THE HAGUE – ADO Den Haag is definitively in American hands. Although Globalon Football Holdings will become the point of contact for the club from The Hague, the new owner will be Bolt, the company of American billionaire David Blitzer. But who is the new owner of ADO anyway?
The 52-year-old Blitzer is a real sports fan. This is evident from the enormous number of sports clubs that he is (co-) owner of. For example, the football clubs Crystal Palace, FC Augsburg and Waasland-Beveren are among the clubs that Blitzer also holds sway over.
Yet all these clubs seem to be mainly a hobby of the businessman. Blitzer grew up in Scotch Plains, a small New Jersey village of just over 20,000, less than an hour’s drive from New York. He leaves the region for his studies and settles a little further south in Philadelphia, where he graduates from the local university in 1991.
Investing in sports clubs
They are the two cities that are clearly at the heart, as they continue to be a common thread in Blitzer’s life. After graduating, he joined The Blackstone Group in New York. This is an investment company, where Blitzer is making a fast career. He rises to one of the five directors and partly under his leadership the company is growing enormously. By 2020, the company will have a portfolio of an estimated $619 billion.
The new owner also personally benefits from the company’s growth and decides to invest his assets in sports clubs, among other things. He becomes one of the four new owners of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball club. In 2011, the foursome will pay approximately 280 million dollars for the team from the city where they studied. An excellent investment, because in 2021 the value of the NBA team is already estimated at more than 2 billion dollars.
Shot in the rose
After purchasing the 76ers, Blitzer has developed a taste for it, as two years later he adds an ice hockey club to his property. He becomes co-owner of the New Jersey Devils, a club in Newark, just under the smoke of New York and near his birthplace. Again, this turns out to be a bull’s eye. At the takeover in 2013, the new owners paid 320 million dollars, the value of the club is now almost 800 million.
The shrewd businessman then expands into baseball, where he buys a New York Yankees training team before making the move to football. In December 2015, Blitzer decided to take a share in the English club Crystal Palace. Blitzer is investing more than 50 million euros in the London football club, partly to upgrade the stadium.
Bolt Football Holding
It is the beginning of a further interest in football. He starts his own branch for his football activities, called Bolt Football Holding. With this, Blitzer owns, among other things, Real Salt Lake, the club from the American Salt Lake City, which plays in the MLS, the highest American professional league.
But besides Crystal Palace, Blitzer sees even more possibilities. That is why Globalon Football Holdings is founded. This is an investment company for football clubs in Europe. In this society, Blitzer with Bolt is one of the investors, but not the only one. Globalon includes the Portuguese Estoril, the Spanish Alcorcón, FC Augsburg in Germany, Waasland-Beveren in Belgium and therefore Crystal Palace.
Research into all investors Globalon
With Globalon, Blitzer and his business partners then set their eyes on the ailing ADO Den Haag. The director of Estoril comes from Globalon to the Hofstad to get to know the club and see if ADO fits within the Globalon family.
Interest has been aroused and Globalon is willing to put the necessary money on the table. However, there is still a problem: the time left to take over ADO. The KNVB always conducts extensive research into all new owners of football clubs in the Netherlands. So we also have to look at all investors who are in Globalon. An investigation that takes time. And ADO does not have time, because the judge has to rule on the agreement reached with the one hundred and forty creditors on Friday. In the event of a negative decision, ADO will go bankrupt and there will be no more club for Globalon to take over.
Net worth of $1.2 billion
In the end, Blitzer is again the lifeline for the club from The Hague. The ardent sports fan has never taken a step in The Hague, but decides to put the required amount of 7.5 million euros on the table himself. As a result, the KNVB only has to investigate him, and the license and therefore also the decision of the court is not in dispute. To make the takeover possible, a new company is set up at the last minute. Bolt ADO is the new name under which Blitzer will run the club from The Hague.
Blitzer’s decisive action is characteristic of his way of working. But he can certainly miss that 7.5 million. In 2020, Blitzer is in the running to become the new owner of the New York Mets, New York’s second highest-level baseball team. That club passes by, but the New York Post dives into the assets of the new owner of ADO around the takeover and arrives at an estimate of 1.2 billion dollars, a sloppy billion euros.
Loyal to his clubs
It ensures that there is great confidence in The Hague in the new owner. He turns out to be a real sports fan in everything. And loyal to his clubs, because all the sports clubs he bought are still his property. He has not sold any club quickly to make a profit so far. How this will go in The Hague remains to be seen.
It is clear that Globalon, despite not officially being the new owner, will continue to play an important role in the future of ADO. Iván Bravo, the chairman of the Portuguese Estoril, remains the point of contact for the ADO management. Only when Blitzer appoints a new management will it really become clear which way the wealthy American wants to go with his latest purchase.
