Steve Nash’s love for soccer has been well documented, so much so that he even once mentioning how he had visions of owning Tottenham Hotspur. Well his ownership jones has been satisfied recently after the MLS approved his four man ownership group for the expansion franchise in Vancouver that will begin play in his home province of British Columbia in 2011. from ESPN.com:
“I’ll take it,” Nash said with glee over the phone, acknowledging that it’s the first lift in terms of sports he’s felt in ages, as the prospect of missing the playoffs for the first time since the 1999-2000 season with Dallas is growing more likely by the day for the 35-year-old.
“I’m really, really excited about it.”
After exploring the possibility of a commercial role as a worldwide ambassador with his beloved Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League, Nash shifted his focus to trying to secure a more involved role as a co-owner of the Vancouver Whitecaps, who won a championship in the fabled (but ill-fated) North American Soccer League in 1979 and have survived as a franchise in various lower leagues to this day.
Nash’s brother, Martin, has played 38 times for the Canadian national team and serves as the midfield backbone and captain for the modern-day Whitecaps, who are the reigning champions of the United Soccer League’s first division, which is one rung below MLS on the North American footy pyramid.
Truth be told, Steve would almost certainly rather play for the Whitecaps than run them, given his offseason addiction to playing soccer several times a week in New York City. Former U.S. national team and current L.A. Galaxy coach Bruce Arena once said that he thought Nash still had time to make it as an MLS player if he switched sports.
Yet Nash sounds content to proceed in management alongside current Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot and the two other investors: Boston Celtics minority owner and Seagate Technology chairman Steve Luczo as well as Nash’s close friend Jeff Mallett, who was in Canada’s national soccer program as a player before graduating to heavyweight positions in adulthood as the former president of Yahoo! and his current roles as a part-owner of the San Francisco Giants and with Derby County in English soccer’s second tier.
“We haven’t defined my role exactly yet, but I don’t expect being that hands-on,” Nash said. “Of course I want to understand all the mechanisms and learn as much as I can about the youth academy, our transfer policy and our roster, but it’s more that I’m going to be a Whitecaps superfan. It’s going to be more from the standpoint of passion [at the beginning] than me wanting to be in there making decisions every day.”
It also seems safe to presume that Nash will be utilized as an unofficial recruiter for MLS, given his growing relationship with commissioner Don Garber and an address book on his handheld phone filled with numbers from the world of international football. Among Nash’s close pals are the likes of Thierry Henry and Alessandro Del Piero, international stars likely to be pursued by MLS as they move into the later stages of their careers.
As for his NBA day job, Nash is sticking to what he said in October and again in February about playing at least three more seasons — with free agency still looming in the summer of 2010 unless he and the Suns can agree to an extension this summer — before making the full-time shift to his various off-court interests in soccer and filmmaking.
