The owners of the Chicago Cubs are interested in taking over AC Milan, whose present ownership was cast into further doubt on Friday. The Ricketts family, who bought the baseball team in 2009, released a statement saying they wanted to buy a controlling stake in the Serie A club, whose ownership has faced uncertainty in recent months.
The Ricketts family took a first foray into soccer in May, buying a Chicago expansion team that will play in the second-division USL. The Cubs had not won a championship in over a century before Ricketts took over in 2009. They won the World Series seven years later.
“The Ricketts family brought a championship to the Chicago Cubs through long-term investment and being great stewards of the team … They would bring this same approach to AC Milan,” the family said in a statement.
The Ricketts family’s statement comes as multiple reports in Italy on Friday have it that Chinese businessman Li Yonghong, who purchased Milan from former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi last year, missed a €32 million payment on the loan he used to purchase the team, which will allow investment firm Elliott Management to control the club.
Milan, which Forbes values at $612 million, have won Serie A 18 times, but only once since 2004. They’ve also been crowned European champions seven times, winning the Champions League in 2003 and 2007.