CINCINNATI — FC Cincinnati have expanded ownership group with the addition of California couple Meg Whitman and Dr. Griff Harsh as new managing owners. The pair were announced on Wednesday by the club after gaining approval from the Major League Soccer Board of Governors.
“Cincinnati has a special place in my heart and I’m so pleased to join FC Cincinnati at this exciting juncture in the club’s history,” Whitman said in a statement. “FC Cincinnati and soccer have both already proven to be cultural forces in the market. Between the crowds at Nippert Stadium and the corporate commitments it has drawn, it’s a team with an exceptionally high ceiling. I’m looking forward to getting more deeply involved with the ownership group and helping elevate the club in the city, around the country and internationally.”
Whitman, 63, is currently the Chief Executive Officer at California-based Quibi, a mobile media technology platform. Prior to that, Whitman served as CEO and president of Hewlett-Packard and CEO of eBay. She also sits on the board of directors for Procter & Gamble, a Cincinnati-based Fortune 500 company where Whitman also began her professional career.
Additionally, FC Cincinnati CEO and controlling owner Carl H. Lindner III appointed Whitman as the club’s Alternate Governor on the MLS Board of Governors.
“My wife Martha and I are thrilled to welcome such accomplished professionals and philanthropists as Meg and Griff to the FC Cincinnati family,” said Lindner III. “At the heart of our ownership group is a love and connection to Cincinnati. With Meg’s background and network in our city, she and her family are a perfect fit for our club. We expect Meg and Griff will play a large role not only at the club level, but will also serve an influential role at the league level.”
Harsh is the Julian R. Youmans Chair in Neurological Surgery at the University of California, Davis. He previously served as associate dean for Postgraduate Education, professor of neurological surgery, and director of the Brain Tumor Center at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
The family’s investment in FC Cincinnati is reportedly steep. A Bloomberg report claimed Whitman and Harsh injected upwards of $100 million in exchange for a 20% stake in the second-year MLS club.
This is also not the first time the pair of expressed interest in investing in Major League Soccer. They were previously members of the ownership group aiming to bring an expansion franchise to Sacramento, California.
Whitman and Harsh’s investment could prove crucial for a side that finished last in the Eastern Conference in 2019 during their expansion season. The club’s hefty capital expenditures — including a new $35 million training complex and the ongoing $25o million soccer-specific stadium development in the city’s West End neighborhood — have left them short on funds to invest in the first team.