Chien Lee (Chinese: 李建; pinyin: Lǐ Jiàn) is a Chinese-American entrepreneur, investor, and sports team owner. He has built a multi-club ownership model, owns multiple professional European football clubs and is a well-known investor in European football.[1][2]
Lee is the founder, chairman, and CEO of NewCity Capital, a private investment company, focused on the sport and hospitality industries. In August 1989, he founded Lee Holdings Company Inc., a US-based investment company focused on the acquisition of real estate assets. Later in 2005, Lee actively invested in the hospitality Industry, co-founding 7 Days Inn (NYSE: SVN), one of the largest budget hotel chains in China.[14] In 2014, Lee invested in The Grand Ho Tram Strip in Vietnam, one of the region's largest integrated resorts.[15]
In 2016, Lee forayed into professional sports investment and acquired multiple European soccer clubs, building one of the largest portfolios in the world. As of April 2023, Lee has invested in 9 European football clubs. He has created an internal infrastructure and a management team who are able to operate businesses in multiple countries, each with its own unique culture, language, and operational differences. His multi-club ownership is acknowledged as a unique business model in the world's most popular sport.[16][17][18]
In a 2018 interview with Forbes, Lee stated that as a long-term investor in football, he would use a data approach to identify talents, focusing on young players on the sporting side, and balancing the budget on the business side. His strategy contrasts sharply with that of many other investors currently in European football, where huge sums of money are invested in marquee players and success is expected overnight.[19] Lee's ambition to build a European football empire continues as his soccer portfolio keeps expanding; the multi-club ownership gives Lee advantages beyond talent recruitment, capitalizing on the global reach of soccer and maximizing lucrative sponsorship revenues, as well as helping the football clubs grow and become more competitive.[20][21]
Lee's first foray into professional sports was in purchasing French top-tier soccer team OGC Nice FC in June 2016.[22] Subsequently, Lee tried to acquire more European soccer teams. In September 2016, Lee held advanced takeover talks with Hull City FC owner Assem Allam.[23][24] After formally ending his takeover bid for Hull City FC in November, Lee made an offer to buy Middlesbrough FC, but was rejected by club owner Steve Gibson in January 2017.[25] In April 2017, Lee was in talks with Brentford FC owner Matthew Benham over a potential bid for the club. Lee was attracted by Brentford FC’s location in London which is close to Heathrow Airport and its stadium development plans.[26][27] In December 2017, Lee acquired Barnsley FC from the Cryne family.[28] Later in June 2019, Lee attempted to buy Partick Thistle FC.[29] In November 2019, Lee also invested in FC Thun Football Club.[30]
In January 2020, it was reported that Lee was in the race to buy KV Oostende, competing with David Blitzer, co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils.[31][32] After selling French football club OGC Nice to Great Britain's richest man, Jim Ratcliffe back in August 2019, Lee wanted to return to French football. Already the owner of the Barnsley FC in England and FC Thun in Switzerland, Lee looked to expand his portfolio once more. After prospecting several French clubs, Lee set his sights on Toulouse and its football club and entered into exclusive negotiations to buy Toulouse FC in March 2020.[33][34]
In May 2020, Lee completed the acquisition of KV Oostende Football Club, the only professional football club on the Belgian coast and the 4th European soccer investment for him.[35][36] After purchasing KV Oostende Football Club, Lee continued to pursue the French football club Toulouse FC, competing with tech tycoon Michael Dell and his investment fund MSD Capital which were also in the race to buy Toulouse FC.[37][38] In July 2020, Lee attempted to acquire SV Mattersburg FC, an Austrian football club from Mattersburg, Burgenland.[citation needed] In December 2020, after an unsuccessful attempt to buy Toulouse FC, Lee turned the attention to AS Nancy Lorraine, competing with City Football Group, the owner of Manchester City F.C. He then purchased AS Nancy Lorraine, thus returning to French football.[39][40] In early February 2021, media reported Lee, together with Pacific Media Group, Partners Path Capital, and Krishen Sud were in the process to buy Denmark's Esbjerg fB Football Club[41] and in discussion with Dutch soccer club FC Den Bosch about a possible takeover.[42] In March 2021, Lee completed the acquisition of Esbjerg fB.[43] In April 2021, Bloomberg reported Lee's football group was looking for an opportunity to invest in German football, one of Europe's richest leagues. They approached a number of clubs to see if there was a shared philosophy and an opportunity to invest.[44] In September 2021, Lee completed the acquisition of FC Den Bosch,[45] the first multi-club ownership deal in the Netherlands.[46] In March 2022, Lee, together with Paul Conway, Michael Kalt, Krishen Sud, and Randy Frankel completed their investment in 1. FC Kaiserslautern, one of the most historic clubs in Germany.[47] in April 2022, it was reported that Lee was looking to buy another football club, Lechia Gdańsk in Poland.[48]
