From NBA Courts to Balearic Pitches: The Yank Dream Team Owning Mallorca
RCD Mallorca's ownership group – featuring NBA stars Steve Kerr and Steve Nash, tennis pro Andy Kohlberg, and ex-US international Stu Holden – marks 10 years since their $23.86m purchase. They've weathered relegations and promotions to cement a place in LaLiga, with a Copa del Rey final highlight. As reported by Sid Lowe at ESPN Spain, their shared athletic mindset is the secret sauce.
From NBA Courts to Balearic Pitches: The Yank Dream Team Owning Mallorca
Picture this: you're Steve Kerr, nine-time NBA champ and Golden State Warriors gaffer, chilling in sunny Phoenix. Your mate Andy Kohlberg, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist tennis ace, pitches you on buying a Spanish football club. Right sport? Wrong. But what a punt.
As reported by Sid Lowe at ESPN Spain, this motley crew – Kohlberg, Kerr, two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash, and ex-USMNT midfielder Stu Holden – snapped up RCD Mallorca back in January 2016 for $23.86 million. Kohlberg, now president and majority shareholder after buying out ex-Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver, calls it a 'gem' on a paradise island drawing 16 million tourists a year.
A Cross-Sport Brotherhood
The glue? Sport itself. These lads bonded over Suns days and a shared athlete's mindset. 'Athletes understand,' Kohlberg reckons, lumping tennis greats like McEnroe and Lendl in with Messi, Ronaldo, Curry, and his co-owners. Kerr jokes it's 'nicer still' to be name-dropped.
Nash, Canadian-born but raised in a football-mad family (dad from Tottenham's neck of the woods), grew up kicking balls into swimming pools during youth games. 'Goal was my first word,' he laughs. Holden, with Premier League stints at Bolton and beyond, rates Nash a Pirlo-lite No. 6 – vision for days. 'He could've hacked it at Burnley, maybe.' Pub banter gold, that.
They eyed England's Championship but baulked at the prices. Mallorca, bottom of Segunda División then, was the one. Island life plus untapped potential? Sold.
Rollercoaster to LaLiga Stability
It's been a wild ride. Two relegations, three promotions – bouncing from Segunda to Primera RFEF and back. Now in their fifth LaLiga season, they've posted 16th, 9th, 15th, and 10th finishes. Pride peaked with a 2024 Copa del Rey final run, heartbreak against the odds but pure class.
Kohlberg admits early days were grim: away days at minnows, balls plopping into pools. Nash recalls Nash-era lows: 'Pfff, long way from Barcelona.' Yet here they are, Camelback Mountain backdrop, toasting a decade. Kerr calls it a 'no-brainer' – friends, beauty (shoutout Chopin), top-flight footy.
Holden got the Nash call: 'Fancy owning a European club?' Instant yes. Why Mallorca? 'Have you been?!'
Why It Works (And Why It's Fun)
Sport transcends codes here. Basketball's global pull meets football's universality – Kohlberg's big bet. Nash notes the NBA shift: once soccer-blind, now everyone's got a team. These owners bring that winning edge, no egos, just results.
Mallorca face Real Madrid soon – stream it if you're stateside. But the real story? Unlikely heroes turning a struggler into LaLiga regulars. Cross-sport dreams do come true. Fancy a pint to mull that over?
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