Is Bayern Munich plotting an American takeover?

According to a report from ESPN Deportes, Bayern Munich is seeking to take some grand measures to expand its brand presence.

Per ESPN, the Bavarians are seeking to initiate an alliance with Club Atlético River Plate in Uruguay:

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Bayern Munich seeks to land in Uruguayan soccer through an alliance with River Plate , where the Darsenero club proposes to take charge of the institution’s men’s soccer. The initiative of the German soccer giant is on track, but not closed.

Sounds interesting, right? From there, details get a little (maybe a lot?) sketchy:

According to ESPN, a few months ago, a Uruguayan living in Germany arrived in his home country to look for possible clubs with which Bayern could partner and carry out the plan it is seeking to develop in this area. The German club wants to invest in Uruguay, where they feel they will have legal security and will seek to set up a sort of logistical center for attracting players in South America,

How would this even be possible? According to ESPN, Bayern Munich would seek to make everything official through a Sociedad Anónima Deportiva (SAD) agreement:

From River’s ranks they know that Bayern Munich wants to carry out this initiative through a Sociedad Anónima Deportiva (SAD). It has not yet been defined whether the project will be for 10 or 15 years, but it will be a SAD administered by Bayern, which will manage the First Division and all the men’s youth divisions, leaving out futsal and women’s soccer.

ESPN learned that, at present, River Plate has a very large deficit between the money that comes into the club and what it costs to maintain the squad, a factor that would be solved in the event that this agreement were to materialize.

But what exactly is a SAD? This is how Wikipedia defined it:

Sociedad anónima deportiva (“Public limited sports company”) is a special type of public limited company in Spain. The new legal status was introduced in 1990 to improve financial management and transparency in sports clubs. Many Spanish football and basketball clubs add the suffix S.A.D. to the end of their official name, e.g. Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D.

Okay, so that all seems to make some sense. But where else is Bayern Munich look to expand its presence. According to ESPN, the Bavarians already have an agreement in place with Los Angeles FC (LAFC) in MLS:

An extra fact is that the Bavarian team already has an agreement with Los Angeles FC, so that if River becomes part of the proposed alliance, it would create a sort of union with three legs: one in North America, another in South America and the “parent company” in Europe.

Who knew that Bayern Munich had an agreement in place with LAFC? Not us.

So…there you have it. While nothing is defined at this stage, it does appear that Bayern Munich is at least kicking the tires once again on creating a global empire — an initiative that was derailed during the 2020 pandemic.