In July 2022, media reported that Lee and Pacific Media Group were in discussions to invest in Hellas Verona F.C., which currently plays in Serie A, the top of the Italian football league.[49] In April 2023, Lee acquired GKS Tychy FC, a Polish professional football club, based in Tychy.[50]
Moneyball
"Lee has refined Moneyball. Barnsley almost always buy players under 24, whose value is likely to rise. They rarely take loan players, so as to forge a team ethic from regulars. And they play the same tactics whoever the manager is."
Lee has refined Moneyball and his football journey is a Moneyball experiment in European Soccer according to the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal,[52][53]Moneyball, The Art of Winning an Unfair Game is a book by Michael Lewis, published in 2003, about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane. Its focus is the team's analytical, evidence-based, sabermetric approach to assembling a competitive baseball team despite Oakland's small budget. A film based on Lewis' book, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, was released in 2011.[54] There are three pillars to Lee's football group version of Moneyball in Soccer, The first is a reliance on analytics over traditional scouting. The second pillar to the group's strategy is a "ruthless commitment to young players", The third and final pillar to Lee's football group Moneyball approach is a narrow focus on the acquisition of players—and coaches—who thrive in a "high-press" system, a forward-thinking, data-driven club with a low-cost, high-pressing formula and Moneyball-like model achieved success at Lee's football group.[55] According to BBC News Online, Lee credits the use of data as a key contributor to the success, the use of data and technical analysis has become essential for football. Lee predicted that football could use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse players' thought processes to help them with decision-making and involve technology to communicate with players on the pitch in real time.[56]
Investment style
Lee transformed the way to invest in European football, and his football group focused on investment in distressed clubs and restructuring them on both the business and sporting sides. Many European soccer clubs are struggling to survive and find themselves in alarmingly poor financial positions. Clubs that would never have previously looked for outside investment are now forced to do so because of poor liquidity and massive debt. Lee also focused investment on clubs in lower divisions, taking advantage of the merit-based promotion system and using expertise and good management to get these clubs promoted to higher tiers, thus adding immense value. Lee uses a data approach to identify talents and coaches, focusing on signing young players with development in mind, capturing the huge potential in the player transfer market, buying players at low prices, and reaping huge rewards by selling them high. Using a data approach to identify talents and focusing on young players, playing high-pressing football on the sporting side, and balancing the budget on the business side is part of the policy for all Lee's football clubs. His multi-club ownership approach creates the ecosystem where each club is run with this financial and recruitment model.[57][58][59]
The Wall Street Journal stated that unlike the huge soccer multinationals led by Manchester City and Red Bull, who believe their rivals are Disney and Amazon rather than other soccer teams, Lee's football group focuses on much more modest outfits.[60]The Athletic call Lee's football group a Poundland Red Bull and taking on the elite with data, pressing, and young players. Sheikh Mansour has piped more than £1 billion into City Football Group, including Manchester City F.C. Austrian drinks company Red Bull has poured hundreds of millions into clubs in Austria, Brazil, Germany, and the United States, But Lee's football group have acquired five clubs including Barnsley, Esbjerg, Nancy, Oostende and Thun across Europe at a cost of just over £40 million.[61]
As of April 2023, Lee has invested in 9 European football clubs:
OGC Nice Stadium Allianz Riviera, The stadium hosted UEFA Euro 2016 and the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.
