Complex sentence: Against this economic backdrop a new generation of venture capitalist owners had emerged, taking the place of the community groups, local consortiums, or philanthropists that typically had owned the teams and operated them without any serious profit motive.
Split into simpler sentences: Against this economic backdrop a new generation of venture capitalist owners had emerged. They took the place of the community groups, local consortiums, or philanthropists that typically had owned the teams and operated them without any serious profit motive.