Who Is Brian York? The Mass Rising CEO Buying Football Clubs in Europe

Who is Brian York?

Brian York is an operator who buys businesses and moves in to run them. Before football, he says, he spent more than 20 years acquiring trucking and then warehousing companies, including a decade living in five Latin American countries while running two logistics companies across the region.

In 2026 he turned that model to European football. Mass Rising, which he co-founded with CTO Greg Guyon, says it acquires clubs and gives “them the people, ideas and infrastructure to grow while staying rooted in their communities.” York leads acquisitions and the commercial plan alongside local club leadership, while Guyon builds the software, data and reporting behind the group.

The search was a family project. In the summer of 2026, York traveled through Spain with his family and visited 15 clubs. His family came to every one, walking the grounds and meeting owners, and his wife, who is fluent in Spanish, helped negotiate. “What started as a business trip turned into a pretty incredible family adventure,” he wrote.

How much does it cost to buy a football club in Portugal?

That question made his most-watched video, posted in August 2026, with about 267,000 views. “We bought our first football club for €150,000,” he said. “It’s a Division 6 team in Portugal.” The price covered the senior team only. A local sports association runs the youth academy, which serves players from 5 to 19.

The purchase price is only the start. “You also need to operate the team,” he said, and Mass Rising is budgeting about €170,000 a year for staff and coaching salaries and field improvements. €150,000 also isn’t a standard price, he added. “We’ve seen clubs for free all the way up to €1 million. It all depends on the club.”

“If somebody asks, what’s the cost to buy a Division 6 club in Portugal? The answer is anywhere from free up to €1 million. It all depends on the club.”

Brian York, @yupyork

AD Bobadelense: the first club

AD Bobadelense was founded in 1975 in Bobadela, just outside Lisbon, and has been with Mass Rising since May 2026. In the first four months, the company says, it rebuilt the squad, signed seven sponsors, launched an online store and ticketing, and drew more than 500 trial applicants, inviting more than 50 to its first trials. It also offers a Lisbon residency where players can live and train with the club full time.

Results followed. The season opened with a 6–0 win. By late October, five months in, York posted that the club was “still undefeated. Still in 1st place,” and had just “broke a 51-year attendance record.” That video has about 197,000 views. Six months in, after a 5–0 win, the club was unbeaten through seven games.

Costa d’Amalfi: the next club

“It took us 30 days to find a football club to acquire in Italy,” York posted in October 2026. The club is Costa d’Amalfi, a fifth-division side founded about three years ago to unite the 13 towns of the Amalfi Coast under one team. Mass Rising has signed a letter of intent for a majority investment, which it expects to complete by the end of 2026, subject to final agreements.

He gave three reasons for the deal. The first was the team: the current owners are “forward thinking on tech,” keep records “way better than any other team that we’ve seen,” and have handled two promotions and a relegation. The second was the finances: strong gross revenue for the level, with well-documented expenses. The third was the location, with a chance to learn from other destination clubs in Italy, such as Como.

In the club’s announcement, York said Costa d’Amalfi “represents exactly what we’re looking for as we build our football platform in Europe: a club built from the ground up by people who deeply love it, with a strong squad, solid leadership, and an extraordinary community behind it.” Club president Nicola Savino said the club will keep its name, colors and identity.

What is Brian York’s acquisition playbook?

York says his acquisition style “has been the same for 20+ years”:

1. Find a great team. He looks for strong local leadership and clean records, not a turnaround.
2. Acquire a majority stake. “Whether it’s 51% or 100% kind of depends on the situation.” He isn’t necessarily looking for full ownership, because he wants the current owners to stay.
3. Move his family there and work side by side with the previous owners to grow the business together.

He’s applying it again in Italy. “In two months I’m moving my family to Amalfi, Italy to run a Division 5 football club,” he said on October 31, 2026. “None of us speak Italian and we’re pulling the kids out of school halfway through the year, but we’ll figure it out.” The goal, he said, is to take Costa d’Amalfi up the Italian football pyramid.

Buying a business means knowing what you’re actually getting. For more on that, see our guide to the digital assets that move the price when you buy or sell a small business, and our profile of Sarah Young, who built and sold her own firm.

The data behind Mass Rising

Mass Rising also publishes research on European club ownership through its Clubs DB, which tracks 2,697 clubs in 25 countries, including 67 multi-club groups. Among its findings: 14 of the 20 Premier League clubs have multi-club investors, Portugal’s “big three” account for 78% of the league’s recorded revenue, and 49 club takeovers were completed in 2025. The company is also building software for clubs to run their finances, merchandise, ticketing and player recruitment.

Brian York’s socials and links

• TikTok: @yupyork
• LinkedIn: Brian York
• Mass Rising: marising.com
• AD Bobadelense: bobadelense.pt
• Clubs DB: db.marising.com

@yupyork You can buy a D6 football club in Portugal for €1 to €1M. We bought ours for €150K.

More in our Who Is series: Who Is Danielle Lynch?, the sales rep who turned commissions into a real estate portfolio, and Who Is Marketing Max?, the ex-banker behind Max’s Media Buyers. See more in our Entrepreneurship section.

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