Philip Anschutz in running to buy Newcastle United

According to media reports in England, Anschutz, along with fellow Major League Soccer owner and investor Clark Hunt of FC Dallas, are at the head of a pack of prospective buyers seeking to take control of the 116-year-old team.

The purchase price is said to be in the neighborhood of $225 million, which is what current owner Michael Ashley paid for the team in July 2007.

A spokesman for FC Dallas on Monday night shot down the reports linking the Hunt family to any English Premier League team. "There's nothing to it," German Sferra said. "They're happy with the sports investments that they currently have. They're not pursuing Newcastle or any other sports franchise at this time."

Ashley, 45, who made his millions as a sports equipment retailer, is willing to part with the team after falling afoul of the club's vociferous fans after former England international Kevin Keegan, a local icon, resigned as Newcastle's coach in September following a feud with Ashley.

"I am now a dad who can't take his kids to a football game on a Saturday because I am advised that we would be assaulted," Ashley said in a statement released by the club at the time. "Therefore, I am no longer prepared to subsidize Newcastle United."

Founded in 1892, the Magpies, as they are known, long have been one of England's best-known teams, their vertical black-and-white-striped jerseys as well known as Chelsea's blue or Liverpool's red. Newcastle United has won the English league championship four times and the F.A. Cup six times.

The club's established name and reputation are appealing to prospective owners, but so is its 52,387-seat stadium, St. James Park, which was refurbished in 2000. It is the third-largest stadium in the Premier League, behind Manchester United's Old Trafford and Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, and is one of the soccer venues for the 2012 Olympic Games.

While Anschutz's name has been freely mentioned in the English press, there has been no confirmation of his interest on this side of the Atlantic. Telephone calls to AEG, Anschutz's global sports and entertainment company, were not immediately returned today.

In England, however, the Daily Telegraph quoted Keith Harris, a London investment banker who is handling the sale for Ashley, as saying a field of seven potential buyers had been narrowed to "two very serious contenders."