Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy is an investor. Christopher Yeung is an orthopedic spine surgeon and works with several Major League Baseball teams.There’s another baseball connection to Rising. Dave Stearns co-founded a wireless communications company and a wine business. Tim Riester owns a large marketing, PR and advertising firm headquartered in Phoenix. He owns a controlling stake (MLS requires the lead owner to hold at least 35% of the club). ![]() Bakay and his partners bought the club, then called Arizona United, last August. Ownership GroupCall it “LAFC Lite.” The Phoenix investor group doesn’t have all the star power of the 2018 MLS entrant’s, but it does feature some recognizable names from beyond the soccer world. The club intends to build a stadium right in between. ASU is one of the country’s largest universities, and Forbes placed Phoenix/Tempe in 16th on its list of “Best Cities and Neighborhoods for Millennials.” Last month, Forbes ranked Phoenix as the 16th fastest-growing city in the country.Finally, there’s the youth soccer community, with which Rising is already working, and the Valley’s business community, which is anchored by offices downtown and corporate headquarters and high-income neighborhoods to the east. The club estimates that there are 2.7 million people under 45 in the area. There are millennials and students, many of whom attend Arizona State in Tempe. Last week, the club signed El Tri legend Omar Bravo. Phoenix Rising will broadcast each of its games in Spanish this season, Bakay said. There are Hispanics, who comprise nearly 30% of a metro area population that exceeds 4.5 million. I think there’s a very positive opportunity to connect the dots in ways other teams weren't able to before.”Those dots, Bakay said, are key to understanding Phoenix. ![]() “A lot of my friends are Mexican and I listen to them and what they’re looking for. I consider myself lucky, because I live in that culture,” Bakay said. Reaching those fans is one of Bakay’s primary missions.“My wife is Mexican. Measured by only Hispanic households, however, Phoenix shoots to ninth overall. As a media market, Phoenix ranks 12th again, just behind Tampa/St. Bakay said his big-league pitch is anchored by an understanding of the Valley’s demographics, its unique assets and challenges and a stadium site that makes the most of the former.Phoenix anchors the country’s 12th-most populous metro area, which makes it the largest of the 12 cities seeking MLS entry. “But like any investment I make, I believe in the fundamentals of the sport and its growth in the coming years.”Mailbag: Premier League predictions, LAFC's ideal DPs and more of your questionsBakay is the lead owner of Phoenix Rising, a relatively new but ambitious USL club that intends to make the move to MLS. But even as his career progressed, he always kept one eye on the ball.“It always kind of stretched my head about why wasn’t taken even more seriously in the realm of all these sports in the United States,” he said. He moved to Dallas after school and then on to Phoenix, where he parlayed his work in investing and private equity into control of a restaurant chain called Kona Grill. There wasn’t a more intimidating setting in Europe, and Bakay said he missed it as soon he left Turkey to attend Boston College. He has an uncle who sat on the club board and said, “You can count on my fingers the number of games I have missed in my life.”Until 2011, seeing Galatasaray in person meant going to the Ali Sami Yen, which its denizens called “Hell” thanks to the red and yellow colors, frequent flares and smoke, and ear-splitting noise. “I don’t know how you can objectively look at what MLS is trying to accomplish-local and passionate ownership, our stadium solution and the right market-and not put us on the top of the list.”Bakay, 38, is a native of Istanbul and a born-and-bred supporter of Turkish powerhouse Galatasaray. If you put a good product out there, the fan base is there,” Bakay said. ![]() In fact, he’s certain that he’s found the formula and that the Valley of the Sun, home to the country’s hottest major city, is the ideal spot for an MLS team.“Phoenix has shown all the right attributes. Market AnalysisAfter spending his childhood watching soccer in Hell, Berke Bakay isn’t cowed by the prospect of making it work in the desert. Sports Illustrated, Brian Straus/Sports Illustrated via Planet Futbol
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