A prominent US real estate family has been announced as the new majority owners of the A-League club Western United.
It was announced that the Kaminski family had agreed to acquire a controlling stake of the Tarneit-based franchise and its parent company Western Melbourne Group (WMG) on Friday, May 2.
The club is set to be acquired under the KAM Melbourne, a subsidiary of the family’s KAM Sports company that owns and manages sports assets in Europe and North America.
Chairman and co-founder Maciek Kaminski said the building of the proposed 15,000-seat Wyndham City Stadium and adjacent sporting precinct was a part of the commitment.
“The prospect of being the first sports team to fully own their stadium is exciting and we look forward to accelerating the development of this and seeing it filled with local community and supporters,” Mr Kaminiski said.
He said that the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on the western suburbs was also a big driver in the company’s maiden investment in Australian sports.
“The combination of integrating sport and real estate to make a meaningful impact in the local community in the west attracted us to this opportunity,” he said.
“The continued development of local talent, both male and female, and creating grassroots to elite pathways under the Western United brand is top-of-mind for us.”
WMG chairman Jason Sourasis said that the group was “thrilled” by the purchase and that he expects the move will bring social and economic benefits for Wyndham and the wider west.
“Most importantly, it allows for the acceleration of sporting pathways for boys and girls in the west of Melbourne, allowing them to dream big” while supporting their local teams and hopefully following in the footsteps of their sporting idols,” Mr Sourasis said.
The transaction is subject to successful completion of the necessary approval processes by Wyndham council, the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) and regulatory processes by Football Australia (FA).
