It has $ 16 billion and a soccer club. The representative of Poland was the chosen one

Everything that has been going on around soccer in Charlotte in the last two years is thanks to or through David Tepper. He is one of the richest businessmen and the 142nd wealthiest man in the world on Forbes’ list. Tepper (estimated at $ 16 billion) is a hedge fund specialist. His wallet began to swell after the crisis in 2008. Black days for banks were becoming golden for a businessman. Lehman Brothers collapsed, and Citigroup and Bank Of America, one of the largest banks in the world, also had problems. Then Tepper bought their shares for pennies. And he sold a little later with a profit several times over. This is one of the investments that brought him huge profits in a short time. Tepper decided four years ago that the next serious money will be withdrawn from the world of sport.

Billions for sports in Charlotte

First, however, you had to invest a lot in sport. The businessman acted on a grand scale. In July 2018, he bought the NFL Carolina Panthers team. He spent a total of $ 2.3 billion on investments. Then he announced that, in addition to American football, he wanted to take up football. Tepper actually took care of what Charlotte had been trying to do since 2014. He took the team to the top league – the MLS.

He introduced that, had a lot of meetings with representatives of its authorities, had a vision of building a great club and won the license auction. Tepper bought a license, but had to create the club from scratch. Although the origins of the football team in Charlotte date back to the 1980s, football for four decades, with short breaks, was practically absent in the city. And it certainly wasn’t of a high standard. However, the hunger for football is here and this is the gap that Tepper wants to fill. In Charlotte, many people play football recreationally, and the football matches that took place at the Bank of America Stadium (friendly and international, including the CONCACAF Gold Cup) were very popular.

The fact that Tepper had a good sense of the moods is reflected in the numbers. Already on the first day, when it was possible to book passes, 7 thousand people were interested. people. Recently, the local media reported that 65,000 were sold for the first home game of FC Charlotte (against LA Galaxy on March 6). tickets. In three weeks.

Footballers without breaking the bank

This is an excellent result for a club that was established two years ago, whose name and logo were invented in mid-2020 and which have not played any matches so far. However, the club tries to respect history and not function like a football ATM.

– We want players who want to be part of the amazing story of Charlotte that we are starting to create, hungry for games and success – sports director Zoran Krneta said in “The Athletic”. “There is no place for players who do not feel attached to the club,” he added, recalling Australian Riley McGree, who did not play a minute here and was immediately on loan.

Although millions of dollars are pumped into the club, the team of players is built calmly. Charlotte is to focus on harmonious development, attract young players and reliable players from abroad. , during which 5 million euro was spent on the player and he was offered a high contract (about 1.2 million euro).

Świderski became the chosen one. The first ever

The former PAOK player will therefore earn the best of all Poles in MLS. More than twice as much as he earned in Greece. In Charlotte Świderski will be one of the “designated player” (and the first player in the club’s history), ie a player who can earn above the salary limit. There may be three of these in a club. It was decided that the Polish representative is worth such money. Besides, there are already a few players in the club: for example Alan Franco from Ecuador, Joseph Mora from Costa Rica and the youth representative of Venezuela, Christian Makoun. The team is international. In addition to the Americans, there are players in it, incl. from Austria, Croatia, Ghana, Argentina. Only six cash transfers were made last season.

– We don’t feel the need to break the bank. We are not building a club for one or two seasons, but long-term – explained Krneta. The sports director emphasized that players are selected according to the model and style preferred by the Spanish coach. Świderski should rather have no problems with regularly playing in the new team’s first line-up.

Especially that the competition is not too big. Coach Angel Ramirez, apart from the Pole, has three central forwards at his disposal. Young American Kyle Holcomb is an anonymous player, also new to the club. The second competitor is Vinicius Mello, a 19-year-old Brazilian with just eight games in the Brazilian Serie A. There is also the Peruvian Yordi Reyna and it seems that he has the strongest cards. He knows, played here for three seasons, and previously performed in Austria and Germany.

Infrastructural offensive

If a billionaire and a man richer than Abramovich pumps a billion euros into the ball, but he only allocates a percentage of these expenses to footballers, what happens with the rest of the money? Over $ 300 million needed for a license to be in MLS, we have already written. In addition, Tepper has spent 50 million on the renovation and adaptation of the Carolina Panthers stadium for football. A business zone, VIP lounges and cloakrooms for players and large screens for fans were created. The club authorities assumed that the 75,000-strong facility would be filled to 40,000 during the matches of the FC Charlotte team. capacity using the lower rows. 50 million dollars allocated to the current stadium is money spent on the beginning, because Tepper has to build his own training base and academy for the team. Last year, he had already bought land for investment for several million. The businessman also wants to build a modern stadium. The value of this investment may exceed the cost of the MLS game license.

Being part of an ambitious new project can therefore be for. The question, what will be the sporting challenge? The American dream about the size of Charlotte is for now a trip into the unknown. Coach Ramirez, when asked at the conference whether his team would qualify for the playoffs (seven of the best teams from each 14-team conference would advance), said it would be “very difficult”.