Report: David Blitzer, 76ers and Crystal Palace co-owner, interested in RSL

In what is some pretty stunning news dropping today, another party interested in Real Salt Lake has been revealed: David Blitzer, a minority owner at the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Devils.

That’s not all. Blitzer is also a minority owner at Crystal Palace in England, FC Augsburg in Germany, and Waasland-Beveren in Belgium. He’s also a senior executive at the Blackstone Group, a prominent private equity firm.

The report, which emerged from Sportico today, connected Blitzer with interest in buying Real Salt Lake, and that he’s “among roughly a dozen investors approved by the league to pursue the team.” The report also specifies that interest is not tied with Blitzer’s partnership with Josh Harris, who is in ownership groups at the 76ers, the Devils, and Crystal Palace, in addition to being a co-founder of Apollo Global Management.

It’s quite a revelation, and the article is worth your time.

The piece also indicates that Ryan Smith “hasn’t spoken with MLS in a handful of months, and isn’t currently in any active discussions on an acquisition.”

Another interesting tidbit: Inner Circle Sports has apparently been retained to sell the team. It does make sense that Don Garber isn’t out peddling Real Salt Lake on his own, but it’s still something we didn’t know publicly until today.

Is any of this meaningful? Very possibly. Do we want Real Salt Lake owned by a party without a connection to Utah? That might well be a different story.