Tampa Tycoon Takes on English Football: Behind Galinson's Gillingham Acquisition
"Tampa Tycoon Takes on English Football: Behind Galinson's Gillingham Acquisition"
Football is the world's most watched sport. As popular as it is, it has not captivated the largest market in the world, the United States. Yet, with recent entertaining shows like Ted Lasso and Welcome to Wrexham, which cater to Americans, many have become massive “footy” fans. For Brad Galinson, the story is no different. But he is more than just a fan. He is a football team owner. A real estate tycoon based out of Tampa, Florida, Galinson has always appreciated football from afar.
Brad Galinson and his Wife Shanon, attending the first game since their takeover(Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
"I was definitely more of an American Sports fan, yet I very much appreciated English football but didn't consider myself a die-hard fan."
“I didn't know a lot about it, but one of the things that intellectually intrigued me was the relegation and promotion system in Europe, and until you experience it, you don't realize how different it is compared to the US." In a nutshell, the promotion system dictates that the three best and worst performing teams move between leagues.
The English football leagues have seen a massive revolution of American investors crossing the pond and putting their money into the world's game. Yet, like many other Americans, what first drew Galinson to the idea of buying a football club was, believe it or not, Ted Lasso.
"It's a bit of a satire, although when you actually get to know English football, it's not. It's quite real and that probably had an effect on my decision. Most of it came from talking to fellow Americans who own football clubs. They are very open and shared a lot of their battle scars and the joy and sorrow of it. That was the way I became familiar with football."
Once Galinson focused on wanting to buy a football team in England, he needed to find a team to buy. Nowhere else made more sense than Gillingham United. A club in the county of Kent, which is in southeast England, Gillingham is one of the oldest football clubs in the world, dating back over 130 years, starting in 1893.
"So initially, we looked everywhere and looked at different leagues, but quickly, I liked League Two the most. Gillingham is actually interesting because it was a championship team for five years, and they own their own stadium with an 11,000 spectator capacity. It's small, but not that small for a League Two team, and a lot of clubs don't own their own stadiums. So that was a huge prerequisite."
Priestfield stadium from up above Gillingham
"The thing about Gillingham is even though it's a bit of a niche team, it's the only one out in Kent. Kent is a really, really big catchment area,
Galinson bought the team at “the end of 2022, relieving former owner Paul Scally of his duties as owner and top investor. Co-host of the ME7 podcast and season ticket holder Owen Stanley couldn't have been happier about the takeover.
"You know Paul (Scally) didn't have much care for us. I was very excited when the new American guy Brad Galinson came in last year. We sold out the stadium for his first game. To do something like that, especially when we sat 24th shows how excited we are."
When Galinson officially took over Gillingham, they sat rock bottom of League Two, threatening to get relegated out of the English Football League and dropping down to the National League below.
"So when we first came in,we were 24th, a lot of my focus was on who is gonna be our Director of Football ?What is the budget gonna be to get players in? Do we have the right manager to stay in the league?. Since then, I’ve been focused on how do we grow revenue,” said Galinson.
After their focus was directed away from the play on the field, he quickly realized how different football in England is compared to sports in America.
“League Two, League One and even Championship are local guys who love their teams. The chanting, home and away fans can't sit together; they have to enter and exit different places, the amount of alcohol they consume, and the amount of time they spend before, during and after a match – It is a beautiful thing. And it's not like anything I have ever seen in sports anywhere in the world. Definitely not in US sports."
Ashley Nadesan scoring against Crawley Town (Steven Paston/PA Images via Getty Images)
Many Gills fans feared the club might change with a new owner and how the club is run. Yet worries of the team “Americanizing” were all for nothing. As for the Gills Director of Operations, Joe Comper, he was delighted with how Galinson found the fine line between making changes and keeping the traditions of English football culture.
"You know, I think we are very lucky to have Brad and [his wife] Shannon. They appreciate the tradition and the history and I think they have found a really nice blend. I think it's a really clever thing to do and not all American owners get this right."
"They found a nice blend of saying, ‘okay, this is about entertainment. Sport is about entertainment, and that's what we should be about and everything we do.’ That's quite an American thing. They also now understand what makes football great is the tribalism, which may differ from American sports."
Entertainment is what they brought on the pitch as well as off. Since Galinson took Gillingham over, out of the 23 games remaining in the season, they were unbeaten in 17. That is not too shabby for a team that sat at rock bottom before Galinson took over.
"It is a beautiful thing and it's not like anything I have ever seen before in sports anywhere in the world. So I was not prepared for it but definitely grew to love it. You just can't explain it unless you are there to see it."
Indeed, footy is a beautiful game and we’ll see if other American owners follow Galinson’s lead.
