Page 145 - OVATION Magazine (Issue 1)

L.A. STORY
came up with a set of ground rules of the partnership as it relates to tickets, access, and things like that, and everybody’s accepted that from the beginning. It’s been a very, very high-functioning group.”
LAFC’s owners have never all been in the same room together, but many of them—including Johnson, Hamm, Garciaparra, and Ferrell—are regulars at home games.“We built a giant director’s box at center pitch that is the loca- tion for the best seats in the house,” Penn says.“Most of the owners have their tickets in the director’s box, so we hang together in one big suite.”
Ferrell has even been known to follow the team outside of Los Angeles.“For a game in Portland,Will flew up there,
landed at the airport, then took the train from the airport to the hotel, where he picked up his son, then took the train
to the game, spent all night with us there at the stadium, and then walked through the city to the post-party with our sponsors and employees at the hotel,” says Penn.“He literally hung out with the entire group, sat with us and the coaches until 1 in the morning.Will is really a dedicated, unbelievably cool guy and a true member of the club.”
As for the many other dedicated, cool—and incredibly wealthy—people who would like to join Penn’s club, his answer most likely remains no. For now, at least, the sports world’s most star-studded ownership group will stay at 31 members.
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