Pakistani-American Buys Rams For $500 Million
What is NFL? It is America's National Football League, the biggest sports franchise business in the world. It's much bigger the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket franchise which is much better known to South Asians. The IPL has particularly been in the news lately for its controversial exclusion of Pakistani cricket players. Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan, who criticized Pakistanis' exclusion from IPL, has come under attack by right-wing Hindu extremists who are rampaging through the streets in India, burning theaters screening Khan's latest movie.
Today's media reports indicate that a Pakistani-American Shahid Khan of Illinois is in $450-$750 million deal to buy the NFL team St. Louis Rams. The final price will depend on whether Khan gets 60% or 100% of the stake in the NFL franchise. Khan, 55, is the president of Flex-N-Gate Corp., an auto-parts manufacturer in Urbana, Illinois with $2 billion in annual revenue. He has lived in the Champaign-Urbana area for more than 40 years and is married with two adult children. Khan is a graduate of the School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois.
Flex-N-Gate employs over 9,500 people at 48 manufacturing and 9 product development and engineering facilities throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, and Spain. Khan, 55, and his wife, Ann Khan, live in Champaign. He has given millions of dollars to his alma mater, including funding a 2007 major expansion of the university’s tennis facilities — now called the Shahid and Ann Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex.
To put this deal in perspective for South Asian readers, "Mumbai Indians", the most expensive of the eight IPL franchises, was bought by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani for $112 million.
This season, each of the 32 NFL team owners were limited to $127m in salaries for their entire squad of players. That means some footballers are handsomely paid - Drew Brees, the star quarterback of the recent Superbowl winner the New Orleans Saints, has a six years $60m contract. By contrast, the most expensive IPL players fetch less than a million dollar bids, which are still the highest in the world for cricket players.
Indian cricket has taken a page from the big sports franchises in the West. Forbes magazine reports that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), a nonprofit body controlling the game in the country, has racked up $1 billion to date from selling commercial rights to Indian cricket for the next five years. (One source: Nike paid $45 million to flash its logo on players' apparel and to sell garments to cricket fans.) "It's all about extracting the most value," said Lalit Modi, BCCI's new marketing chief, who hopes to eventually make $1.5 billion from Indian cricket, ten times what BCCI made in the last go-around.
In both IPL and NFL, the biggest source of revenue is the sale of television rights, followed by brand name merchandise sales, ticket sales and endorsement deals.
Shahid Khan is obviously an outstanding success story for Pakistani-Americans. Nationwide, Pakistani-Americans appear to be prospering. The US census calculated that mean household income in the United States in 2002 was $57,852 annually, while that for Asian households, which includes Pakistanis, was $70,047.
Hard numbers on how many people of Pakistani descent live in the United States do not exist, but a book published by Harvard University Press on charitable donations among Pakistani-Americans, “Portrait of a Giving Community by Professor Adil Najam,” puts the number around 500,000, with some 35 percent or more of them in the New York metropolitan area. Chicago has fewer than 100,000, while other significant clusters exist in California, Texas and Washington, D.C.
New York Times estimate of 109,000 Pakistani-born American workers' occupations include salesmen, managers or administrators, drivers, doctors and accountants as the top five categories.
Pakistani-Americans political participation remains woefully inadequate. But there are some signs that it is starting to happen at various levels starting from from local communities to state legislatures.
Related Links:
Pakistani-American Elected Mayor
Edible Arrangements--Pakistani-American's Success Story
Pakistani-Americans in Silicon Valley
IPL Mixes Sports, Business and Entertainment
HDF Fundraiser in Silicon Valley For Pakistan
Pakistani Diaspora in America
Asian-Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues
New York City's Pakistani Population
Pakistani-Americans in NYC
NED Alumni Convention Draws 400
NEDians Convention 2007 in Silicon Valley
Muslim Demographics in America
Pakistanis in America
Pakistani-Americans Wikipedia Entry
Illegal Immigration From India to America Hits 125%
Pakistanis Find US Easier Fit than Britain
Portrait of a Giving Community
India's Washington Lobby
Occupations of Pakistani-Americans--New York Times
American Football Faces Financial Reform
Indian Premier League
Pakistani Engineer is New NFL Owner
Today's media reports indicate that a Pakistani-American Shahid Khan of Illinois is in $450-$750 million deal to buy the NFL team St. Louis Rams. The final price will depend on whether Khan gets 60% or 100% of the stake in the NFL franchise. Khan, 55, is the president of Flex-N-Gate Corp., an auto-parts manufacturer in Urbana, Illinois with $2 billion in annual revenue. He has lived in the Champaign-Urbana area for more than 40 years and is married with two adult children. Khan is a graduate of the School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois.
