Before the Hollywood actor turned Wrexham into a household name, former Disney chairman Michael Eisner thought it was similar to his own British football team, Portmouth FC, which he bought in 2017.
At the time, he thought the idea of following his documentary camera would alienate the enthusiastic fan base. "I don't want to be a Hollywood stereotype," he said. physical education Invest in the Western Conference event on Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on Thursday. “I’m not a movie star either.”
But now, the 83-year-old tycoon is willing to try it.
Eisner was one of the first Americans to get a massive purchase of English football, but he will follow the leadership of Wrexham AFC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in Content World. The actors didn't miss the opportunity to pass the FX series to lower division Welsh clubs around the world, Welcome to Wrexhamafter purchasing the team in 2021.
Now, Portsmouth plans to produce behind-the-scenes content next season, with six cameras following the team and its leadership. He said Eisner is taking out a page from Wrexham, which has a $25 million player budget, which depends largely on the popular series generated from the issuance deal.
“We’re going to replicate them to a certain extent,” Eisner said. “It’s complicated. … You have to think about how you want to invest.”
Football owner/documentary Eisner and Reynolds will collide soon as Wrexham recently received his third straight promotion to enter the second division of British football, the EFL champion. Portsmouth, run by Eisner's sons Eric and Breck, was promoted to the championship last season. The teams will play against each other twice next season.
As if the champions are not crowded to the double threat, Birmingham City Football Club has also been promoted to the upcoming season champion. The U.S.-owned club owns a limited partner of Tom Brady, and will play a documentary on Amazon Prime this summer.
Eisner, who serves as chairman of his investment firm and Portsmouth parent company Tornante Co., is learning from his peers. Portsmouth, this season ended 16Th- Downgraded to a high five-point place finish, looking for new ways to use various media platforms to enhance their clubs.
Portsmouth is not Eisner's first sports ownership. When he owned Anaheim Ducks and Anaheim Angels, he was in charge of Disney. Although both teams have won the championship, he said it was “the stupidest thing in the world” to own a professional sports franchise as a publicly traded company.
Even though the two teams are the smallest parts of the company, he said they have attracted the biggest criticism from shareholders. He pointed out that if you win and spend a lot on top talent, it will naturally make shareholders feel uneasy. This is a situation where you can’t win because fans will be frustrated if you don’t spend money.
Eisner enjoys his position and now runs a club under his own private umbrella. "We can lose some time while building assets, but in the case of a (public) company, you lose a quarter of the currency," he said. "It's not worth it."
With the assistance of Eben Novy-Williams.