being done by the American owners who bought the Balearic Islands club eight years ago by purchasing some $20 million
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