About William Foley
William Foley, executive chairman of Dun & Bradstreet and owner of the Vegas Golden Knights, has been active in business, sports, and local politics. In a December 2024 interview, Foley said he has the financial resources to help bring an NBA team to Las Vegas, noting that he owns part of T-Mobile Arena and would like to renovate it if an NBA team arrived. He also commented on national politics, stating that under the prior administration he believed there would have been "open borders" and "more inflation," and criticized policies he said provided resources to undocumented immigrants. Separately, in a November 2024 candidate interview, Foley discussed his run for chief executive of Butte-Silver Bow County in Montana, advocating for greater transparency in government meetings, enforcement of open meeting laws, and increased resources for police to address drug-related crime.
Foley has continued to emphasize his commitment to winning with the Golden Knights, stating in a 2022 interview that he likes being the underdog and that the organization has "never apologized for being aggressive" in its pursuit of a Stanley Cup. He has also been active in fintech investments, including a $100 million investment in Sightline Payments, which he described as a "next generation payment solution" for online betting and gaming. Foley has led multiple SPAC mergers, including taking Paysafe and Alight public, and has stated that he looks for "utilities" in the marketplace—companies that are "a key ingredient" and difficult to disintermediate.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from William Foley's recent appearances.
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Transcript (21 segments)
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Interviewer0:00
Bill Foley, choices now. Bill, we really appreciate your time today. How are you finding the first few months for the owner of a Premier League club?
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William Foley0:06
I love it. I love it a lot more so. I love being involved with this team. It's really, to me, it's a dream of mine for years and years to be involved in the Premier League. And we were fortunate enough to have an opportunity a year ago or so, or nine months ago, and no, I'm having a great time.
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Interviewer0:22
What was the big appeal of Bournemouth?
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William Foley0:26
Well, first, it was for sale. I mean, I was offered a number of opportunities with other teams at various times, but it was always a minority ownership interest, maybe 10, 20%. And so this was an opportunity to buy 100% of the team with some of my partners. And so if there's a mistake being made, it's on me. It's not on somebody else, and I can only complain to myself.
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Interviewer0:53
You've got a very successful ice hockey team in the States, and obviously the obvious differences of playing on grass. What's the biggest differences you've found from that franchise to this one, business-wise?
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William Foley1:07
Really, they're very similar in a lot of different ways. The way you accumulate players and build a team in the Premier League is different. We have very strict rules. We have a hard salary cap of 83.5 million; you can't go above it. We also have different ways of acquiring players. It's very strict. There's no hijacking in the NHL, where here you can keep on talking to players all the way through into agents. So in that way, it's different.
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Interviewer1:38
I think some attempted hijacks on some of the targets... well, Nicolas Jackson, yeah?
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William Foley1:47
Of course. We tried to get him back this year. We had him last year, and I believe we made a mistake; we didn't pass his medical. But actually, he played much sooner than they thought he would. So I'm sorry we didn't get him, Chelsea, because that's a few points.
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Interviewer2:06
The plays in America, in Vegas, as part of the matchday experience, do you think any of that is transferable here?
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William Foley2:12
Well, we're not going to change what's already here in the Premier League and the traditions that people are used to seeing. But Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world. So if you ever have a chance to go to a game, we are entertaining and we're different.
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Interviewer2:29
We have to get some tickets, sir.
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William Foley2:31
Absolutely, absolutely. And come, you come sit in the box with me.
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Interviewer2:34
Sounds great. Can I just ask the differences between the kind of the fans, you say, the ice hockey and then the Premier League? I know players, I mean, Joe Hart himself, he's gone over and played in America and he said the fans are so different to the ones in England. What are the differences that you've found with the fans?
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William Foley2:56
Well, they aren't that different. If you don't win, then you've got a problem. But our fans, we've been sold out every night in the six years we've been in existence. Our fans are crazy, crazy in terms of supporting the team. Always with it. If we're down 4-2, they're still with the team, they're still with the game. I have to motivate our fans here a little bit more, but we're going to do that by building a new stadium, having more seats for people to come to games. That's the plan. We first had to finish our training facility. Once that's done, we can move out of the training facility here and we can start working on a new stadium. So it's probably two or three years off and it's just going to take a step at a time.
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Interviewer3:43
A lot of people have felt that the sacking of Gary O'Neil was partly because of what was achieved last season. Can you tell us a bit more about the thinking behind that and why you really felt that Andoni Iraola was the right man for this next phase of your development?
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William Foley3:58
You know, we love Gary O'Neil. He kept us up. He did a great job. The technical staff and Neil Blake and myself talked about this a number of different times, and we thought, you know, if we're going to change the makeup of the team and the way we play football, we may need a new person to lead us. And Andoni came up, became available, and it was really not something that was pre-planned last November or last January. I honestly thought that Gary O'Neil would be our coach today until Andoni became available in kind of the middle of May. And I felt like I wanted to be more aggressive on the pitch and I didn't want to miss that opportunity. I do wish Gary O'Neil the best. He's a good guy and I like him and I know he'll do well at Wolves.
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Interviewer4:47
What are one of the qualities that the new manager brings to this side?
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William Foley4:52
Well, Andoni is a very aggressive player. We're going to be pressing all the time, and that's one of the things we've been doing during this transfer window is trying to acquire players that can play in Andoni's style. And I believe we've done that, and some of them are hurt right now. And so, in ice hockey, we were an aggressive ice hockey team. We obviously won the Stanley Cup, but we did it by having good defense but having a lot of offense. And I think you'll see a difference today in our team, and he'll keep on changing as we evolve during this year. But I'm happy. And Andoni's our man. As I said, if there's a mistake being made, it's on me.
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Interviewer5:35
Yeah, we really appreciate your honesty today as well. Thank you very much.
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William Foley5:49
Phil, thank you. Thank you very much.
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Interviewer5:52
Absolutely. It is, of course, a tough test of...
