American investors join together to buy a minority share in a Danish football club

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A little over a year and a half ago, some American friends, neighbors and co-workers got together for a special investment opportunity.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

To buy a share in a European soccer team.

INSKEEP: Yeah. They had this idea, they spread it, and the group bought a portion of a club in Denmark. They invested between 10,000 and $30,000 apiece.

MARTIN: Now those investors show up at odd hours to support the Danish team from a Brooklyn bar.

SEAN NAUGHTON: You know, if you've never gone to see a football match at a bar and had a couple of beers before 9 a.m., (laughter) you've never lived.

INSKEEP: I guess I've never lived. That's Sean Naughton, one of the team's owners.

MARTIN: The team is known as AB. That is short for...

NAUGHTON: Akademisk Boldklub.

INSKEEP: Joe Gordon is a sales consultant and another of the team's co-owners. He and Naughton just returned from Copenhagen, where they met with the team and also got a glimpse of just how much the Danes love soccer.

JOE GORDON: It is the No. 1 sport in the country, for sure. I'm pretty passionate, but it's a different level. It just means so much, and so we take that responsibility as stewards of the club pretty seriously.

MARTIN: Gordon says it's not about seeking a quick return on investment, but rather restoring this once-great team to...

INSKEEP: Well, how's the team actually doing?

NAUGHTON: The results have been a bit disappointing. There's a new coach, a new crop of players, and it's going to take time.

MARTIN: And while Naughton might be calling for more time, the team's fans are expressing something else.

GORDON: Yeah, the fans are impatient. And that's a good thing because they're passionate. They care. If they weren't impatient, they weren't being vocal about their impatience, there'd be a different problem and a worse problem.

INSKEEP: So dealing with the fans can be tough, but Naughton says there are some perks.

MARTIN: Like a smorgasbord? Is that a thing - smorgasbord?

INSKEEP: (Laughter) You're hinting...

MARTIN: Is that a thing?

INSKEEP: ...Danishes (laughter)? They did get family access to AB's training academy in Copenhagen.

NAUGHTON: My teenage son was fortunate enough to go over and train with the academy for a week with another investor's son. You know, it's not just being a monetary investment. It's all the things that come along with it.

MARTIN: And Gordon says his own enthusiasm did rub off on his wife eventually.

GORDON: As odd as it might have seemed to her at first, she saw how much enjoyment and fulfillment I was getting from it.

INSKEEP: The new owners say buying in Denmark has also provided them with an opportunity to look at the world a little differently.

GORDON: We talk about American individualism, and Scandinavia and Denmark is collectivist society. And so these are a bunch of individual Americans that wanted to be involved in a collective, and that's really exciting for me.

MARTIN: Oh, so maybe there's more in the future than just cheering with friends at 9 a.m.

INSKEEP: Woo.

MARTIN: Well, Steve, you know what?

INSKEEP: What?

MARTIN: You and I both have kids in college, so we don't have a lot of spare cash lying around. But I'm just wondering. I would kind of like to buy a soccer team. Would you help me buy a soccer team?

INSKEEP: What if we go for women's basketball because I think, you know, we're riding a wave, and we could buy a women's basketball - a share in a women's basketball team?

MARTIN: We could, but I would like to have a soccer team.

INSKEEP: OK, fine.

MARTIN: Would you help me...

INSKEEP: Fine. Yes.

MARTIN: ...As my friend buy...

INSKEEP: Yes.

MARTIN: ...A soccer team?

INSKEEP: Yes.

MARTIN: I would...

INSKEEP: Yes.

MARTIN: ...Like to have one.

INSKEEP: Because I am your friend, I'm there for you.

MARTIN: Thank you.

INSKEEP: Five bucks?

MARTIN: What would you like me to buy for you?

INSKEEP: (Laughter) A good return on my investment in the soccer team.

MARTIN: Fair.

INSKEEP: Manage that team well, please.

MARTIN: Fair. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.