Flex-N-Gate employs over 9,500 people at 48 manufacturing and 9 product development and engineering facilities throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, and Spain. Khan, 55, and his wife, Ann Khan, live in Champaign. He has given millions of dollars to his alma mater, including funding a 2007 major expansion of the university’s tennis facilities — now called the Shahid and Ann Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex.
To put this deal in perspective for South Asian readers, "Mumbai Indians", the most expensive of the eight IPL franchises, was bought by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani for $112 million.
This season, each of the 32 NFL team owners were limited to $127m in salaries for their entire squad of players. That means some footballers are handsomely paid - Drew Brees, the star quarterback of the recent Superbowl winner the New Orleans Saints, has a six years $60m contract. By contrast, the most expensive IPL players fetch less than a million dollar bids, which are still the highest in the world for cricket players.
Indian cricket has taken a page from the big sports franchises in the West. Forbes magazine reports that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), a nonprofit body controlling the game in the country, has racked up $1 billion to date from selling commercial rights to Indian cricket for the next five years. (One source: Nike paid $45 million to flash its logo on players' apparel and to sell garments to cricket fans.) "It's all about extracting the most value," said Lalit Modi, BCCI's new marketing chief, who hopes to eventually make $1.5 billion from Indian cricket, ten times what BCCI made in the last go-around.
In both IPL and NFL, the biggest source of revenue is the sale of television rights, followed by brand name merchandise sales, ticket sales and endorsement deals.
Shahid Khan is obviously an outstanding success story for Pakistani-Americans. Nationwide, Pakistani-Americans appear to be prospering. The US census calculated that mean household income in the United States in 2002 was $57,852 annually, while that for Asian households, which includes Pakistanis, was $70,047.
Hard numbers on how many people of Pakistani descent live in the United States do not exist, but a book published by Harvard University Press on charitable donations among Pakistani-Americans, “Portrait of a Giving Community by Professor Adil Najam,” puts the number around 500,000, with some 35 percent or more of them in the New York metropolitan area. Chicago has fewer than 100,000, while other significant clusters exist in California, Texas and Washington, D.C.
New York Times estimate of 109,000 Pakistani-born American workers' occupations include salesmen, managers or administrators, drivers, doctors and accountants as the top five categories.
Pakistani-Americans political participation remains woefully inadequate. But there are some signs that it is starting to happen at various levels starting from from local communities to state legislatures.
Related Links:
Pakistani-American Elected Mayor
Edible Arrangements--Pakistani-American's Success Story
Pakistani-Americans in Silicon Valley
IPL Mixes Sports, Business and Entertainment
HDF Fundraiser in Silicon Valley For Pakistan
Pakistani Diaspora in America
Asian-Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues
New York City's Pakistani Population
Pakistani-Americans in NYC
NED Alumni Convention Draws 400
NEDians Convention 2007 in Silicon Valley
Muslim Demographics in America
Pakistanis in America
Pakistani-Americans Wikipedia Entry
Illegal Immigration From India to America Hits 125%
Pakistanis Find US Easier Fit than Britain
Portrait of a Giving Community
India's Washington Lobby
Occupations of Pakistani-Americans--New York Times
American Football Faces Financial Reform
Indian Premier League
Pakistani Engineer is New NFL Owner
Comments
Here's an excerpt from an stltoday story:
The sale seemed almost complete just a few days after the Super Bowl in February when Shahid Khan of Urbana, Ill., an auto parts manufacturer, entered into a sales agreement with the Rams.
Two months later, Kroenke surprised just about everyone, Rosenbloom and Rodriguez included, when he exercised a right of first refusal matching the Khan sales agreement.
And now, four months after exercising that right, Stan is the man running the Rams.
"I have nothing but best wishes for Stan Kroenke as the new controlling owner of the St. Louis Rams," Khan said in a statement. "I have gotten to know Stan very well this year, I admire his success and I am certain he will be an excellent owner for the Rams, the National Football League and the St. Louis community.
"I'll always appreciate the trust Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez put in me, and I thank Commissioner Roger Goodell and team owners for their professional approach in everything related to the sale process. This adventure didn't turn out the way I had hoped, but it was otherwise a worthwhile experience in every respect and I'll always be a fan of the St. Louis Rams."
It is thought that India loves cricket. This is incorrect. India loves India. Cricket gives us the opportunity to express this affection. The local cricket match in India is unattended. Even World Cup matches featuring two other sides will be played without spectators, no matter what the calibre of the players. This is unlike World Cup football, or American football and basketball. What attracts Indian spectators isn’t cricket the sport in that sense.
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One unique thing is how Indian spectators are silent when the other team scores. On television it’s as if the screen has gone mute. It’s not about enjoying a sport and appreciating the ability of professionals to play it. It’s about nationalism, which in India is narrow and zero-sum. If they score even a little victory, a boundary, our tumescence droops. The Bengali thinks he’s different, but this is untrue. Imminent defeat against the Lankans in 1996’s World Cup resulted in Kolkatans rioting in Eden Gardens, and, as Indians tend to do, damaging the property that they could barely afford.
