It’s no secret that Nissan is going through a rough patch with the company bleeding money as it attempts to restructure itself into a leaner more competitive firm. Some of this restructuring has come in the form of cost cuts with Nissan cutting products and other expenses to try and stay afloat.

However, a new report suggests the cost cutting spree could claim an unusual victim, Nissan’s own soccer team.

Nissan’s soccer team could bite the dust

That’s no joke, Nissan actually owns a soccer team, with the Japanese auto giant having a majroity 75% stake in the Yokohama F. Marinos. The Japanese team first got its start in 1972 as Nissan’s in-house soccer team with the club getting its first Kanto League win four years later. That win (among others) caused the team to become very successful.

But owning a soccer club can be just as expensive as making a new automobile and according to a report from Nikkei, Nissan is shopping the team around to new buyers as it looks to stem the finanicial bleeding. The talks are apparently serious with the report saying Nissan has “approached several companies to explore transferring the club’s management rights.” They include a “major IT firm” with a sale possibly coming early next year.

Move would be a major shift

Prior to this report, it seemed the soccer team was shielded from Nissan’s monetary woes with former CEO and current INTERPOL fugitive Carlos Ghosn actually shielding sports operations from budget cuts before he was forced out of the company and subsequently escaped Japan in a music box.

The situation has gotten much worse since then with the company posting a $4.5 (¥670.8) billion loss earlier this year. This large of a loss would require desparate measures to fix. While it’s not known what else Nissan has up its sleeve, selling the soccer team would allow the company to close a chapter of its history while freeing up a large pool of resources to finance its more at risk operations