Houston Dynamo Football Club majority owner and chairman Ted Segal has finalized the buyout of minority owners Gabriel Brener, Oscar De La Hoya and Ben Guill, the club announced on Thursday.
📰 Majority Owner/Chairman Ted Segal increases his ownership stake in Club, while Lyle Ayes joins our ownership group.
— Houston Dynamo FC (@HoustonDynamo) August 25, 2022
The transaction sees the end of an investment into the Houston club for Brener and De La Hoya that started in 2008. Brener took controlling interest of the club in 2015 by bringing other investors into the fold, including Ben Guill, to buy the remaining fifty percent held by previous owners AEG.
"This is an important next step for our Club, and we thank Gabriel, Oscar and Ben for their partnership and considerable efforts on behalf of the Dynamo and Dash," Segal said. "As we look toward the future, these ownership changes underscore my dedication to the success of the Houston Dynamo Football Club on and off the field. Our work has just begun, but I firmly believe we are building the right culture and infrastructure to compete for championships, and I also remain firmly committed to using the Club’s platform to effect positive change in our community."
In addition, Lyle Ayes, Vice Chairman of the Club, has joined the Club as an equity investor. NBA player James Harden retains his minority stake in the team.
Brener and De La Hoya were resented for a long time by longtime Dynamo fans for their lack of involvement with the team. Guill, the more locally based of the three, is a senior member of the Board of Visitors and the Executive Committee for the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the official jersey sponsor of the Houston Dynamo and Dash, and recently became majority owner of La Liga 2 side Leganes in a partnership with former Astros GM Jeff Luhnow.
Ben Guill is a minority partner n @HoustonDynamo ownership: “I’m excited 2still have a small piece-We have a new owner-He says he’s gonna commit to spend money&make us better on the field-That’s what needs to happen..Shame on me&the previous ownership group 4not making it happen” pic.twitter.com/0qQwCff8jW
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) July 21, 2021
"He's excited, he's enthusiastic, he's said that he's going to commit to spend money and make us better on the field and make us a bigger part of the Houston community," Guill said of Ted Segal to FOX 26 Houston's Sports Director Mark Berman last year. "It needs to happen and shame on me and the previous ownership group for not making it happen."
Segal purchased the majority stake of Dynamo FC in 2021 for a reported price of $400 million. Figures for the the buyout of the minority owners are undisclosed.
In the first year under the New York based businessman, the Dynamo has seen changes to its top soccer executive, the first team head coach, brought a major Mexican men's national team player and a search is on for a new team president, among other moves. The NWSL Houston Dash has seen the appointment of a team president and general manager for the first time, a new head coaching hire and several big money moves for the women's game, including the permanent signing of Mexican women's national team star Maria Sanchez.