Ron Burkle

A lawsuit has now been filed over the collapsed major league soccer stadium agreement in the Sacramento Railyards. Construction company Icon Venue Group is suing billionaire Ron Burkle and several partners for fraud, and breach of contract.

Four months after he torpedoed Sacramento’s Major League Soccer effort, billionaire Ron Burkle is being sued by the company that was developing the city’s MLS stadium. Icon Venue Group — a nationally-known stadium developer — sued Burkle and his business partner, Matt Alvarez, for fraud and breach of contract, saying the two men lulled Icon into believing the MLS project was on track despite lingering details that needed to be resolved.

Whether the Sacramento market still joins the National Women’s Soccer League as an expansion team depends on Ron Burkle — at least, in part. The billionaire recently pulled out as lead investor of the proposed MLS expansion bid in Sacramento, sending that, a nine-figure stadium development, and a NWSL expansion team into doubt.

In a Friday news dump for the ages, Major League Soccer announced at 7:49 p.m. Eastern Friday that Ron Burkle, the planned majority owner of the upcoming MLS expansion team in Sacramento (and the co-owner of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, and a billionaire from his The Yucaipa Companies private equity firm) has pulled out of the project. That doesn’t necessarily mean that there won’t be a MLS team in Sacramento in 2023 as planned (initially 2022, but bumped a year last July “as a result of the coronavirus pandemic,” with the current Sacramento Republic FC slated to play in the USL Championship until then); another majority owner could step up. But it does mean that expansion now looks a lot less certain. Here’s the MLS statement on this:

Friday’s shock news that billionaire Ron Burkle has departed as the lead investor of MLS’s expansion team in Sacramento leads to many questions, not least: What’s next?. Time will tell on that front, but in the immediate aftermath, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is not ready to throw in the towel on the effort to bring MLS to his city.

Major League Soccer, L.L.C. Sacramento's roller coaster journey to join Major League Soccer has taken a dramatic downward arc, with Mayor Darrell Steinberg announcing Friday that billionaire and lead investor Ron Burkle is no longer part of the bid. "I am very disappointed in Ron Burkle’s decision to step out...

Huge news dropping Friday evening, that Ron Burkle was pulling out as the lead investor of Sacramento’s MLS team. The result? Sacramento Republic’s plans to enter MLS in 2023 are on ice — and potentially cancelled in the long run. It’s a bitter blow for Sacramento soccer fans who have...

Major League Soccer very quietly announced on Friday that Ron Burkle will no longer be the majority owner of Sacramento’s MLS expansion team. Earlier today, Ron Burkle informed the League that based on issues with the project related to COVID-19, he has decided to not move forward with the acquisition of an MLS expansion team in Sacramento.

NEW YORK — Major League Soccer says Ron Burkle has backed out of plans for an expansion team in Sacramento, California, that was scheduled to start play in 2023. The league said in a statement Friday night that Burkle’s decision was “based on issues with the project related to COVID-19.”

Friday’s shock news that lead investor Ron Burkle was no longer going to be involved in Sacramento’s MLS expansion bid, therefore blowing the entire thing up for the time being, perhaps permanently, obviously altered the landscape of soccer in the community. The news seemed to take all parties aback, with...

Neverland Ranch, the onetime amusement park-inspired home of Michael Jackson, has finally changed hands. After five years and some price cuts, billionaire investor Ron Burkle bought the Los Olivos property for $22 million — a steep discount from the $100 million initially sought in 2015. The Wall Street Journal first...

Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle is the new owner of Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. On Saturday (December 26), Burkle's spokesperson confirmed to CNN that his client bought the famous property. The Wall Street Journal reported that he bought the estate for $22 million. The "Thriller" singer originally purchased the 2,700-acre...

Michael Jackson’s famous property, Neverland Ranch, was purchased Saturday by billionaire businessman Ron Burkle. The property was first purchased by Jackson in 1987 for an estimated $19.5 million. Jackson, who died in 2009, had lived at the ranch in Santa Barbara County, California, for about 17 years. The 2,700-acre ranch...

(CNN) — The property formerly known as Neverland Ranch, home to the late Michael Jackson, has been purchased by Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle, Burkle's spokesman confirmed to CNN Saturday. Spokesman Frank Quintero did not confirm the purchase price, but The Wall Street Journal reported it was $22 million. Burkle...