A minority owner in MLS side Sporting Kansas City has completed a deal to purchase a majority stake in the club from its current owners, a source confirmed to ESPN.
Sporting KC has been owned by the Illig family since 2006, but according to the source they are selling a 71 percent stake to minority owner Peter Mallouk, who already owns part of the team, to bring his stake up to 80 percent.
The purchase price Mallouk paid for the majority stake was based off a $700 million valuation of the club. According to a Forbes report on Feb. 21 of last year, Sporting KC was the 16th most valuable MLS franchise at $650 million.
The source added that while the deal was done, final calculations on debt structure were yet to be worked out.
«I’m born and raised in Kansas City, and I’ve forever loved Kansas City sports,» Mallouk told the KC Star. «So when the option presented itself, I was in. I didn’t hesitate.»
While Mallouk is now the majority shareholder of Sporting, a statement from the club said that the Illig family would still manage the day-to-day operations of the team and represent it on the MLS board of governors.
Forbes was the first to report that the Illigs were selling their majority stake.
Sporting KC, which finished last in the Western Conference last season, is one of MLS’ original franchises and began play in 1996 when it was known as the Kansas City Wiz.
Longtime coach Peter Vermes was fired at the beginning of the 2025 season after more than 15 years at the helm of the club. On Jan. 5, former Young Boys coach Raphael Wicky was named as the new head coach at Sporting.
ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle contributed to this report.
