Big news out of DC today, as owner Victor MacFarlane has sold his shares of the club to partner Will Chang.

It would appear that MacFarlane has finally had enough of the stadium game, as his ownership in DC was always based on leveraging a stadium deal into a mixed-use development project. MacFarlane made his money in real estate investment, and had little ties to the DC Metro area.

A few items of pure speculation:

MacFarlane clearly did not see a good end to the stadium saga. For him, it appears this was a matter of sooner rather than later. If the club is ultimately unable to secure a stadium deal and MLS chooses to relocate it, MacFarlane would be selling his stake anyway, so why not get out now? Expediency is the word of the day.

Although MacFarlane's sale casts a shadow of doubt over United's stadium prospects, the club will be better off with Chang in total control. Chang has always been the more involved of the two, and clearly feels a connection to the club that MacFarlane did not. Chang is also more likely to look for creative alternatives to the traditional stadium process, something that could pay dividends in the end.

It's difficult to properly frame this news without knowing all of the factors, of course, though I expect we'll hear more out of MacFarlane's camp in the not-too-distant future (Goff and Stauffer may be on the phone right now).

If there is more fallout, or if something relative to United's prospects of remaining in DC comes out, I'll be sure to provide an update.

*UPDATE*

Okay, so it's not MacFarlane, but it is the next best thing: Steven Goff has just posted a brief interview with the new majority owner of the club, Will Chang.

I take two things away from Chang's comments:

One, the removal of extraneous real estate issues from a stadium plan might make things go a little smoother than before, and it's heartening to hear Chang say that he just wants a stadium, not an investment (and oddly enough, the ideas presented by the FC St. Pauli piece I referenced in my previous post would absolutely work in DC: a functional, utilitarian facility that gets the job done without the need for bells and whistles). And two, United fans can exhale; Chang's assertions that the club is going nowhere, even if a stadium deal takes a few year, has to be great news to the faithful.