Update and figures on Lerners potential sale of the Browns

A few updates on the news we broke yesterday regarding Lerner’s potential sale of the Browns, and it looks like the deal could go through pretty quickly.

Here is a quote from PFT, an American football website, detailing just how fast things can happen:

“The sale from Randy Lerner to Jimmy Haslam is on the “fast track,” and that the deal is expected to be approved when the owners next meet in August.”

Jimmy Haslam, the man interested in acquiring the Browns already owns a minority stake in another NFL team, so he’s known to the league and their owners, meaning that they should approve a deal to go through relatively quickly and without complication. It’s still unknown how much Lerner plans to sell of the Browns, but the suggestion seems to be he’ll let it all go.

The same report also mentions Villa, and it’s an interesting line:

“There’s speculation in league circles that, apart from Lerner’s apparent lack of interest in being an NFL owner, he decided to liquidate the Browns because he needed the cash to finance the operations of his English soccer club, Aston Villa.”

We put out an article last night which quoted the Mirror in saying that Lerner wouldn’t be investing millions into the Villa, because he still wants us to turn a profit. The quote here though is interesting. I had read previously how he was reluctant to own the Browns, and certainly sees Villa as ‘his’ team. We’re finally turning things around financially after a tough few years, and with record kit and sponsorship deals, and the wages coming down, we’re moving in the right direction.

I’ve also spotted another report which provides figures on how much the deal could be worth, and this appeared on the Forbes website:

“Randy Lerner is in the process of selling the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League to James Haslam for $920 million, according to someone familiar with the deal but who has not been authorized to speak about it publicly.”

$920 million dollars. Wowzers. The same report also mentions us, and again it makes for interesting reading:

“It has been rumored ever since Al Lerner died in 2002 that his son, Randy, who bought the English soccer team Aston Villa in 2006, might sell the Browns. He is believed to be more interested in soccer than football and has pumped over $150 million into the struggling soccer team. Two years ago the team’s fans petitioned Lerner to sell the Browns.”

So we have some figures, and the deal looks like it’s getting done, and pretty soon. I still remain sure that regardless of any investment, if Lerner does sell the Browns, this can only be good for us.

UTV.