The Los Angeles Sol is co-owned and operated by Blue Star LLC and AEG. AEG is wholly-owned subsidiary of The Anschutz Company. One of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world, AEG also owns or operates professional teams such as the Los Angeles Kings (NHL), Manchester Monarchs (AHL), Reading Royals (ECHL), and the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS. AEG also operates two hockey franchises and a futbol club in Europe.
Blue Star, LLC. is a group comprised of four individuals who share a passion for the beautiful game
of soccer, Ali Mansouri, Shane Astani, Rudi Bianchi and Anthony LaPaglia. Their desire to elevate
and create a sustainable women’s league in this county is unparalleled and their success in soccer
is unmatched.
Ali Mansouri, President and Executive Director of the Los Angeles Blues Soccer Club, Inc., has successfully
promoted soccer tournaments at The Home Depot Center, The San Bernardino Soccer
Complex, UCLA and UC Irvine. In 2008, Mansouri acquired the rights to the Pali Blues Soccer Club,
which finished the W-League season with a perfect record on their way to capturing the W-League
Championship. He currently resides in the Pacific Palisades with this wife Maryam.
Shane Astani is the Vice President and the Director of Acquisition of Astani Enterprises. His firm has
a major focus on retail and mixed use developments. This includes new luxury units in the City of
Los Angeles. The firm presently operates/owns approximately 3,000 apartment units throughout
Southern California and is currently developing approximately 1,200 units of apartments, condominiums
and mix use projects in Downtown Los Angeles. Shane has a passion for fundraising that
includes the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and Children International. He also assists neighborhood
interest groups and local police departments from Council for Affordable Housing to the
Wilshire Unified School District Youth Soccer Program.
From 1998-2002 Rudi Bianchi wrote a column for Goal International Magazine and has also organized
and promoted several professional soccer matches in partnership with the Los Angeles
Coliseum from 1996 to 2000. He was also a member of the organizing committee for the 1994 World
Cup in the United States. Rudi has coached and developed several players who went on to play in
Division I college soccer programs. Rudi has been involved with soccer his entire life, as a player,
coach and fan.
AEG is one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world. AEG, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Anschutz Company, owns or controls a collection of companies including facilities such as STAPLES Center (Los Angeles, CA), Prudential Center (Newark, NJ), Sprint Center (Kansas City, MO), Citizen’s
Business Bank Arena (Ontario, CA), The Rose Garden (Portland, OR), WaMu Theatre (Seattle, WA), XL Center (Hartford, CT), El Rey Theatre (Hollywood, CA), Colosseum at Caesars Palace (Las Vegas, NV), Target Center (Minneapolis, MN), Rentschler Field (Hartford, CT), NOKIA Theatre Times Square, NOKIA Theatre at Grand Prairie, Acer Arena (Sydney, AU), Beijing Olympic Basketball Arena, Color Line Arena (Hamburg), O2 World arena (Berlin) and The O2, a 28-acre development located in the eastern part of London along the Thames River which includes a 20,000-seat arena and over 650,000 sf of leisure and entertainment use; sports franchises including the Los Angeles Kings (NHL), Manchester Monarchs (AHL), Reading Royals (ECHL), Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS), two hockey franchises operated in Europe, the Hammarby
(Sweden) Futbol Club and management of privately held shares of the Los Angeles Lakers; AEG
Facilities, a stand-alone affiliate that operates or consults with more than 90 of the industries preeminent
venues worldwide; AEG Merchandising, a multi-faceted merchandising company; AEG Creative,
a full-service marketing and advertising agency and AEG Global Partnerships, a division responsible
for worldwide sales and servicing of sponsorships naming rights and other strategic partnerships.
In addition, AEG developed and operates The Home Depot Center, a $150 million national training
center located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California
which has been designated as an “Official U.S. Olympic Training Site” by the United States Olympic
Committee and features major facilities for soccer, tennis, track & field, cycling, lacrosse, rugby,
beach volleyball, boxing, football, field hockey, basketball and other sports in addition to concerts
and corporate retreats as well as The David Beckham Academy and (Andre)Agassi’s Safe Passage
All Stars program.
Events such as the Amgen Tour of California cycling road race, the ING Bay to Breakers foot race
and the East West Bank Classic WTA tennis tournament as well as an ongoing schedule of soccer
exhibitions in the United States featuring the most popular international teams are part of the portfolio
of AEG Sports.
AEG LIVE, one of the world’s leading concert promotion and touring companies, with thirteen regional
offices, is comprised of stand-alone affiliate divisions devoted to all aspects of live entertainment
including: AEG LIVE Events, creators and producers of special events of all sizes; AEG-TV, creators
of live events for television, DVD, pay-per-view, cinema and other electronic media; and AEG LIVE
Tours & Special Events, Concerts West, Goldenvoice, The Messina Group and AEG Exhibitions, the
company’s national entertainment promotion and touring divisions. AEG LIVE is currently overseeing
two international museum tours of the artifacts of King Tut: “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of
the Pharaohs” and “Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs,” and produced Celine
Dion A New Day…Presented By Chrysler, a spectacular theatrical production starring Dion and
directed by Franco Dragone which just concluded an unprecedented five-year “residency” at The
Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. AEG Live co-produces the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage
Festival and Goldenvoice, the company’s southern California-based regional promotion division created
and operates the award winning annual Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.
AEG is overseeing the development of L.A. LIVE, a 4 million square foot / $2.5 billion downtown Los
Angeles sports, residential & entertainment district featuring the recently opened Nokia Theatre L.A.
LIVE (7,100-seat live theatre) and Club Nokia (2,300 capacity live music venue), a 54-story, 1001-room
convention “headquarters” destination (featuring The Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels and 224
luxury condominiums – The Residences at The Ritz Carlton – all in a single tower), a 14-screen Regal
Cineplex, “broadcast” facilities for ESPN, along with entertainment, restaurant and office space. The
company is also developing 12 arenas in China and an arena on the Las Vegas Strip.
Contact: Michael Roth, V.P., Communications - (213) 742-7155
For more information on AEG, visit: www.aegworldwide.com