Future Pro Football Hall of Famer J.J. Watt announced Monday that he’s “unretiring” from retirement. However, instead of suiting up to play with his brothers T.J. and Derek for the Pittsburgh Steelers, he’s joining a different kind of “football” team. Or club, rather.
Watt and his wife, Kealia, are investing in the Burnley Football Club, which in 2022 was relegated to the English Football League Championship after occupying the lower rung of the Premier League for several seasons.
J.J. Watt joins a lengthy list of American athletes who are investing in sports outside of their own. In 2022, Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant became a minority investor in the NJ/NY Gotham FC of the National Women’s Soccer League.
As the case with several English clubs, Burnley is already under American stewardship, with investment company ALK Capital as its majority owner.
The town of Burnley was the smallest to have a team in the Premier League, and while Watt never played for the Green Bay Packers, the Wisconsin native can understand how a small town can find itself the center of the football universe if everything goes the right way.
Watt certainly knows more about 4-3 defenses than a 4-4-2 in soccer, so he can lean on Kealia to brush up on his knowledge. She’s a free-agent midfielder after nine years in the NWSL
Watt, a 12-year veteran, retired from the NFL after the end of last season.
