Giannis Antetokounmpo joins star-studded Nashville SC ownership group
Nashville SC principal owner John Ingram continued the team’s early fourth-season momentum with an announcement Thursday that two-time MVP and NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo has joined the team’s ownership group, joined by his brothers and Nashville Predators (NHL) all-time leading scorer Filip Forsberg.
Like Antetokounmpo, Thanasis, Kostas and Alex also play basketball. Thanasis won an NBA Championship with Giannis and the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, and Kostas won one with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2020 NBA bubble. He now plays for Fenerbahçe in Turkey. Alex, the youngest brother, plays for the Bucks’ NBA G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd.
Tennessee Titans star running back Derrick Henry along with actress Reese Witherspoon and her husband Jim Toth were recent additions to the diverse Nashville SC ownership group before the Antetokounmpo brothers and Forsberg joined. It was a longstanding goal for Giannis.
“My father was a professional soccer player, and it was the first sport I fell in love with in Greece,” Antetokounmpo said in a release from the team. “I’ve always had the dream of owning a soccer team. When my brothers and I explored Nashville SC, we knew it was a team and a city that we wanted to get involved with. I couldn’t be more excited to join the Boys in Gold, and can’t wait to come to a match at GEODIS Park soon!”
It’s early in the MLS season, but Nashville SC is currently No. 3 in the league’s Eastern Conference after a season-opening 2-0 victory over New York City FC last weekend. They will travel to face the New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
Other elite NBA players in Phoenix Suns F Kevin Durant (Philadelphia Union) and Philadelphia 76ers G James Harden (Houston Dynamo FC) have also invested in MLS teams.
In January, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes joined his wife, Brittany, in the ownership group of the Kansas City Current of the NWSL. He is the only active NFL player to have an ownership stake in a NWSL team.
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