The head of one of the firms linked with a potential future investment into Liverpool has spoken on their desire to get involved in new sports, confirming that talks with interested parties had taken place.
Liberty Media, the $21bn (£16.8bn) company that owns Formula One and the Atlanta Braves baseball team, and boasts the most valuable portfolio in world sport, have been linked with potential investment into Liverpool for some time. The nature of the company and the kind of strategic capital and expertise it could deploy chimes with what Reds owners Fenway Sports Group are understood to be seeking.
In November last year it was revealed that FSG had created a sales deck to potential investors and were open to a full sale of the club, although that quickly pivoted to the sale of a minority stake. That was confirmed by FSG chief and Liverpool’s principal owner John Henry. He declared “it won’t be a sale” when speaking to the Boston Sports Journal before telling the ECHO in an exclusive interview that FSG remained fully committed to the Reds.
The search for a minority partner has continued. FSG aren’t looking for basic capital through a passive investor for Liverpool – that is something that they could acquire very easily. What they are wanting is a partner that can take a stake, bring sizeable capital but also expertise and scale to allow the club’s business to grow, potentially partnering with rights holders to maximise the Reds’ global appeal and increase revenue streams at a time when it is becoming increasingly expensive to compete at the very highest level year in, year out.
Liberty Media already have sporting interests through F1 and baseball, with their ownership of the former helping to drive forward booming interest in the sport globally and a significant increase in constructor valuations, helped in no small part by the exposure that the hugely popular Netflix series ‘Drive to Survive’ has helped grow.
Liberty CEO Greg Maffei, whose firm also has significant interest in the likes of Live Nation Entertainment, opened up on the possibility of them expanding their reach into new sports, admitting that some discussions had taken place.
Maffei, speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference in San Francisco last week, said: “Look, there is no sports asset that is out there that we haven’t looked at or thought about or been approached about.
“Because of the strength of the Formula 1 team and what we’ve done and frankly what the Atlanta Braves have done – creating probably the best experience both on the field with the best record in baseball and off the field with what exists at Truist Park and the development around it – we have probably created the most stable baseball franchise in terms of profitability as well as one that’s likely to win a sixth straight NL East title.
“Leveraging that expertise and trying to sell that across other sports is appealing. We have looked at other franchises, we haven’t found the one yet that makes sense but there are several we are in discussions with what we think we can be additive to and would be very attractive.”
Maffei’s comments come on the back of what Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan had to say on the state of play with investment talks when interviewed by the ECHO during the club’s pre-season tour in Singapore during the summer.
Hogan said: “Those conversations continue, and as the ownership has said, the opportunity is obviously there for investment.
“If it happens, it’s going to be based on finding the right partner – the right partner for Liverpool, and Liverpool being the right partner for them. At the appropriate time, if there’s something to announce then we’ll let you know. In any relationship, partnership is part of it.
“Having the right partners is incredibly important. In the same way we look at our partners from a sponsorship and commercial standpoint, an investment partner needs to be the right partner to be additive to what we are doing
