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An American billionaire is spending part of his family fortune saving a lowly English soccer team from possible extinction.
Bob Rich has bought into the Bedlington Terriers, a team near the Scottish border that competes in the ninth tier of English soccer in front of about 60 fans.
The 70-year-old native of Buffalo, N.Y., and chairman of frozen food giant Rich Products Corp. became interested in the Terriers when he discovered he was a descendant of a Lord of Bedlington, according to The New York Times.
Americans investing in top English soccer clubs is not new. Malcolm Glazer owns both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Manchester United, while the famous Liverpool Football Club is onto its second American owners after Boston Red Sox bosses John W. Henry and Tom Werner took over the team last year. Randy Lerner owns both the NFL's Cleveland Browns and the Premier League's Aston Villa club.
Bedlington, however, is far from soccer's glitz.
The Terriers' home stadium is called Welfare Park, and the team's annual budget is about $128,000 a year.
So far, Bedlington's Buffalo benefactor has spent money on team sponsorship and bought a new scoreboard for Welfare Park.
He also plans to offer expertise in marketing, grounds keeping and customer relations.
"The town lost its identity," John Garbutt, a Bedlington Terriers' official, told the Times. "All of a sudden, we're on the up and up. We're giving the community back its heart is the way I see it."
Read more at The New York Times.
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