The Indian team is overrated because our fierce nationalism inflates its capacity. This has been amplified recently because of our economic power. Ten years ago, opponents thought little of us, and rightly. Against the quality team, India’s record is to fold. We regularly get a thrashing from Australia (won 36, lost 61), old enemy Pakistan (47:69), and newcomers South Africa (24:40). Even West Indies, 25 years in decline, have a superior record (39:54).
Usually, Indians are happy if their team wins the skirmish and loses the battle. This is because national honour is often safeguarded by the hero. The astute Ian Chappell noticed that Indians were content if Sachin Tendulkar scored his hundred even if India then lost. In Australia, this would never happen, he said, and it would be seen as defeat, which it is. Since his audience telegraphs this, the Indian cricketer plays for himself much more than players of other sides. An analysis of Tendulkar’s scoring pattern between 90 and 100 will be interesting.
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The Indian is deeply prejudiced against Africans and black players have always been targeted (some will be offended by this sweeping allegation. I am open to the suggestion that the Indian is an equal-opportunity vandal). A bottle hit Vasbert Drakes at Rajkot in 2002. This sort of thing has now stopped. Why? Because Indian spectators are watched over, like inmates.
On all Indian grounds, a wire mesh now separates players from the unpredictable Indian audience. This is shameful, but passes unnoticed in our culture. In Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies and England, this isn’t needed.
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Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri are second rate: no lucidity, little insight and speaking only in stock phrase and cliche. In Shastri’s case, this is often incorrect cliche: “You can be rest assured...” Sanjay Manjrekar is better and so, though more evidence is needed, is Sourav Ganguly.
Navjot Singh Sidhu is original, and perfect for Indians. He’s Wodehousian, spouting rubbish with an air of magnificence. A sort of developing world’s Psmith. It is why he’s so popular with us, because the equation is: content < spectacle. Harsha Bhogle works on his language, and is committed enough to wear a hairpiece, but he’s fluffy and boring—a unique double whammy. If we must have fluff, I prefer Mandira Bedi. Lovely body and she puts it on display well.
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For Indian players this has meant more cash—vast sums from advertising. For Indian spectators it has meant more advertising. Advertisements between overs, advertisements between balls. Intrusive, invasive, relentless, shameless flogging. Strokes renamed by sponsors, sixes renamed after sponsors. Such vulgarity is not off-putting to Indians, which is why it continues and has increased in time.
Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The Jacksonville Jaguars will be sold to Shahid Khan, the owner of auto-parts maker Flex-N-Gate Corp. who failed in a bid last year to buy the National Football League’s St. Louis Rams.
The Jaguars, who have a 3-8 record this season and fired coach Jack Del Rio today, are the only team in the four major U.S. professional sports to play in Jacksonville. Khan plans to keep the franchise in the northeast Florida city rather than relocate, owner Wayne Weaver said at a news conference.
“It’s a little bittersweet,” said the 76-year-old Weaver, who called the sale an exit strategy. “I’ll miss it because it’s been a big part of our lives for 18 years. But it’s the right time and it’s for the right reasons.”
The Jaguars have an estimated value of $725 million, the lowest in the NFL, according to Forbes. They rank 26th among the NFL’s 32 teams in attendance this season.
Khan, a native of Pakistan whose company is based in Urbana, Illinois, agreed in February 2010 to buy a controlling interest in the Rams before billionaire Stan Kroenke exercised an option to purchase the 60 percent of the club he didn’t own.
“He said he really wanted to buy a team and do it here in Jacksonville,” Weaver said. “This gentleman is absolutely the American story. He’s passionate about football and he’s going to buy a home here in Jacksonville.”
Weaver, the owner of shoe retailer Shoe Carnival Inc. and chairman of wholesale distributor Liz Claiborne Shoes, bought the Jaguars for $208 million in 1993, two years before they started play as an expansion team. Weaver said he refused to take several calls from interested buyers in California, where the city of Los Angeles remains without an NFL franchise.
‘Wasting Time’
“It was wasting my time and their time,” Weaver said without identifying the interested parties. “We had no interest. We’re a Jacksonville franchise and we plan to stay a Jacksonville franchise.”
Khan left Pakistan in 1967 at the age of 16 to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and began working for Flex-N-Gate three years later while still an engineering student. Khan left the company in 1978 to begin a business that designed and manufactured lightweight metal bumper systems, with no seams to corrode or rust.
Today, almost two-thirds of all North American-built pick- up trucks and sports utility vehicles have bumper systems based on Khan’s designs, according to figures released by the Jaguars today. Khan bought Flex-N-Gate in 1980 and the company now has more than 10,000 employees at 48 manufacturing plants with annual sales exceeding $3 billion.
