By Ben Nicholson
October 29 – Chivas USA, of the MLS, has officially ceased operations. The MLS will unveil in a press conference today the new ownership group who will take over the club from the MLS.
The ownership group is thought to be buying the club for around $100 million. The idea is to restart the club in 2017 with a soccer-specific stadium.
A Vietnamese American venture capitalist Henry Nguyen and Mandalay Entertainment CEO Peter Guber, who co-owns the LA Dodgers of the Major League Baseball and the Golden State Warriors of the NBA, are heading the group. Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan will join as a minority owner.
Chivas USA was modeled in the form of the Mexican club Chivas de Guadalajara, sharing an owner, branding, and club colors. Jorge Vergara, the owner of the club, was the subject of multiple lawsuits for discriminatory practices. Non-Mexican and non-Latino staff members were fired allegedly for racial reasons.
In February of 2014 the MLS bought Chivas USA from Vergara. The club had been suffering from poor results on the pitch, failing to make the playoffs in recent seasons, and dire attendances, setting league record lows.
The MLS has reshuffled the Eastern and Western conferences to accommodate Chivas’ departure, and the addition of new expansion teams in New York and Orlando. Sporting Kansas City and Houston Dynamo will move into the Western Conference, with NYC FC and Orlando City SC acting as replacements for the Eastern Conference.
There will be an even ten teams in each conference, and each team will play 34 matches; one home and one away game against each team in their conference, five home games against teams in the opposite conference, five away games against teams in the opposite conference, plus six additional intra-conference games – three home and three away.
The current Chivas players will be part of a dispersal draft, occurring prior to December 1, which will serve to find new homes for the clubless players.
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