In June 2016, Lee purchased French football team OGC Nice and became the chairman of the board and co-owner at OGC Nice, a French club based in Nice.[62][63] Media reported that Lee acquired the football club for €20 million and is one of the notable sport acquisition in 2016.[64][65] During Lee's first year of ownership, the club built a new state-of-the-art academy and training center to focus on the training of young players, appointed Lucien Favre as OGC Nice manager,[66] and signed Italian striker Mario Balotelli from Liverpool F.C.[67] The club qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in its history.[68] In June 2018 Lee appointed former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira as OGC Nice manager.[69]
In August 2019, according to the Financial Times and ESPN, Lee sold OGC Nice to Ineos, run by Great Britain's richest man Jim Ratcliffe, for €100 million,[70] making OGC Nice the most expensive sale ever in French football history at the time of the transaction, costing significantly more than the €79m spent by the Qatar royal family to buy Paris Saint-Germain in 2011, and the €45m paid out by Frank McCourt for the acquisition of Marseille in September 2016. It is also more than what Bordeaux (€95m) and Lille (€80m) were sold for in 2018.[71]
Barnsley F.C.
In December 2017, Lee acquired English football team Barnsley F.C. with business partner Paul Conway after previous failed attempts to purchase Hull City, Middlesbrough, and Brentford, and became the co-owner of Barnsley.[72] Lee was joined by 'Moneyball' pioneer Billy Beane in the acquisition. Since taking over at Barnsley, the club adopted a high pressing style of football, began using a data-oriented approach to identify talents, and focused on signing young players.[73][74][75] Barnsley earns more from player trading than it spends, and is one of the more radical squad-building experiments that English soccer has seen.[76]
FC Thun
In November 2019, Lee became an investor in FC Thun, a Swiss football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. After the investment, the club began using data-based player analysis and player identification to expand its European network for potential player transfers, and marketing the club in Asian markets to extend sponsorship options.[77]
KV Oostende
In May 2020, Lee, together with Pacific Media Group, Partners Path Capital, and Krishen Sud, acquired the Belgian top division team K.V. Oostende, a Belgian football club from the city of Ostend, West Flanders. This was the 4th European soccer club Lee purchased. Lee completed the acquisition of K.V. Oostende during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, and saved the club from liquidation. Lee saw a lot of potential in the club to strengthen the team with a data-based approach to identify talent. Lee believes there are many talented players in Belgium, and the K.V. Oostende youth academy is very important to success.
