The San Jose Earthquakes soccer team announced Friday that media executive Heath Freeman is acquiring ownership of the organization and its home stadium, PayPal Park.
Freeman is president of Alden Global Capital LLC, a private equity firm that owns several newspapers around the country, and chairman of the radio company Cumulus Media. He is buying the team from John Fisher and Partners, with Major League Soccer’s Board of Governors unanimously approving the transfer of ownership.
The Earthquakes were a founding member of MLS in 1996 and were purchased in 2007 by Fisher, the heir to the clothing company Gap Inc. who also owns the Athletics baseball team that left Oakland in 2024 and is building a new stadium in Las Vegas. Fisher privately financed the construction of the 18,000-seat PayPal Park, which opened in San Jose in 2015.
The team is in the first round of the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs and face Houston Dynamo FC in Game 1 of a best-of-3 series on Nov. 24 in San Jose.
“My family and I are honored and humbled to be the next generation owners of the San Jose Earthquakes. I would like to thank John Fisher and the Fisher family for their confidence in me. I know how much they love this team and we expect to continue making them proud in this new era of the Quakes,” Freeman said in the team’s statement.
Fisher said in the statement, “My family and I have loved owning this club for almost 20 years and we are extremely grateful for the support of our amazing fans as well as the hard work of all of our coaches, players and staff.”
