Juan Domingo Beckmann, the $11.3 billion heir to Jose Cuervo, now controls Los Angeles Football Club through a new investor group that values the MLS franchise at $1.25 billion—the league's second-highest valuation behind Atlanta United's $2 billion figure from late 2023. The deal doubles LAFC's $625 million implied value when Larry Berg's group sold a stake to Arctos Partners in 2020.
The consortium includes Beckmann's Beckmann Capital, LA-based real estate developer Rick Caruso, and several undisclosed family offices with Southern California industrial holdings. Founding owner Berg retains a minority position; his exact stake was not disclosed, though people familiar with the structure say it sits below 20 percent. The transaction closed in early January after eight months of quiet negotiation that began at a private dinner in Beverly Hills last May, where Beckmann sat two seats from MLS Commissioner Don Garber.
The $1.25 billion number reflects LAFC's stadium asset—the club owns BMO Stadium outright, unlike most MLS franchises—and the Southern California broadcast footprint that delivered 31 locally televised matches in 2024, the highest in the league. Beckmann's interest follows a pattern: Cuervo's U.S. marketing budget skews 68 percent toward Hispanic-majority metro areas, per Kantar data, and LAFC's season-ticket base is 54 percent Latino, the third-highest proportion in MLS. The overlap is not incidental. Beckmann's team met with the club's commercial staff four times before the deal closed, each meeting focused on activation inventory: jersey placement, stadium pour rights, watch-party sponsorships in East LA and Boyle Heights.
Caruso's involvement adds a real estate dimension. His firm controls 12 million square feet of LA retail and mixed-use space, including The Grove and Palisades Village, both of which hosted LAFC watch parties during the 2023 playoffs. The club's front office has explored a training facility expansion in Thousand Oaks; Caruso's development group owns land adjacent to the proposed site. Whether that becomes a formal project depends on MLS's next collective-bargaining agreement, which will determine academy funding rules and training-facility standards. That CBA negotiation opens in March 2026.
The sale also clarifies succession at Arctos, the sports private-equity shop that took a 10 percent LAFC stake in 2020 and has since rotated into higher-multiple opportunities. Arctos exited fully in this transaction, booking a 2.4x gross return over four years. The firm's LAFC position was its first MLS bet; it has since deployed into three other franchises, none of which it will name. The partner who led the LAFC investment, Ian Charles, left Arctos in November and is raising a dedicated sports-infrastructure fund targeting $750 million. His first LP meetings are scheduled for late February.
Founder Berg, who paid $30 million for the expansion slot in 2014, remains on LAFC's board and will continue as a governor in MLS's ownership structure. His original group included actor Will Ferrell, former NBA executive Magic Johnson, and YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, all of whom reduced their stakes materially but did not exit entirely. Johnson's current holding is under 3 percent, per a person with knowledge of the cap table. Ferrell and Hurley's positions were not disclosed.
The valuation surge reflects MLS's broader trajectory. The league added $2.5 billion in expansion fees between 2019 and 2023, and Apple's $2.5 billion broadcast deal, which began in 2023, restructured economics around subscription revenue rather than linear ratings. LAFC finished second in the Western Conference in 2024, drawing an average of 22,143 fans per match, fourth in the league. The club's kit deal with YouTube expires in December 2025; renewal talks have not started, though two rival tech companies have made unsolicited outreach, according to a club executive.
Beckmann has not attended an LAFC match since the deal closed, though his son, Juan Leopoldo, sat in the owner's box for the January 18 friendly against Club León. The younger Beckmann wore a black LAFC bomber jacket, not club-issued, suggesting a custom order. He left at halftime.
Watch for Beckmann's first public appearance at BMO Stadium, likely during the April 5 match against the Galaxy, which coincides with Cuervo's spring marketing push. Also: Rick Caruso's development group is expected to file a land-use application in Thousand Oaks by mid-March, and YouTube's kit renewal window opens informally in May, though the club can negotiate earlier if a competitor offers a term sheet. The new ownership group has also scheduled a sponsor summit in Marina del Rey for late February, with 18 current and prospective partners invited.
The takeaway
Beckmann's **$1.25B** LAFC buy doubles the 2020 valuation and stacks stadium ownership, broadcast reach, and Cuervo's Latino-market playbook into one asset.
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