‘Dream Come True’
“Owning a team in the National Football League has long been my personal and professional goal,” said Khan, whose purchase could be formally completed in January. “Becoming the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars would be a dream come true for me and my family but, above all, would be a privilege.”
The team made the playoffs in four of its first five seasons and has been to the postseason twice since. Jacksonville last finished with a winning record in 2007 and has had a series of home games “blacked out,” which means they can’t be televised locally if tickets aren’t sold out 72 hours before kickoff at EverBank Field.
“We’ve got a lot of tickets to sell before these last few games,” Weaver said. “I would hope the community would respond and support us in a positive way. We’re still a small market and growing.”
The Jaguars cut starting quarterback David Garrard in September five days before their first regular-season game, a move that saved the team $9 million..
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-29/nfl-s-jaguars-to-be-sold-to-khan-remain-in-jacksonville.html
Thank goodness pro football doesn't have a salary cap on boats.
The NFL's newest owner, Shahid Khan, is looking to unload his majestic 223-foot yacht for the cool price of $112 million. The Jacksonville Jaguars boss recently put the 2007 German-made vessel he calls the Kismet up for sale with Moran Yacht & Ship of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
What do you get for $112 million? A better question would be what don't you get? The ship comes loaded with a formal dining salon, disco, teak decks, jacuzzi, sauna and gym. High-end woodwork details everything from a beer keg to a motorcycle hatch with crane. There's also a 25-foot Chris Craft boat, Yamaha WaveRunners and other surpasses, the Florida Times-Union reports.
The ship sleeps 12 guests in six impressive staterooms with crew of 17, including three stewardesses, a chef, a sous chef and the always important masseuse, beautician and therapist.
If the asking price is too high for your modest budget, Khan is making his big boat available to rent as the much more affordable price of $600,000 per week -- plus expenses -- for Caribbean cruises over the winter and about $789,000 a week for summer trips to the Mediterranean, according to the Times-Union.
Khan denied he's selling the boat to help cover the cost of buying the Jaguars. "That check has cleared. (The boat being for sale) is totally unrelated to the Jaguars," Khan told the Jacksonville Daily Record. (He also said if he had owned the Jaguars a few years ago he would have had Jacksonville select Tim Tebow.)
By the way, the Kismet's asking price ($112 million) is 34 percent more than the entire Jaguars player payroll (around $73 million) last season.
http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/list/201202/shahid-khan-yacht-for-sale#1
Last week’s sale of the Jacksonville Jaguars thrust soon-to-be new NFL owner Shahid Khan into the spotlight. A low profile private businessman for 30 years at Flex-N-Gate, an international auto supply company, he had rarely appeared in national press and never before was listed among the Forbes 400 Richest Americans or on our list of the world’s billionaires. Khan’s acquisition of the NFL team for $760 million and the strong performance of his company suggest that indeed he may be one of the richest people in America.
A naturalized U.S. citizen, Khan immigrated from Pakistan in 1967 at age 16. He built his wealth, which is likely enough to earn him a spot among the world’s billionaires in our 2012 rankings, through Flex-N-Gate, which he originally joined while earning his engineering degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Khan left Flex-N-Gate in1978 to found his own company, Bumper Works, and created a new one-piece car bumper design that would become the industry standard. He bought his former employer two years later and merged operations. Over the next two decades, Khan expanded Flex-N-Gate’s operations with contracts to provide parts to many of the largest automobile companies, including Toyota.
Still a private company, Flex-N-Gate surpassed $3 billion in sales this year, according to the company, making it the 14th largest North American automotive supplier. It employs over 12,450 people internationally at plants throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, and Spain. Flex-N-Gate’s manufacturing expertise has expanded to include interior and exterior plastics, lighting systems, mechanical assemblies, metal structural body components, and exterior metal parts.
Khan previously tried to buy the St. Louis Rams last year, but was blocked when fellow billionaire and then-minority Rams owner Stan Kroenke exercised his right of first refusal option to purchase the team himself. He has agreed to pay $760 million this time for 100 percent control of the Jaguars; that price includes the assumption of the team’s debt and some debt of his own.
The new Jaguars owner has a complicated history with the IRS, which accused Khan and his wife of trying to illegally shelter $250 million from federal taxes from 1999 to 2003. Khan, who has said he repaid the $68 million in disputed taxes, currently has lawsuits pending against both the IRS and his former financial advisers.
Outside of Flex-N-Gate, Khan also founded and owns two smaller companies, Bio-Alternative, a bio-diesel tech company, and Smart Structures, which monitors the structural health of bridges.
Khan and his wife Ann have also given back millions of dollars to their alma mater, the University of Illinois. On campus, they’ve endowed five Khan Professorships, the Khan Annex library expansion, and the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2011/12/05/private-billionaire-shahid-khan-revealed-in-jaguars-sale/