AS Nancy Lorraine
Panoramic view of AS Nancy Stadium Stade Marcel Picot
After selling French football club OGC Nice to one of Britain's richest men, Jim Ratcliffe, in August 2019, Lee acquired French club AS Nancy on 31 December 2020 and became the chairman of board and co-owner.[78] The club was founded in 1967 and has spent its entire history playing in either Ligue 1 or Ligue 2. Nancy's biggest achievement came in 1978 when the club won the Coupe de France, defeating Nice in the final. One of the club's most notable former players is Michel Platini, the former president of UEFA. Platini began his career at AS Nancy in 1972,[79] and Arsène Wenger started his managerial career at Nancy in 1984.[80]
Esbjerg fB
Esbjerg fB Stadium Blue Water Arena
In March 2021, Lee, together with Pacific Media Group, Partners Path Capital, and Krishen Sud acquired Esbjerg fB, a professional football club based in Esbjerg, Denmark, the 6th European football club Lee invested in. Lee was attracted to the club's impressive history, strong youth academy, and the passionate fans and sponsors. He intended to focus on talented young players using his proven data and analysis platform.[81] Despite that Lee let some of the most talented youth players leave for nothing, including Mads Kikkenborg who was later sold to RSC Anderlecht[82]
FC Den Bosch
In September 2021, Lee, together with Pacific Media Group, Partners Path Capital, Randy Frankel, and Krishen Sud acquired FC Den Bosch, a Dutch professional football club based 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, Lee's 7th European football club investment.[83]
In March 2022, Lee became a minority shareholder of 1. FC Kaiserslautern,[84] one of Germany's most legendary clubs, based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. Founded in 1900 as FC Palatia Kaiserslautern and as a founding member of the Bundesliga, the club won the German championship on four occasions and the German Cup twice. 1. FC Kaiserslautern is historically among the most successful football clubs in Germany, occupying 11th place in the all-time Bundesliga table. The club's international performances include reaching the Champions League quarter-finals in 1999 as well as two participations in the UEFA Cup semi-finals, Furthermore, Kaiserslautern's squad of the 1950s also formed the backbone of the Germany national team that won the 1954 World Cup, in what is called the Miracle of Bern (das Wunder von Bern) in Germany. The club, however, found itself in serious trouble in recent years, and was relegated to the second division for the second time in 2006. In 2018 the club was relegated to the third tier for the first time in club history.[85] Lee pursued the investment in 1. FC Kaiserslautern as a long-term project in cooperation with club management, fans, and local partners to achieve a return to growth and success for the club.[86]
On May 24, 2022, during Lee's first year of investment, FC Kaiserslautern earned promotion back to the 2. Bundesliga.[87]
GKS Tychy
Stadion Miejski (Tychy), It is the home ground of GKS Tychy FC.
In April 2023, Lee together with The Seelig Group acquired GKS Tychy FC, a Polish professional football club, based in Tychy, that plays in the Polish I Liga. The club was founded in 1971. It is Lee's 9th European football club investment.[88]
Hotel industry
Lee has invested significantly in the hospitality industry. In 2014 he invested in Asian Coast Development (Canada) Ltd., the developer of The Grand Ho Tram Strip in Vietnam, one of the region's largest integrated resorts to capture Vietnam's booming tourist markets. In a 2014 interview with Forbes, Lee described the Ho Tram Strip as a “hidden diamond,” and remarked that tourism is one of the most important driving forces for Vietnam's economic development.[89][90] Investors in the Ho Tram Strip included Warburg Pincus and Harbinger Capital. The first phase of the Ho Tram Strip development includes The Grand Ho Tram Resort & Casino, a 5-star hotel and resort, international conference center, and heliport which opened in July 2013, as well as The Bluffs Ho Tram Strip, a links-style golf course which opened in October 2014.[91][92]
In 2005 Lee co-founded 7 Days Inn, one of the largest budget hotel chains in China, to focus on the growing Chinese domestic travel industry; Lee saw tourism and the emergence of a newly rich middle class fueling the travel boom, while China has become one of the world's most-watched tourist markets.[93] In 2006, Warburg Pincus invested in 7 Days Inn. In 2007, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, and Warburg Pincus further invested in the hotel chain; in September 2009 7 Days Inn was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: SVN).[94][95] The hotel chain has grown from 5 hotels in 2 cities in 2005 to 283 hotels in 41 cities when it was listed on the NYSE. In July 2013 the founders of 7 Days Inn, together with Carlyle Group and Sequoia Capital took 7 Days Inn private to form holding company Plateno Hotels Group.[96][97][98] By the end of 2014, 7 days Inn had 2,000 hotels in 320 cities. In 2015 Jinjiang Hotels bought 81% of 7 Days Inn. By the end of 2019, 7 Days Inn had 4,700 hotels in 450 cities.[99][100]
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