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By Rory Carroll
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Alexis Ohanian said his wager on Angel City FC is paying off amid reports that Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife Willow Bay are close to purchasing control of the NWSL team.
The Reddit co-founder and husband to tennis great Serena Williams is the largest shareholder of Angel City, which he helped launch to great fanfare in 2020 and is now valued at a reported league-leading $250 million.
"I can't comment on the details but in 2019 when I said I was going to start a team, a lot of people said I was going to lose a lot of money," Ohanian told Reuters on the red carpet at the ESPY Awards on Thursday.
"I just wonder where they are now," Ohanian said.
Iger and Bay are in talks to invest more than $50 million to take control of the team although Ohanian is not expected to sell any of his shares, the Athletic reported last week.
"This is really just the start. I'm excited to see this continued investment and to keep building Angel City into what I know can be the biggest brand in all of women's professional sports," Ohanian said.
Ohanian is expanding his portfolio of women's sports enterprises with the launch of Athlos NYC, a women-only track and field meet that will hold its inaugural event in New York on Sept. 26 with record prize money.
While plenty of U.S. fans tune into the track and field during the Olympics, the sport has yet to catch on in the American mainstream outside of the Summer Games.
Ohanian, who tapped into the U.S. appetite for the Women's World Cup when he helped create Angel City, believes he can change that.
"We know that the American women in track are historically and unabashedly great. I can market greatness all day long," Ohanian said. "So why not create an event for these athletes?"
Derived from the Greek word for athlete, Athlos will feature top names from around the globe including 200 meters world champion Gabby Thomas under the lights at Icahn Stadium.
The winner will reportedly take home $60,000 out of a total prize purse of at least $500,000, far more than what winners receive at top-flight Diamond League meets.
"Imagine U.S. Open night match energy," Ohanian said. "Fans have got a few drinks in them, everybody's having a good time, and it's the largest purse in the history."
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles, editing by Amy Tennery)
