Bill Foley backs Donald Trump again while investing in Auckland FC’s future

Billionaire owner Bill Foley has tipped plenty of money into his A-Leagues club Auckland FC to make it a success.

He has also brought out the chequebook for Donald Trump, trying to help him wrest back the US presidency.

Foley, who made his fortune in financial services before starting up a sporting empire, is a lifelong Republican.

Open-access donation websites show he has donated several million to conservative candidates and groups in the past decade, including about $NZ400,000 to Trump’s campaign as he won his first term.

Following Trump’s attempt to block Joe Biden’s fair-and-square victory in 2020, Foley swore he wouldn’t support Trump again.

Speaking to NZ media outlet NBR in 2022, Foley ruled out further contributions to Trump, describing him as “a narcissistic egomaniac” to the Herald.

He instead made contributions to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s unsuccessful campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination.

In an interview with AAP ahead of Auckland FC’s debut season, Foley confirmed an about-face: he was again financially backing Trump.

“I did donate to Trump because I’m terrified about the alternative,” he said.

While Trump is in a 50-50 race to win back the presidency against Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, he enjoys radically less support in New Zealand.

A Curia poll conducted in August showed he had the support of 25% of Kiwis if they could vote in the US presidential election and just 23% of Aucklanders.

Beyond his investment in American politicians, Foley is growing his sporting empire.

He owns NHL side Vegas Golden Knights, while Auckland FC is his latest addition to a network of football clubs that has English Premier League side Bournemouth at the top.

Foley was a last-minute but successful bidder for the A-Leagues licence last year and has since added a network of influential and well-known Kiwis to the ownership team.

Anna Mowbray, a successful toy and tech entrepreneur, and her ex-All Black husband Ali Williams have bought in.

So too have Tim Brown, Winston Reid and Noah Hickey – all former NZ international footballers – and last week NBA star Steven Adams.

Foley also told AAP that Los Angeles FC owner Bennett Rosenthal had come on board, leaving him with about a 70% stake.

“I’ll always be owning more than 50% of the team. We don’t have any plans to sell down anymore at this time,” he said.

“I stood behind the entire investment and I did want to bring in local investors. I’m proud of the group that has been put together.’’

The club is in an investment phase, building training facilities at North Harbour Stadium, including gym spaces and a player lounge, and will welcome a women’s team next year.

It will play matches at Mt Smart Stadium in southern Auckland, but is investigating a new stadium closer to the CBD.

Auckland FC was hit by falling club distributions from the A-League, which collapsed from more than $2 million last season to roughly $500,000.

Foley said he wasn’t aware of the shortfall when he bought in, but owing to a strong commercial buy-in led by chief executive Nick Becker, it wouldn’t affect the club’s financial targets.

Previously, Foley said the club would lose about $5m in year one but start to make money about 2027.

“We over-funded so we raised more money than we really needed. And I’m glad we did now because we’re going to be short on the distributions from the A-League,” he said.

“We’re kind of on track to ... be profitable or break even by year three.

“Nick has done a really good job on the commercial side in terms of sponsorship and ticketing revenue.”